Genre: Fighting
Publisher: THQ
Developer: Yukes
Players: 1-2
Retail Price: $60
Availability: Xbox 360, PS3
Yukes is probably best know for their work on the WWE Smackdown series of games, so it seems like a likely fit for them to develop a fighting game that combines a lot of grappling elements. With that said, though, if there’s one thing that you shouldn’t expect out of UFC, it’s anything remotely similar to any of the Smackdown titles. Yukes has built a brand new fighting system for UFC Undisputed, and it does an amazing job of helping to recreate the action you’d expect to encounter in a real UFC fight.
Fighting in the game happens in what can roughly be broken up into two different categories, striking and grappling, and if you want to be successful you’ll need to master both. Striking is performed through the four face buttons on the controller with high and low modifiers mapped to the left shoulder buttons. Grappling takes place mostly when the fight has been taken to the ground, and involves transitioning to different positions trying to set up your opponent for that fight ending strike or submissions attempt. The grappling portion of the game is handled through rotations on the right analog stick, and is probably the hardest part of the game to learn.
Since the game does have a pretty elaborate set of controls to master, there is a useful tutorial mode that you should go through. The game will walk you through how to perform different strikes and mount transitions as well as other information you’ll need to get yourself up and ready to go. I actually went through most of the tutorial twice due to the massive amount of content it throws at you. Once you’ll completed the tutorial, there is also a training mode you can use to test some of the skills you’ve learned. This mode allows you to set what your opponent is allowed to do, and it also shows you how much damage your strikes do depending on where and how far away you are from your opponent.
The diversity in the gameplay is what really sets this title apart from other fighting or wrestling games. Some fights never make to the ground and are basically boxing matches, while other times you’ll spend most of your time on the mat looking for the right opportunity to take your opponent out. Each fighter has two different styles they fight in, one for striking and one for grappling. There are three unique striking styles to choose from — Boxing, Kickboxing and Muay Thai — as well as three different grapple styles — Wrestling, Judo and BJJ. Each fighting style has its own unique maneuvers and strengths which helps to broaden the variety of different fights you’ll encounter.
Career mode allows you to create a custom fighter and take them up the rankings all the way up to champion of your weight division. There are five different divisions to choose from and a variety of custom elements you can add to your fighter. Like the Smakdown games, Yukes has put together an impressive create a character mode for UFC Undisputed so there are no shortage of options for how your character looks. During the career mode you’ll progress through calendar weeks with each week allowing you to train your character, participate in scheduled events or take on your opponent in your next fight. Depending on how well you perform in the various training modes, you’ll be given more or less points to add to your characters attributes in a variety of categories.
If you’ve made your way through the career mode and are looking for something else to occupy your time, you can always take on some real life opponents in either online or offline multiplayer. Since there really aren’t that many game options you have the same set of options for playing with a bunch of friends in the same room or a complete stranger online. Local multiplayer to me is where this game really shines. Having a room full of people and passing the controllers around is a ton of fun since anyone really has a chance to make something happen. As with real fighting, it only takes one good punch to take a fighter out, and on more than one occasion I just didn’t anticipate that punch or kick coming in.
UFC Undisputed 2009 finally provides UFC fans the type of game they want to see. You get to play as all of your favorite fighters and you’ll experience one of the most in depth and fluid control systems in any fighting game. If you are a fan of the UFC, or just fighting games in general, there is really no reason not to pick this game up.
