Over the last year,
mixed-martial arts has been often challenged by its critics who don’t believe
it’s a sport but rather they believe it’s a circus or spectacle. Well the UFC
and THQ have gone to extreme measures to make sure this highly refined sport of
MMA is displayed beautifully in UFC 2009: Undisputed. With a certain
degree of replay value that many may not have expected, newcomers who know
nothing about the sport will find it comfortable to play through the extremely
well done UFC 2009: Undisputed.
What have UFC and THQ done to
make sure that the sport of MMA is represented well? For starters, they made
sure that the blood and cuts of a fighter isn’t over-the-top. You’ll see cuts
and blood throughout your matches, but it’s not in an excessive amount to the
point of Ninja Gaiden or Gears of War where the blood is thrown
onto the camera/screen of the player. In between rounds, your cornermen will
clean up your face and by the start of the next round, your fighter will look
healthy enough to continue fighting – though he will show bruising. In addition,
THQ isn’t allowing fights to be stopped by cuts. This may anger fans of the
sport since the developers have basically been stating that UFC 2009 is
“as real as it gets”, but you’ll learn to appreciate the exclusion of cut
stoppages. The question has to be raised: would it truly be enjoyable to lose
via cut stoppage online when you felt you could continue fighting? I’m positive
THQ will address cut stoppages in the next installment, but for now, players
should appreciate that there aren’t early stoppages due to cuts.
As for capturing the technical
side of MMA, UFC 2009: Undisputed does an exceptional job. All six of the
fighting styles feel unique such as boxing’s fast-paced punches or judo’s
game-changing throws. Players will have to learn to adapt to every fighter to
try and exploit their weakness in the octagon. From kickboxing to wrestling,
players will have a joyous time learning all of the signature moves for each
style and incorporating them into your pre-fight gameplans. As expected, there
are some areas that need to be improved on for the sequel, but that doesn’t
detract from the overall package that THQ has provided for fans of the sport.
Boxers could use some bobbing and weaving or any kind of head movement to assist
in their style. Judo fighters need an animation, such as wrestling’s spearing
double-leg takedowns, to help them tie up in a clinch since the majority of
strikers are able to stop a judo fighter’s attempt to clinch. The other issue is
that some of the low-key fighters who have similar fight styles, such as Kyle
Bradley and Mark Bocek, all fight in the same manner in the octagon. This
ultimately means that a few fighters are only a change of templates and stats.
Still, THQ did a great job in assuring players that their favorite UFC fighters
have their signature moves such as Rampage Jackson’s powerful slams and Georges
St. Pierre’s axe kick.
There are a few important MMA
aspects missing from UFC 2009: Undisptued. First off, while it’s
pertinent to the UFC and not many other organizations – UFC 2009 doesn’t
incorporate any cage control attributes. What this means is that if you are a
wrestler, don’t expect to push your competitor against the cage to assist in
your takedowns. While the cage is there, fighters don’t interact with it within
a fight. Another aspect missing from UFC 2009 are low blows and
cheap shots, whether they are intentional or not. Low blows below the belts,
shots to the back of the head, knees to the head while an opponent’s knee is on
the ground, and much more aren’t implemented into the title. In all honesty,
while these aspects were probably cut to promote a much more exciting MMA video
game, but their addition would’ve helped create a more variant title. Lastly,
the refs are basically ghosts running around in the ring that don’t interact
with a fighter even if they are pounding their opponent to a bloody pulp.
But don’t let what’s missing in
UFC 2009: Undisputed – whether it’s a particular fighter or gameplay
aspect – hold you back from enjoying the game. There are over 80 fighters in the
game to choose from, so there are an endless amount of match-ups to recreate
from UFC’s history. THQ even went a step further and added in Classic Fights
mode where you are able to recreate classics such as Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan
Bonnar from The Ultimate Fighter Finale 1 or the not-so great BJ Penn vs. Joe
Stevenson (in terms of a competitive match) from UFC 80. Each fight is
accompanied with a video from Rachelle Leah introducing players to the fight and
then it’s followed by old promos shot by the fighters for the fight building up
to the epic battle. If you accomplish the same result as the fight, such as
Rampage Jackson’s lightning fast knockout of Chuck Liddell at UFC 71, you’ll
unlock a montage of clips from the fight itself.
Outside of the Classic Fights
mode, players are able to enjoy an Exhibition mode along with two Tutorial modes
(a Guide mode to show you the basics and Training to practice moves), a thorough
Career mode, and online multiplayer matches. Exhibition mode allows players to
alter which weight division they want to fight in, the venue, the rounds and
which ref they want in the ring with them. The Tutorial modes are recommended to
players who don’t know too much about the sport of MMA since it’ll introduce
them to characteristics such as a Muay Thai clinch, ground transitions,
sprawling and much more.
Career mode is a meaty game
mode that should hold a player’s attention for at least 6-8 hours depending on
how they want their career to play out. Players are only able to take a created
fighter into Career mode and have him rise through the ranks to win a title and
attempt to retire into the Hall of Fame. Along the way, they’ll be able to build
up their fighter’s strength, speed or conditioning for the three basic core
stats. For the individual fighter stats that determine their strengths and
weaknesses, players are able to go into sparring and earn points to distribute
in any of the 16 categories. There’s also the ability for players to build up
their fighter through camp invites where they can learn the basics of their two
fight styles they selected. Sadly, it doesn’t matter which camp you visit as all
of them show you tricks that are already available to you. Once you earn enough
points by visiting the camps, you’ll unlock a new level for your fight style to
grant you new moves.
Throughout the seven-year
career you’ll move up and fight contenders to eventually grant you a title shot.
Once you win the title, the game basically comes to a halting stop in
entertainment value as you’ll be facing the same competition over and over
again. Having faced BJ Penn six times, Kenny Florian five times, Sean Sherk four
times and a few others multiple times as I defended my Lightweight title, UFC
2009: Undisputed wanes by the end of its career mode. By the time you’ve
reached this point, you’ll want to hurry through the rest of the career to
retire your fighter to take him online.
The online multiplayer matches
are standard to what you’ve seen in other fighting games. You’ll be competing in
Ranked and Unranked matches with the ability to customize your searches or host
your own matches. There are three online leaderboards to see how the competition
is faring in the game, but outside of that, this basically breaks down the
online options. The matches themselves did experience lag, but they did smooth
out the more matches I competed in. Players won’t be able to pause in mid-game
nor will they be able to have an option to turn off stamina bars for both
competitors. After each match, players are able to accept a rematch or continue
searching for a new match. In between this decision, they can view the stats of
how many head kicks, punches, submissions and the like were performed in the
match.
So how does UFC 2009:
Undisputed fare overall? It’s a remarkable first foray into the sport by THQ.
Not only did they capture what MMA is all about in their first try, they were
able to throw in game modes to keep players coming back for more. UFC 2009:
Undisputed recommended to both fans and non-fans alike – it’ll have your
head spinning with the insane amount of tactics you’ll have to implement into
your strategy to earn a victory over your opposition.
Gameplay: 8.6
With a few exceptions, UFC
2009: Undisputed incorporates everything that a MMA fan could possibly dream
of.
Graphics: 8.6
While a few fighters don’t look
like their real-life counterparts, THQ did a fantastic job with the animations
(there’s no clipping!) and fighter models.
Sound: 7.5
The soundtrack becomes
redundant after 15 or so minutes to the point you’ll want to mute it. The
commentary by Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg is great, but even then they’ll repeat
their lines in the second match that you throw together between the same
fighters.
Difficulty: Medium
It’s recommended that all
newcomers go through the Tutorial modes to learn how to play.
Concept: 8.7
The craving for a new MMA game
can finally subside for fans of the sport.
Multiplayer: 7.9
The options for online aren’t
extravagant. Lag was apparent right from the get-go, but it shouldn’t be too big
of a problem.
Overall: 8.5
MMA fans can finally rejoice as
the five year drought of UFC games has come to an end. UFC 2009: Undisputed
is a great start to a franchise as the foundation has been set and THQ can
improve on what they have already set in place.
