Right after the game is installed, you’re thrown right into a match as Jon “Bones” Jones, squaring off against perhaps the light heavyweight champion’s toughest test IRL to this point in his relatively young career, Alexander “The Mauler” Gustafsson. Before you’re turned loose, it runs through the very basic control mechanics. Going against the grain of the Fight Night series, and EA Sports MMA of 2010, punches/elbows and kicks/knees are done with face buttons instead of with right stick gestures. To be fair, it was initially a little disorienting playing a pugilistic EA title and tapping instead of looping. However, as a long time fan of defunct THQ’s Undisputed series, I felt right at home very quickly. What didn’t translate so easily was takedowns and takedown defense. Like Undisputed, you pull a trigger as step one of the process, but step two is a quarter circle up towards either the right or left. My programmed mma video game mind wanted to continually spin the stick to “win” the takedown battle. Here, that is considered sloppy and gives the AI opponent a quick sprawl out of the attempt. Defending against an on-coming attack makes you pull the right trigger and calmly tap down on the right thumbstick at the opportune time for a successful counter. Again, I’m accustomed to aggressively cranking to stuff the attempt. Once the fight is on the ground, transitions are pretty simple. Just a quarter turn up left or right will perform the logical next position in that direction, from half guard to side control, for instance. After going over a few “advanced” techniques that won’t make a lot of sense to you during this initial tilt, it’s time to fight! You’ll know and understand enough to get through the first bout, but as soon as you are done and are sent to the menu selection screen, your first stop should be Challenges.
This is a mini-game and tutorial section all rolled into one. The intricate (sometimes complicated) systems of UFC are explained and then engrained with multiple exercises developed around that discipline. There are nine different lessons, each with ten progression levels a piece, equating to 90 individual drills. Trust me, you’ll want to finish each and every one of them. And some you’ll probably need to do more than once. Take stand up striking as an example. The first few drills have you putting in basic combinations with simple X and Y taps for punches on the heavy bag or A and B for kicks during the Thai Pad workouts. Then they layer on the hold LT modifier to target the lower body. Not too bad. Then you learn left bumper is the “power” mod. Again, okay, makes sense. But then things get a little convoluted. Left thumbstick handles movement, as expected. The problem is that it can double as a strike modifier. Holding towards or away from your opponent lands a different strike than without moving the stick. And such strikes are of the “high risk/high reward” variety. Instinct and stamina tell you to move, move often, and move quickly to avoid being hit. So constantly reminding yourself to conscientiously “motor down” when you get back into range for simple “punches in bunches” strikes is tough and not exactly “user friendly.” To further the possibilities, you can combine all of the above into possible hits. Holding LT + LB + left thumbstick away/towards + tapping the wanted face button actually gives you a different strike all its own. This level of intricacy may be trying a little too hard to be “technical.”
Luckily, the other systems are better formatted and easy to digest. Each Challenge grouping has you controlling a fighter known for that skill. Lyoto Machida is one of the few athletes in mma that is listed as a Karate fighter. This style is anchored by great patience, defense, and countering. So logically, “The Dragon” is who you have during the Blocking section. Holding RT is the basic all-in-one guard that takes a lot off of incoming barrages, but not everything. To better defend yourself, try not to get hit at all. Holding LT and “flicking” the left thumbstick puts on a quick sway while maintaining your position, making it possible to stay in range. To take countering a step further, parrying couples a face button tap with block. Time a high or low strike just right, and the trigger motors of the One controller “chime” just a tad to alert you of a successful retort. Quickly go in with a strike of your own while they’re exposed to land a devastating shot! Clinching is a vital part of “the fight game” as well, and isn’t left out of these extended explanations. Properly engaging with the right thumbstick is detailed, as is smooth transitions into advantageous positions like the Thai Plum. Get both hands along the neck of the other brawler to open the door for scary good knees to the body and head. You’ll also learn how to move into places and initialize highlight reel slams and takedowns.
The ground game also gets full tutelage treatment. Wrestling teaches you all you need to know about properly going in for takedowns and defending them. You’ll need to get your opponent worried about strikes to make single and double legs easy. Once on the mat, the standard loops are accompanied by instructions on how to pull of advanced transitions, of which are vital if you’re on your back and scrambling to get the fight back on the feet. It also goes over the appropriate thumbstick taps to guard against enemy advancement. Jiu Jitsu details the deadly art of submissions. This is perhaps the most imbalanced part of UFC. The mechanic designed for going for and defending the contorts are with the right thumbstick. Hold RB when in a possible attempt position (which varies from fighter to fighter depending on their skill set) and quarter circle up to begin the duel. Here’s where things get testy.
Oriented in the middle, a graphic displays with four quadrants that coordinates with the right thumbstick. This is referred to as the Gate. Escape Gates are used by the person getting submitted. Their job is to get one of the four directions from the center to the outside of the graphic. You stop their progression by matching their position with the ‘stick. When progress is halted, they’ll go into another direction. When a new space lights up, quickly shift your right thumb to that area. During the tug of war, look for an occasional blue indicator to appear along the inside of one of the four sections that takes a flick of the left thumbstick in that direction to activate. Called an Advancement Gate, this deepens the hold and resets their Escape Gate progress. The theory behind the mechanic is fine. Attempting submissions seems like a really odd thing to translate to a controller, and the development team’s idea is as good as any to represent the struggle. The problem is the disparity within the Escape Gate. Escaping is immensely easier than finishing the submission. It seems the rate of progress (for lack of a better term) is way too quick. Worse still, it doesn’t seem to get slower as the fight wears on. The level of difficulty between the opening minutes of the first and the latter stages of a five round thriller don’t benefit the fighter in control to the level it should. I know EA has been known to come out with “tweaks” in the form of updates. I personally think this warrants some post release attention.
Despite their imperfections, once you go through Challenges, fighting takes on a different complexion. The systems start to make sense. You can feel the gameplay flesh itself out after getting accustomed to doing certain things repeatedly, which translates to in-Octagon success. This no more evident than when playing as two add-on characters Bruce Lee and Royce Gracie. True, Lee was never a competitive mixed martial artists as a professional, but he is deemed as one of the “godfather” practitioners and is a big part of the sustained popularity of fighting. At the bantam weight of 135, his strikes are lightning quick, and a groove of combinations, or clustering as Greg Jackson likes to call it, takes shape. It becomes easier to see likely holes in the opponent’s defenses, through which you can take advantage of the progressive damage scheme. On the HUD, each side has a small, transparent body that shows which areas are lightly or heavily hit depending on the shade of red. If an area goes critical, it’ll blink, indicating that part is severely hurt. Target the lead leg enough with kicks, and that limb becomes unusable for a certain amount of time. Land repeated blows to the dome, and the other peep goes into a “rocked” state, gets super wobbly, and is prime for a KO/TKO finish. Another legend is patriarch Royce Gracie. Perhaps the most important participant in the company’s history, he won three of the first four UFC events ever held. Back in the “iron man” days, no less, when some guys fought multiple times in the same night. At UFC 2, Gracie defeated four men to take the tournament crown, and won every fight by submission. In this game, he’s no slouch in the “stand & bang,” but the action goes to another level on the ground. The mechanics for takedowns, transitions, guarding against transitions, fighting from your back, and going for submissions come into full effect with the Brazilian. He has so many positions and subs in his arsenal, that it’s harder to find a place he can’t isolate a limb or slip a hand underneath the neck. From the back, being able to transition into a rubber guard and sink in a triangle choke is expert BJJ that most combatants simply don’t possess. Both of these characters are really fun for reasons on opposite ends of the spectrum, and shows the relative consistency and versatility of UFC.
For strictly single player, look to Career mode. Create a fighter, and be prepared to go for an appearance on The Ultimate Fighter. One of the cornerstones to the league’s new found fame was the TUF season 1 finale between Forest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar, that saw Griffin win a close decision, but was the launching pad for both their careers and solidified TUF as a premier reality show. Just like those guys, you’ll fight your way from the elimination (“play in”) fight, to the opening round, quarters, semis, all the way to the Finale for a shot at a contract with the UFC and and a chance to move up the ladder towards the title belt! The CAF options are pretty standard, but a few are important. One being weight. Depending on what style of mma you prefer and care to emulate, pick a class that follows suit. Like speed over strength? Go for fly, bantam, feather, or light. Knockout prowess goes along with heavy and light heavy while welter and middle lie somewhere in between.
The second key decision is fight style. Choose from one of ten to grow and progress from, including: boxer, freestyle wrestler, Greco Roman, mixed martial arts, Jiu Jitsu, Judo, Karate, kickboxer, Muay Thai, and Tae Kwon Do. These choices show good balance for those inclined to stand up or ground, but aren’t so extreme that it makes it impossible to eventually be a balanced fighter. Before each fight in Career, you’ll have the option to participate in three training sessions that are a random assortment of Challenge drills and sparring tilts. Good performances in these garners higher Evolution points. These points are used to gradually upgrade CAF attributes or unlock new moves like the elbow hook and double under clinch. This single player offering is deep and structured, but it’s not without its flaws. For your first several fights, you’ll have to deal with low ratings until those Evo points start stacking up. Things like low power and lacking speed are nothing compared to stamina. You get winded so easily that it’s hard to find that “groove” I mentioned earlier. You have to go about things so deliberately that it actually gets annoying after a while. Grin and bear the first handful of fights, and upgrade the “fitness” attributes first before all others! And maybe it’s just me, but I feel like the little FMV clips are a bit cheesy, particularly the stuff that was just plucked from past episodes of TUF and isn’t original content for the game. Those looking for a flesh and bone challenge should look on further than online. Three modes encompass the offering on UFC, with Championships being the biggest. Inspired by “Season” on other EA Sports titles, you’ll continue to fight and notch wins in each weight class to progress up the stages of belt level, from the novice white to the expert black. For those with gaming frenemies, Rivalries tracks win-loss records and stats for those on your LIVE friends list that you have battled time and time again. And Quick Match finds a random player across the ‘net looking for a scrap.
The sights and sounds of this game holds all of the grandiose splendor of the world’s fastest growing sport. The simulated “atmosphere” of being at the events is great. One of the best announcing duos in sports Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogen display great commentary and really add to the second-to-second action happening in the ring. And what would fight night be without “the veteran voice of the Octagon” Bruce Buffer? His trademark quips and passionate energy resonates well before the the fray starts. These aspects, though, are but asides compared to the character models. The showing of accumulated damage upon the face and body from round to round is probably the most technically impressive aspect of the release. Cuts and contusions get worse with hit after hit and stay consistent the entire way through. Also, the appearance of the abrasions vary depending on skin tone. Repeated leg kicks upon the tree trunks of someone with “fair” complexion becomes beet red while a “mouse” under the eye of a darker fighter has much deeper color. It really is something that has to be seen to understand the gravity. But once you go through your first five rounder and see the toll that will undoubtedly show on both participants, you realize you’re looking at the next step in the evolution of the sports game character model.
