EA Sports UFC Review
EA Sports brought back the UFC franchise with gameplay more confusing than more than half of the fighters names. Ello Brandon here yet again to put on my MMA gloves and take on this game. When I say take on this game I mean it. This game is tough even on the easiest difficulty it is tough as shit. I'm getting a little ahead of myself, let us fight our way through this review.
There are a few different modes to this game one of them being career mode. That is exactly what you would think it to be. You create your avatar and battle your way to a title shot in the UFC. I had my first problem with creating a fighter. There isn't much to choose from to make what would look like you. Unless you have one of six hair styles they present, then you just pick the one I guess you would have had chosen. Instead of my looking like a short hair guy with a unkempt beard. I looked like a crazy homeless guy who decided to join the Ultimate Fighter. Yes I do agree that would've made this game amazing if it was UFC fighters VS the homeless. So you create the version of you or whoever and take them through the Ultimate Fighter and into the UFC. The fights themselves work beautifully, and they don't just allow the computer to kick your ass immediately. The thing that annoyed me the most was after each match I got three video messages from UFC fighters themselves saying some vague praise that just seemed weird. It is not like these guys are actors so they all sounded like they were reading off a sheet of paper. If you think some pre-recorded praise from some athlete is the best thing ever let me know, because I'll break the fantasy pretty damn quick. The training they make you do before each match is just tedious. While I do appreciate the way it actually teaches me how to play the game; I really just wanted to kick a guy in the face over and over. Career mode seems interesting enough if they didn't try to train you every time and have the fighters talk at the screen it would've been less bogged down with bullshit.
The game is developed by EA Canada. These guys solely make sports games for EA so there is a very good chance you have played one of their games at one time. Unless you play Madden EA only trust them with the less popular sports games. They made the game look good, but the way you can injure your opponent are limited. What I mean is the damage they show is solely in the face and only in the cheeks, eyebrows, or the nose. They did a fine job except for a few things in the gameplay.
The gameplay is challenging and every fight has the ability to be won or lost. I dig the fact that even though the fighters have rankings those don't seem to matter. It is all based on how you fight and which fighters strengths adhere to you. Saying that now I do feel like they could've dumbed down the computer for new players. Even on beginner I felt like the computer could readily kick my ass at anytime. At times it did. The ground game is just as boring to play as it is to watch in real life. I personally played as a brawler. I would kick and punch my way to victory, but I found when I was on the ground just trying anything to get up. Which would be fine if it worked, I had times while on the ground I was doing the stupid ass button while moving the right joystick combination to get out, and my character would just lay there and do nothing. That gets frustrating as shit, but not nearly as frustrating as playing online. Playing online added a whole new hell I never knew existed. Imagine you, yes you being thrown in the octagon with a UFC fighter. That is how is was playing against some of these monsters online. There is no ranking system, so there is no way for the game to put me in with a bunch of new people. Instead I have to fight Murderous Horny Rhino54, while he just beats my ass. To add insult to injury the online at times was laggy. I don't care if it is my connection or their servers that help ruin any online experience. It is bad enough that my fighter might as well wear a fucking tutu while he fights; he also gets to get his ass kicked in a choppy motion as well. Let us say I am just very bad at this game.
In the end the game is only really for hardcore UFC fans. Fighting game fans will get annoyed by how the game sometimes favors lucky blows over combination attacks. It isn't a bad game, hell I found myself having fun and going, "oh shieieeettt" when I got a good knockout hit. It all just wears off quick and unless you are a online badass there is no point in owning this. I say a good rental is enough for anyone that is merely curious on this game I give it a 2/5. Story and replayability are huge in my book, and the fact the online is the thing to keep people playing and it isn't a hundred percent polished, is just not ok. I leave you with a question. How many UFC fighters could Batman take on at once?
There are a few different modes to this game one of them being career mode. That is exactly what you would think it to be. You create your avatar and battle your way to a title shot in the UFC. I had my first problem with creating a fighter. There isn't much to choose from to make what would look like you. Unless you have one of six hair styles they present, then you just pick the one I guess you would have had chosen. Instead of my looking like a short hair guy with a unkempt beard. I looked like a crazy homeless guy who decided to join the Ultimate Fighter. Yes I do agree that would've made this game amazing if it was UFC fighters VS the homeless. So you create the version of you or whoever and take them through the Ultimate Fighter and into the UFC. The fights themselves work beautifully, and they don't just allow the computer to kick your ass immediately. The thing that annoyed me the most was after each match I got three video messages from UFC fighters themselves saying some vague praise that just seemed weird. It is not like these guys are actors so they all sounded like they were reading off a sheet of paper. If you think some pre-recorded praise from some athlete is the best thing ever let me know, because I'll break the fantasy pretty damn quick. The training they make you do before each match is just tedious. While I do appreciate the way it actually teaches me how to play the game; I really just wanted to kick a guy in the face over and over. Career mode seems interesting enough if they didn't try to train you every time and have the fighters talk at the screen it would've been less bogged down with bullshit.
The game is developed by EA Canada. These guys solely make sports games for EA so there is a very good chance you have played one of their games at one time. Unless you play Madden EA only trust them with the less popular sports games. They made the game look good, but the way you can injure your opponent are limited. What I mean is the damage they show is solely in the face and only in the cheeks, eyebrows, or the nose. They did a fine job except for a few things in the gameplay.
The gameplay is challenging and every fight has the ability to be won or lost. I dig the fact that even though the fighters have rankings those don't seem to matter. It is all based on how you fight and which fighters strengths adhere to you. Saying that now I do feel like they could've dumbed down the computer for new players. Even on beginner I felt like the computer could readily kick my ass at anytime. At times it did. The ground game is just as boring to play as it is to watch in real life. I personally played as a brawler. I would kick and punch my way to victory, but I found when I was on the ground just trying anything to get up. Which would be fine if it worked, I had times while on the ground I was doing the stupid ass button while moving the right joystick combination to get out, and my character would just lay there and do nothing. That gets frustrating as shit, but not nearly as frustrating as playing online. Playing online added a whole new hell I never knew existed. Imagine you, yes you being thrown in the octagon with a UFC fighter. That is how is was playing against some of these monsters online. There is no ranking system, so there is no way for the game to put me in with a bunch of new people. Instead I have to fight Murderous Horny Rhino54, while he just beats my ass. To add insult to injury the online at times was laggy. I don't care if it is my connection or their servers that help ruin any online experience. It is bad enough that my fighter might as well wear a fucking tutu while he fights; he also gets to get his ass kicked in a choppy motion as well. Let us say I am just very bad at this game.
In the end the game is only really for hardcore UFC fans. Fighting game fans will get annoyed by how the game sometimes favors lucky blows over combination attacks. It isn't a bad game, hell I found myself having fun and going, "oh shieieeettt" when I got a good knockout hit. It all just wears off quick and unless you are a online badass there is no point in owning this. I say a good rental is enough for anyone that is merely curious on this game I give it a 2/5. Story and replayability are huge in my book, and the fact the online is the thing to keep people playing and it isn't a hundred percent polished, is just not ok. I leave you with a question. How many UFC fighters could Batman take on at once?