To this point, mixed martial arts games have been rare at best. The sport has had a handful of games released on the PlayStation 2 and we have yet to see and a title on the new generation of systems. UFC 2009 Undisputed aims to change that in mid May.
The demo only features Chuck Lidell and Shogun Rua but promises 80 more with the addition a fighter builder, so you can live out your fantasy of sitting on top of sweaty guys and beating them senseless without the eminent psychical danger.
Compared to EA's Fight Night Round 3, which debuted in 2006, UFC 2009 stands in the shadows.
Graphically, the game is average. If you keep your focus in the octagon it's clear the majority of the work was spent on the fighter models, as it should for a UFC game. The referee and the teams for the fighters look terrible. The ref especially looks dated complete with choppy animations. Outside the octagon UFC 2009 doesn't fair any better. The crowd suffers from cardboarditis, a terrible disease that causes all onlookers to look like cardboard stand ins moving in a staggered wave.
The controls seem sloppy and unrefined. Unlike Fight Night Round 3's polish and balance you get unresponsive button mashing. Blocks are sluggish to come up while punches and kicks are landed with ease and a lack of thought for timing.
Ground fighting is where the demo falls apart completely. The right stick handles all grapple moves and take downs. Once you're on the ground the game falls farther into the hole of button-mashing hell, which I didn't think was possible. You are reduced to punches to the face and torso with no sense that you are winning or losing. Once on the ground it's almost impossible to return to the standing position where the game is more exciting.
The mechanics are interesting, but I'm not sure they're balanced. Lidell is known for his strong hits to the face, but should these devastating hits allow him to knock another professional fighter out on the first blow? They can and will. If this is balanced then that's my tip for all players who'll be flooding ranked matches in May. Pick Lidell and aim for the head, problem solved.
Impression: Wait and See. Balance issues are big for a fighting game. Since the market already has polished keepers like Street Fighter IV and, the more appropriate comparison, Fight Night Round 3, the lack of balance is too worrisome to overlook
"but should these devastating hits allow him to knock another professional fighter out on the first blow?"
Yes. In MMA, one punch knockouts do happen. Not often, but they happen. The game wouldn't be accurate without things such as early knockouts, even though they may make playing the game frustrating on occasion. This is not SFIV, this is a sports game. Just like fumbles can happen in Madden (through no fault of the player), sometimes you'll eat a punch and get floored. It happens.
You said that once the fight gets to the ground the game goes further towards "button mashing hell", which you didn't think was possible...but you hadn't previously described or mentioned any instances of button mashing. What gives?
"You are reduced to punches to the face and torso with no sense that you are winning or losing." Here's a clue- if you're on top, punching the other guy in the face, you're winning. Also, you aren't reduced to doing those things. You can improve your position by passing guard, etc. and you can attempt submissions. Why no mention of that? Finally, it's not hard to return to your feet from the ground. Every time I ended up on the ground as Shogun vs. Liddell, we ended up back on the feet. Also, the ref stands it up if no one is able or willing to do anything.
It seems that you're not very knowledgeable about the sport, which is maybe part of why you are unhappy with the game. Most of the flaws you mention are just representations of how the sport works. If you are bored with the ground game and think it's all just about punching the other guy in the face, then stick with Fight Night. But let's not talk about Fight Night 3's balance. Come on, you block a guy's punch and he's frozen, jaw agape, for three seconds?
There are things that they will inevitably look to improve upon for the next version, but you didn't really point out any of those things. Things like not checking leg kicks, choppy game play when following up on a downed opponent for a TKO, some stiffness in movement, etc. Fans of traditional fighting games (or even Fight Night) aren't necessarily going to like this one, because you won't always know that you're about to be KO'ed or submitted. Everyone will lose at this game, no matter how good they are. That's how the sport is, and they wanted to recreate that, rather than cater to gamers who aren't fans of the sport.
The demo is actually really good if you're a fan of the sport.
If you check out any MMA sites the fans of the sport generally have pretty high opinions of the game. But a big part of the attraction is being able to work towards a certain position on the ground and submitting your opponent in some exotic way. But if you aren't a fan of the sport and don't know what submissions are possible and what positions they can be done from the depth, timing, feel and accuracy of the combat (grappling in particular) wont be apparent.
The controls may seem a little unresponsive for blocking etc. But that's only if they opponent is attacking and landing on you. The timing they use in the game is actually quite accurate real life as once you've been popped in the face the body is pretty unresponsive too.
The way they've gone for the ground fighting controls is excellent. You have to balance peppering your opponent with strikes, maneuver out of stall hold, block any sweeps that they attempt and then make well timed transitions is pretty accurate and done in an intuitive fashin. The trick is to study and practice the tutorials until you get the moves down.
The reason the fighters may seem unbalanced is because they reflect their real life fighter's abilities. ie. in the demo Chuck is a heavy handed Kick Boxer / Wrestler and Shogun is a heavy footed Muay Thai / BJJ fighter. They both have different striking and groundfighting options from each position (press start and check out the action list each time you make a transistion).
If you play the game against a higher difficulty level it's much harder to get the one hit KO's and you have to fight with more strategy. eg. To beat Chuck you can go about it a few ways 1. Stay mobile to block / avoid his punches and make the most of Shogun's kicks to go for a KO victory. 2. Clinch or shoot in on to take Chuck, soften him up with strikes and go for a submission. 3. Clinch or shoot in again and beat him up on the ground with strikes for a TKO.
Of course Chuck fights back meaning you have to keep working towards your strategy or adapt to another to get the win.
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Fight Night Round 3?
You mean that boxing game where you can throw punches guaranteed to knock someone down ? Balanced!
"but should these devastating hits allow him to knock another professional fighter out on the first blow?"
Yes. In MMA, one punch knockouts do happen. Not often, but they happen. The game wouldn't be accurate without things such as early knockouts, even though they may make playing the game frustrating on occasion. This is not SFIV, this is a sports game. Just like fumbles can happen in Madden (through no fault of the player), sometimes you'll eat a punch and get floored. It happens.
You said that once the fight gets to the ground the game goes further towards "button mashing hell", which you didn't think was possible...but you hadn't previously described or mentioned any instances of button mashing. What gives?
"You are reduced to punches to the face and torso with no sense that you are winning or losing." Here's a clue- if you're on top, punching the other guy in the face, you're winning. Also, you aren't reduced to doing those things. You can improve your position by passing guard, etc. and you can attempt submissions. Why no mention of that? Finally, it's not hard to return to your feet from the ground. Every time I ended up on the ground as Shogun vs. Liddell, we ended up back on the feet. Also, the ref stands it up if no one is able or willing to do anything.
It seems that you're not very knowledgeable about the sport, which is maybe part of why you are unhappy with the game. Most of the flaws you mention are just representations of how the sport works. If you are bored with the ground game and think it's all just about punching the other guy in the face, then stick with Fight Night. But let's not talk about Fight Night 3's balance. Come on, you block a guy's punch and he's frozen, jaw agape, for three seconds?
There are things that they will inevitably look to improve upon for the next version, but you didn't really point out any of those things. Things like not checking leg kicks, choppy game play when following up on a downed opponent for a TKO, some stiffness in movement, etc. Fans of traditional fighting games (or even Fight Night) aren't necessarily going to like this one, because you won't always know that you're about to be KO'ed or submitted. Everyone will lose at this game, no matter how good they are. That's how the sport is, and they wanted to recreate that, rather than cater to gamers who aren't fans of the sport.
The demo is actually really good if you're a fan of the sport.
If you check out any MMA sites the fans of the sport generally have pretty high opinions of the game. But a big part of the attraction is being able to work towards a certain position on the ground and submitting your opponent in some exotic way. But if you aren't a fan of the sport and don't know what submissions are possible and what positions they can be done from the depth, timing, feel and accuracy of the combat (grappling in particular) wont be apparent.
The controls may seem a little unresponsive for blocking etc. But that's only if they opponent is attacking and landing on you. The timing they use in the game is actually quite accurate real life as once you've been popped in the face the body is pretty unresponsive too.
The way they've gone for the ground fighting controls is excellent. You have to balance peppering your opponent with strikes, maneuver out of stall hold, block any sweeps that they attempt and then make well timed transitions is pretty accurate and done in an intuitive fashin. The trick is to study and practice the tutorials until you get the moves down.
The reason the fighters may seem unbalanced is because they reflect their real life fighter's abilities. ie. in the demo Chuck is a heavy handed Kick Boxer / Wrestler and Shogun is a heavy footed Muay Thai / BJJ fighter. They both have different striking and groundfighting options from each position (press start and check out the action list each time you make a transistion).
If you play the game against a higher difficulty level it's much harder to get the one hit KO's and you have to fight with more strategy. eg. To beat Chuck you can go about it a few ways 1. Stay mobile to block / avoid his punches and make the most of Shogun's kicks to go for a KO victory. 2. Clinch or shoot in on to take Chuck, soften him up with strikes and go for a submission. 3. Clinch or shoot in again and beat him up on the ground with strikes for a TKO.
Of course Chuck fights back meaning you have to keep working towards your strategy or adapt to another to get the win.