We previously discussed the new game modes being implemented into UFC Undisputed 2010 – from Tournament Mode to Title Defense Mode – so today, we are dedicating our time to go into lengths with the Career, Create-A-Fighter and Ultimate Fight Modes.
Upping the ante from seven to 12 years for the length of Career Mode, THQ has decided to take a more realistic approach to the player’s career. Taking a close look at how long a real life fighter’s career spans – THQ estimates 10-15 years – the developers have stated that players can expect to compete in 50-60 fights, which is more than double from last year.
Adding in an aging system for created fighter and authentic UFC fighters, players can now expect their fighter’s stats to decay after they have passed their prime of the career. Luckily, players are able create a young fighter, fight through amateur fights and the World Fighting Alliance (a minor league) before receiving the call to the big leagues. The amateur fights serve as a training process to learn the controls and difficulty levels. The difficulty levels factor into how many points are earned for the fighter’s progression of skills, attributes and techniques, so the more difficult the setting, the more points they’ll earn.
Players can choose to turn pro at any time during their amateur fights and begin their ascent through the WFA and UFC. Starting out in the UFC, players will be relegated to Ultimate Fight Night undercards until they make a name for themselves. Once that is accomplished, they’ll advance to headlining and then to fighting on the preliminaries of the PPV. The overall objective: win the title.
Once the title is obtained and they have cleared out the division, players are then able to switch weight classes to fight new competition. This is bound to give players a fresh look at the Career Mode in the later stages of the mode. Fighters are able to move up or down weight classes, so there are always two options available.
Fighters will also receive assistance from Ultimate Fighter Season 4 Coach and MMA trainer, Marc Laimon throughout their career. Laimon, a grappling specialist, guides the players to building their fighter into a complete fighter and will be seen in many of the game’s cut scenes. On top of Laimon, Dana White, Joe Rogan, Mike Goldberg, Rachelle Leah and UFC ring girls show their faces through cut scenes such as weigh-ins (only seen for title matches), behind-the-scenes interviews, post fight interviews and much more.
Advancing through Career Mode, players will no longer be forced to unlock sponsors through CRED levels. UFC Undisputed 2010 instead relies on a new stat called Popularity that is based on winning matches, participating in media events, and the like. Once the sponsor is available to the player, the player will then have to unlock additional items and accessories by wearing the sponsor’s clothing in the ring and showing commitment.
For the CRED, it does return, but in a new fashion. CRED is used to determine which sparring partners and training programs are available. Sparring partners affect the skills of the player while the training programs affect the attributes. Players will have to pick and choose which one they want to concentrate on for their fighter.
Another opportunity to change pace is the ability to create rivalries and friendships with fighters in the business. Through pre-fight interviews and post-fight interviews, players are able to make dialogue choices (up to 4 at a time) to disrespect or show respect for other fighters. All of the dialogue is voiced based on the pre-selected voice type in the character creation process. On top of that, they are able to disrespect and show respect via gestures at the stare downs throughout the weigh-ins. Train with a rival, players will earn a boost in CRED and popularity. If they opt to train with a friend, they’ll return home with a boost in their techniques.
Speaking of camps, there are 25 within the game and they have real-life trainers such as Sean Tompkins, Greg Jackson and Ed Soares. Each camp offers a different assortment of moves that are specific to their camp, so it’s essential to mix and match camps for training prior to matches. Roughly offering 40 moves per camp, when can be leveled up multiple times, the replay value has skyrocketed within the Career Mode.
Before moving on, THQ has also added in automated sparring, Career Awards tracking, temporary boosts based on gameplans, a new gym to train in and much more. No longer will players be forced to fight through the same opponents in repetition; instead, THQ has improved the matchmaking and, of course, added in double the amount of authentic fighters.
Now for the Create-A-Fighter Mode – fighters created here aren’t accessible in Career Mode – the developers have added in a drag-and-drop system to add tattoos and logos wherever they want. This change is a wide improvement over the predefined locations from last year, so players have a multitude of options to make their fighter unique. With that said, THQ has provided 50 nicknames (in comparison to 10 from last year) and have 100 first and last names to choose from that will be announced by Bruce Buffer and the announcers.
The customization has been fined tuned and made much more accessible. Adding in custom introductions/celebrations, CAF voices, new disciplines (karate and sambo), fighter stances, navigation styles, and new clothing, UFC Undisputed 2010 has a plethora of options to have players get lost in.
The last mode, aptly renamed Ultimate Fights Mode – after last year’s Classic Fights Mode, allows players to relive memorable fights from UFC’s history. As a two-player mode, Ultimate Fights Mode provides a different presentation and unique commentary that isn’t found anywhere else in the game. Every fight comes bundled with a prefight montage presented by Arianny or Chandella (UFC Octagon girls).
Ultimate Fights Mode permits players to change history so that fighters that may have lost certain bouts have another chance to win. Rewriting history unlocks certain items within the game along with a montage of the actual fight itself. There are four categories to select from (Ultimate Classics, Ultimate Knockouts, Ultimate Submissions and Ultimate 2009), each with their victory requirements to either relive the fight as it happened or change history.
UFC Undisputed 2010 is gearing up to be one of the year’s most in-depth titles and it is right around the bend with the release date set for May 27.
