UFC 2009 Undisputed
Review of UFC 2009 Undisputed
UFC 2009: Undisputed is the premier, official UFC’s fighting game of 2009. Featuring an extensive roster of the best mixed martial arts fighters in the world, players will be able to fight their way to victory in online, exhibition and career modes within the game and unleash the UFC fighter within!
It seems the main aim of the game is to provide the player with a detailed, authentic UFC experience. The game is really a simulator of a real, UFC fight at the famous Octagon. The game features over 80 top fighters from the UFC spread out across five weight classes, each specializing in two fighting styles. These include; Judo, Muay Thai, Wrestling, Boxing, Kickboxing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. From the very start it is clear that these fighting styles will influence the way you fight in the game.
The fighting itself is a great credit to the game. In the Octagon, you have six main points of combat at your disposal; Strikes (kicks, punches), Transitions, Takedowns, Counters, Submissions and Defense. All of these are affected by your players fighting style, regarding the combo’s and moves you will be able to pull off. The fighting ranges from very simple strikes using square, triangle (representing punches) and X, circle (representing kicks) to complex and difficult combos and moves. The basics of the fighting however are very practical and simple to pull off.
Like most fighting games nowadays, pride is put into the depth of their fighting system. UFC is no exception. There is a huge variety of combo’s, special moves, counters, takedowns, clinches, transitions to get to grips with- mastering this will be very rewarding yet difficult for a player. Each of these is, in turn, affected by the player’s fighting style which allows them to pull off certain special moves or be better at other ones. Luckily however, for the more casual player simply striking and countering your opponent can work, but will be useless against a more experienced fighter.
The fighting itself is a LOT of fun, which is mostly helped by the brilliant authentic feel and look of the game as well as the smooth flow of the fighting and the variety of moves . Striking an opponent sends ripples across their skin and the blood and wounds in-game are some of the best I’ve seen. It is obvious that much attention has been put into this by the developer to create that authentic UFC experience.
UFC contains three main modes of game-play; Career, Exhibition and Online. Career see’s you fighting your way through a busy calendar trying to make your way to the No 1 rank, the UFC title and into the UFC hall of fame before retiring. This can be done with a different character in each weight class, adding up to five careers on offer. The mode is incredibly deep, not only letting the player fight with a character but giving you the responsibility of managing him too. This ranges from training and constantly improving your character's technique, attributes and fighter skills to managing his PR schedule, choosing opponents, arranging sparring partners and choosing sponsors which add to your player’s ‘cred’ (a kind of in-game currency that unlocks further content/ sponsors) after a fight. In a nutshell, you’re in control of every aspect of a real UFC fighter’s life.
This is all done mainly via the e-mail system in the career mode. You receive e-mails regarding your UFC fighter’s career and make decisions from there. You can also check on his ranking and see the various trophies you have collected in your career. The trophies are awarded for doing certain achievements in-game such as winning five consecutive fights to being awarded KO of the night on a UFC fight night and so on. There is a lot to play with within the career mode.
Exhibition mode is exactly as you’d expect. You get to choose from the full game’s roster of fighters to fight against an opponent of your choice from the same weight class. The location in the whole game does not vary from the Octagon but mixing and matching with each fighter’s styles and skills and trying out new moves is a lot of fun and generally what the mode’s there for. It’s very easy to use and on the whole very entertaining.
The Online portion of the game is an extremely valuable attribute. It is not just a simple ‘find-a-game and-fight’ online mode, it is surprisingly deep. The online portion contains leaderboards, ranks, points, weekly leaderboards, detailed stats and a medal and fan system. With each fight you either win or lose points and this adds to your overall level in the online mode and your position on the leaderboard. The game keeps track of all your wins and losses online and how you won the game (if you did) as well as your record from the single player career mode. All of this is shown at the start of an online bout.
The extent of the depth of the stats on this game is shown in the game progress section on the main menu. This keeps a record of nearly every aspect of a player’s activities in-game- online or offline. A treasure chest for all record and statistic lovers out there.
A pleasing side to the online mode for certain is the weekly leaderboard which integrates the medal and points system. For completing certain challenges such as winning ten consecutive online matches or winning a fight with a single attack you gain extra points and a medal which add to your score on the weekly leaderboard. This can, in turn, gain you fans and a lot of prestige.
The quality of the gameplay and visuals only suffer slightly online, notably in the flow of your fighter’s moves and the visuals of your fighter’s blood. This is, of course, mostly subject to the strength of your connection, so keep this in mind when going online.
Another valuable attribute to the game is that in all these modes you can use your own personal, created fighter via ‘create-a-fighter’ mode or one of the 80+ fighters available in the game. Every fighter in-game has been created with painstaking detail and lots of information is available to you such as age, reach height etc. This detail also carries on into the world outside of the fighter’s, with all of the popular commentators, announcers, referees, trainers, Octagon girls and more present in the game.
With create-a-fighter you can take this one step further. You get to choose to create your fighter from scratch or with help from a selection of fighter templates. From scratch, you get to customise your fighter’s basic information (age, nationality), fight style/ attributes, physical appearance and clothing/ equipment. The customisation is deep, with a lot to keep you occupied and satisfy your creative flair. The fact that your created fighters are available for use in every mode is a great plus for the game and adds a lot to the experience, making it a lot more personal.
The game AI is overall very good. There are no pre-set difficulty levels- the difficulty comes with a fighter’s rating (score out of a 100). In career mode the rating of the fighter’s increases as you rise up the ranks and Exhibition mode uses the player rating system to inform you of the difficulty of the opponent. The fact is, the game AI is good enough that each fighter uses their individual fighting style to their advantage so a player rating is not necessarily useful if you are fighting someone who’s fighting style has an advantage over yours.
The loading times in the game are, in my view, a negative for the game. The loading times are not overly long but they are VERY frequent. Just going from one menu to another requires a load and it can get very tiring over a relatively short period of time.
The game features a lot of bonuses and unlockables, which is in-keeping with the developer’s efforts to create an authentic and comprehensive UFC experience. This brings us to the "Classic Fights" section in-game. These are a series of unlockable movies containing footage of classic UFC fights. You’ll have to complete a challenge specific to the "classic fight" in question to actually unlock the footage, but they are very interesting for UFC fans and entertaining for those who just like a good fight!
Visually, the game is excellent. A lot of effort has been put into making each fighter close to photo-realistic and I believe that this is the case. The detail of the fighters is outstanding and the character models and builds brilliant.
While you are fighting, the effects are also quite impressive. The fighter’s noticeably breathe, sweat, bleed and limp relative to the fight and the highlights show the true detail of the visuals when ripple effects are produced after every punch and realistic blood and sweat pours and fly’s all around the ring.
Graphically, the Octagon and the crowd are good. The Octagon is visually quite simple, but it is presented as a crisp and sharp location and the crowd, though not incredibly detailed, does the job in creating an atmosphere for a fight.
The soundtrack of the game is also a noteworthy plus point. The soundtrack suits the game well, pumping out various ‘adrenalin-producing’ tunes, all of which are of a high quality and very entertaining to listen to.
The sound-effects of the punches and kicks in-game are also top-notch, and the voices of the commentators, announcers and referee’s of high-quality and authentic.
OUR PLEDGE: We promise that we have fully played 'UFC 2009 Undisputed' before writing this review. The scores given above are our honest opinion and were not influenced in any way by the manufacturer or distributor of the game.
This review was written by Rob C STAFF © Absolute PlayStation
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