EA Sports UFC 4 shows that the quality of a sports game is far more important than the amount of quantity in it. UFC 4 improves and adds areas that needed work. It brings in new systems and tighter control designs to make the experience for more entertaining than previous years. This is the best of the best in the UFC series right now, and there is still good room to grow it.
UFC 4 has gone the route of its EA Sports brethren, as it seems to have simplified and focused what it is trying to accomplish for the player, rather than to pile on useless modes and add-ons to try and make the package seem bigger than it is. Giving the player a good experience they can come back to again and again should be the goal of every game made. Some game companies have lost sight of that over the years, but EA Sports seems to have found the formula and stuck to it, especially in UFC 4. Let’s dig right in.
The Wow Factor
Some folks had concerns about visuals as the UFC series is wrapping this generation of consoles. There is always a point where developers hit their stride with engines as new hardware arises. I think the developers of UFC 4 have done an amazing job with hitting that stride right now. The character models, the blood and textures, everything about UFC 4 is visually stunning. The facial expressions of the fighters, the tone and build, even when not exactly built — like my overweight God of a fighter, Punchy McGee looks superb in this game. The tiny details from lip movement, hand gestures, and even down to sweat smacked off a fighter’s face when a punch or kick makes contact is right there in this game and it’s jaw-dropping at times. It’s a visually impressive game, and it’s nothing short of perfection.
On top of this, the environments are nicely modeled, which makes each fight feel bigger and bigger as you progress up the ranks in the game. There are also audible tweaks that bring the presentation value up, such as punching sounds that sound positively brutal as they make solid contact to an opponent. You can feel that audibly, as there is actual sound varies depending on how much direct contact you make with a body part. It’s scientific as it is purposeful with its delivery. The crowd noise has also been improved and it helps to intensify attack moments in the octagon.
Again, the presentation portion is pure perfection from models to environments to audio. This is probably as good as it’s going to get on this generation of consoles.
Gameplay Designed for UFC fans
Will Johnson was our resident UFC guy. He loved watching it, reading about it, and playing the game. He could have told you anything about this sport because he was hardcore about it. I’m sure he would appreciate, as I did, the improved controls in the game, as they tell a story about how well-thought-through each attack and defend design was in UFC 4.
As mentioned above, UFC 4 brings to the table tighter controls that make the action more fast and furious. Fans of the series will see this with various improvements in fighting gameplay design. The biggest is the takedown overhaul, which was impressively changed the dynamic of how a player approaches a fight. There are different ways to takedown an opponent in the game, some grappling to a trip, some straight shoulder charge, and other ways to bring an opponent to the mat. Takedowns can change the outcome of a fight in an instant, and the attacking nature of the takedown certainly makes for exciting gameplay. It opens up submissions and grappling options as well, which we will discuss later.
While the takedown is certainly an offensive strategy, and something that swung that direction more times than note, this year’s takedown design allows balances out and gives chance for a defender to avoid a takedown. It’s a natural fit for the series, as you can wiggle your way out of a sticky situation. Having the ability to get out of a takedown and balance the fight back to face-to-face is a no brainer when it comes to getting fighters are more even ground. It was a good focus from the devs. Regardless if you’re delivering or receiving, the tweaked system seems incredibly balanced and fair. Giving more options and making the controls unique to perform said options helps to build a strategic plan for gamers (you) to bring down an opponent without going down the same control path to achieve it. The variety of takedowns helps to open up different paths, so the other fighter simply can’t see it coming. When you aren’t telegraphing your moves or when you can disrupt a move, such as a takedown, the gameplay execution becomes far more interesting.
While there are different ways to get your player down to the ground, the game also has improved what you do once that opponent hits the mat. The grapple assist design allows you to use the left stick to flip to a fighting choice (Submit, Ground Pound, etc.). The submission option is complicated as hell, though improved. The player who hits the onscreen button first (almost QTE) connected to a circular indicator gets the advantage for submission or possible escape (depending on what receiving end you’re on). I’ll be honest, I was a bit annoyed on how this worked, as I guess I’m just not fast enough to get more success out of it, but having played previous versions of this game, It does give everyone a chance to do well and, much like the takedown system, it’s balanced.
The option I was good at delivering was the ground pound choice during submission (not the Mario one — though that would be equally as brutal). The ground pound move allows you to lay your hardcore fisticuffs on your opponent while they struggle to block. The same system can also waste your stamina and flip the switch where you become the receiver of brutal punishment. The contact points and how absolutely devastating it can be in a match is on point when done right. I think that devs really hit the nail on the head with this and it works delightfully well…unless you’re on the receiving end. Then it can suck badly.
These are some of the bigger improvements with UFC 4’s gameplay design, and they’re methodical in nature. They help move gameplay along while offering up good strategies for competing players. The adjustments and retooling send the series onto a new level that the previous can’t touch. This is what you do when you’re building a series out. You don’t concentrate on putting new designs into the game, you improve upon what you have and see what you’re missing along the way to make the experience better.
Other gameplay designs were improved and implemented, but the above were the most noticeable for me.
Creating Characters – The birth of Punchy McGee
The character creation portion of UFC 4 is intricate. They seem to have taken a page from 2K, where you go wild and create the exact fighter you want. My character was nothing short of amazing and his name was Punchy McGee. Punchy had a giant tattoo from his chest to chin, accentuating his large belly and bringing focus to his giant nips. His balding head merely told the story of a man who had ‘been through it’, but unashamedly been through it, as his comb-over spoke stories of better times. His love for pink gloves and blue tights said he wasn’t afraid to be himself and damn anyone who wouldn’t accept him. This was my UFC 4 creation. This was my Punchy McGee.
On a less dramatic note, the game allows you to take your character and apply certain fighting attributes/styles to their fighting upbringing. While Punchy might have been a bit on the heavy side, his background in kickboxing was nothing short of deadly when it came to execution. It’s a specific attribute system that builds out a unique fighter to a player’s liking and makes the game a lot more satisfying than it should be. It certainly makes it incredibly personal, which is what you want when you’re trying to get your gamer to attach to your game. It’s the gamer’s journey as much as it is the developer’s.
Anyway, It’s a neat addition to the design and it works hand-in-hand with the career mode in the game. This mode is on point with Madden’s career mode and with, dare I say it here amongst EA fans, MLB The Show’s career mode. They work the character’s attributes into the mix, while adding some good drama to make the journey a bit more narrative-driven, something that most sports games are just realizing is important for that player/game cohesive bonding element. While the Fight Now (guess what you get to do there) and the online modes are extensive and have options, the depth and journey that the career mode brings in relation to a gamer’s creation is a bit more developed and personal.
Regardless, the character creation is worth the work and journey. It’s the heart of this game.
Building your audience through gameplay design
Sophisticated control scheme and character creation aside, the biggest issue with this game is that it’s going to be tough to bring in a bigger audience. This game isn’t for everyone and if EA Sports wants to build out and snatch a new audience beyond hardcore UFC fans, it’s going to be rough going. The game will require you to clean your mental slate and make room for the complicated construction of the control scheme. You have to take in a lot of controls with UFC 4, which isn’t unusual for the series. Doing a specific takedown requires you to hit buttons X/Y. Punching is X. Kicking is X. Combinations require X,X. There are a lot of controls to memorize, even some that rival fatalities in Mortal Kombat. Before you hardcore fans out there decide to destroy me here, let me admit something. For the life of me, I can’t think of a solution that EA’s devs can do to make this game less complicated. The idea of the UFC sport is to have various techniques going up against each other. Those techniques span different types of martial arts. Pinning a single control scheme down will only water down the product, as the various martial arts require so many different actual human moving parts to pull off. It’s an impossible task to simplify it on the gameplay side, but if you’re not dedicated enough to learn the system, then you’re going to have a rough time with the game, which is something of a trade-off for gaining a new audience. For me, while I understood what controls I was being taught for the fighter I formed, the end result was that the controls were overwhelming for me to remember during fights. I have either panicked-pushed buttons during fights or I limited my amount of fighting options. I know that sounds lame, but for people who aren’t all-in for EA’s UFC, it’s going to be a tough sell to reel them in with the learning curve.
Again, there’s not much that can be done about this, as EA Sports’ devs have kept the game as close to the sport as possible with purposeful control schemes, but I felt like I was taking a standardized test trying to remember the answers to the moves I was trying to pull off on the fly. It was fun, engaging, but mentally tasking.
This is my biggest complaint about the game.
Conclusion
EA Sports UFC 4 shows that the quality of a sports game is far more important than the amount of quantity in it. UFC 4 improves and adds areas that needed work. It brings in new systems and tighter control designs to make the experience for more entertaining than previous years. This is the best of the best in the UFC series right now, and there is still good room to grow it.
