Sorry to infamous8, but I simply had to respond to his thread.
This game is actually an excellent representation of MMA and the UFC. In fact, I didn't expect it to be any good, but it really surprised me by it's complexity and balance. However, you need to play the game for awhile to learn to appreciate it. The game has so many things you need to learn before you can feel the beauty of it. It's quite hard to learn, but if you're a fan and have the patience to understand how to play it properly, you're in for one hell of a ride.
The good:
Balance.MMA has so many facets to it that making a game that puts them balanced together is a really tough challenge. It's much more complicated to put together than say, a traditional fighting game like Tekken or Street Fighter, because there's the standup, the clinch, the top game, the bottom game, the submission game, and the wrestling game (among others). UFC Undisputed balances all these things almost perfectly.
Contrary to what other people might say, like how our previous poster said about "headkick headkick headkick = win", which is complete nonsense, you actually have a large selection of options to choose from to win a match, and all of them are equally viable. You can't win with just doing one move over and over again. You can't win by just focusing on striking or grappling alone. You have to be able to adapt to the situation that the fight presents, which is the essence of MMA. This game is able to represent that truthfully.
Fighters and their styles are represented well. If you have a Frank Mir or a BJ Penn in the ring as opposed to a Brock Lesnar or a Sean Sherk, you will really feel the difference. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu skill difference is really dramatic between black belts and guys who never learned it, and you can really feel the difference (I am able to keep submitting my friend's Lesnar using Mir if he tries to bring me to the ground, which is the way it should be). Same goes with a guy with powerful wrestling vs. a guy who is just a striker (My friend is able to take me down at will using Matt Hughes if I'm using a striker like Thiago Alves).
Every fighter's style is well represented and is a joy to play with, as you are able to create wonderful dream matches truthfully and have them play out the way they're supposed to be, though of course there are surprises in between (flash knockouts from a non striker, lucky shots when left open). And contrary to infamous8's opinion again, you can counter everything in this game.
Create a fighter has a whole host of options. Contrary to infamous8's opinion, if you actually do go through with the career mode, you will find yourself hooked. It is amazing to feel that you can actually mold your character's fighting style down to the letter. Big fan of Anderson Silva? Focus on kicks and knees. Big fan of Chuck Liddell? Focus on power punches and countering. The options are nearly endless. You are able to really create a personality depending on your preferred fighting style, because once again, the game is very well balanced.
The commentary is well done.. er, at least it's on par with real UFC commentary. I've never been a fan of UFC commentary simply because of A.) Rogan is too enthusiastic, and B.) Goldberg acts like a complete idiot. Nonetheless, it's a very well done representation of UFC commentary, and there's nothing to complain about since the standard isn't that high in the first place.
The bad:
The graphics are rather bland. I agree with infamous8 on this one, the graphics are a real hit and miss. You get perfect looks from some fighters like Shogun, Liddell, Hughes, and Anderson, but then the other models simply look like shit, like Alexander, Penn, GSP, and Maia.
Some big name fighters aren't included. Most notably, Randy Couture isn't in the game, which was my first and utmost reason for getting the game. I AM THE BIGGEST FAN OF RANDY EVER. Nonetheless, despite his absence, I can actually create him to his exact abilities because create a fighter is really good.
Odd bugs. There are some weird things that happen during fights that I can't comprehend, most notably when the referree decides to stand the fight up again. Sometimes he would step in and stand up a fight when I'm already punching the hell out of the guy to finish the fight. Sometimes he would do it when I'm about to do a submission. But these are rare occurrences that don't really ruin the gameplay.
Overall:
Steep learning curve. It really is aimed for the hardcore audience who want to actually play real MMA. It's hard to learn, but that's a good thing for a guy like me who wants to really learn the game. You can't beat this game without practice. You really need to devote time to play it, which is exactly what MMA is. MMA takes a lot of dedication.
This game deserves a 9/10, which is what most reviewers are giving it anyway. infamous8, I'm sorry, I just had to respond to your post because I love this game. You just have to learn it before passing judgment.
It's not fair to review a game based on an hour or two's worth of gameplay. Learn it first, then decide.
infamous8 said:
This game is terrible. Nuff said.
I'm a huge fan of the UFC and have been for over 15 years. Ive wanted a UFC video game for a very long time, but this game is simply just plain NOT good. I was skeptical about this game when I heard THQ (same publishers of WWE games) was handling UFC. But I saw decent reviews and heard from a friend that its pretty decent, so I figured I would try it out.
Positives
-Commentary and voice acting is decent.
-Large cast of characters
Negatives
-Graphics. This game doesnt look any better than FNR3, which came out a very long time ago. Infact, Id say that FNR3 looks better than this game, which is sad considering how old that game is.
-Some high profile Character models are horrendous. BJ Penn for example looks autistic in this game. His head is overly big and his eyes are squinty. He doesnt look like that IRL. Dana White looks like Mr. Potato Head in this game. Poorly done models.
-Game play is very STIFF, sluggish, slow. Game is repetitive.
-Here's my biggest knock on the game.... There's No skill required. This absolutely RUINS the online matches. You can simply stand in front of your opponent and do headkick, headkick, headkick, headkick, headkick, headkick, headkick, until you knock him out.
-Cannot use real characters in Career Mode. You can only use created characters. WTF?
-The menus are poorly designed.
-Create a fighter is below average. WWE games and FNR3 both had far better Create a Fighter options, and those games came out long time ago.
-You can't counter kicks or punches. There is no parry system. So every online match consists of standing in front of your opponent and doing 15 headkicks until he's knocked out. And sadly, it works.
-Game is unbalanced. IRL UFC, the clinch is a deadly weapon that you can use to KO opponents. In this game, it's pretty useless. Leg kicks are useless. Ring movement is useless. There is absolutely no tactics involved in this game.
-My gut feeling is that they used the old WWE engine to make this game, and the people making it were not very knowledgable about MMA at all, as evidenced by some of the horrible fighter ratings
Overall - I bought this game this morning. Ive played it almost the entire day. And I already want to return it and get half of my money back. UFC Undisputed is terrible. If you feel otherwise, please feel free to comment and dispute this with me.
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I'm not mocking you or anything, but please, do try the game again and go through the tutorial. I promise, that if you practice it, you'll see that it is excellent.
And to make it absolutely clear, if you try one move (headkick, headkick, headkick) against a guy who knows how to play the game, you will get either demolished in the clinch, picked apart with varying strikes, or get taken down. You can't say "I've won against the CPU with just headkicks" and generalize that to work in every situation. First, try playing against the higher difficulty settings. Then try playing against a real guy who knows how to play, and then you'll realize how challenging the game really is.
