A bead of sweat rolls down my forehead as my character lurches and swings a roving left hook. Like me, he too is sweating, only in a much more manly way as he blocks a vicious head kick. I hammer the pad, holding LB in the hope that I can land a knockout punch.
My over enthusiastic punch gets blocked and he throws a cruel uppercut catching me on the chin and sending my character reeling as the screen darkens and time slows, this could be the end.
He sees the opportunity and steps in to land a series of punches. I hammer the RB button down hard to block the shower of fists. Somehow my character pulls through and regains his composure. That was close. Too close. I have to finish this.
I step forward, gently urging the left stick, hoping that his confidence will give me an opening. He eats it up and comes forward with a series of jabs that don’t connect. This is my chance. Holding LT I press X, Y and X, landing a chorus of satisfying thumps to his ribcage. He understandably drops his guard down low, leaving his face, and particularly that cut left eye open.
This is what I’ve been waiting for. I press RB and X and with liquid precision my ugly created-character steps forward, drops low, and swings a huge over hand right that connects with the cut eye. Blood and sweat spray from the impact as he drops with a sickening thud to the blood-stained floor. I jump in the air and shout some idiotic phrases of the self congratulatory fashion as my character does the same.
Well isn’t this exciting? UFC returns with a bang, bringing the same great intuitive control system, brilliantly realistic graphics and heaps of game modes for you to play through. THQ can’t rest on these alone though, as EA are bringing out their very own mixed martial arts game to challenge the current title holder and assert their dominance in yet another facet of the sporting genre.
Safe to say from my excitable diatribe, UFC 2010 is very good, but it is very tough. Tough, but given enough time it becomes easier. Knocking people out is relatively easy as it is roughly the same as any boxing or fighting sim. With the face buttons controlling both the left and right hands and feet, a simple holding of the shoulder buttons indicating location and the left stick provides movement, with a flick also providing the power behind the blows.
And knocking people out is great fun, too. Thanks to the very highly polished graphics and physics that make the game look and feel so real. Almost too real when you get to see the slow motion replays.
But like the real MMA, you can’t just wander into the Octagon with a wicked right hook, you have to have an all round game. If you’re anything like me then you are going to struggle when you come against clever opponents that drop you to the ground. The way to get out is all about timing and muscle memory; you have to flick the right stick in certain motions to counter an opponents move for full control. If you move too early then you give him the chance to get into a better position to land blows or choke you out. It really is a tactical game.
The game knows it’s hard and gives you a very lengthy tutorial – a somewhat daunting tutorial to newcomers like me – but everything is there for you to study and learn and then relearn when you realise that you don’t actually remember it.
Thanks to my inability to fight on the ground and get good positions, certain game modes were a little difficult for me. Namely the Ultimate Fights mode, where you have to relive famous matches and match the criteria that’s displayed. Knocking people out was doable but submission and TKO’s I found tricky. Much like the WWE Smackdown games you can create your own events and tournaments. I used to love this when I was a fan of the wrestling so I can imagine the fun real fans of the sport will have.
Career mode is the meat of the single player game and it allows you to create your own fighter and take him from an untrained amateur to a dominant title holder. The creation area is really in depth, giving you lots of options to create your perfect fighter, or just press X to randomly generate one and laugh at the monstrosity before you. However the menus are horribly slow, especially annoying when you unlock new sponsor gear and have to spend twenty minutes to find a pair of shorts you like.
The fights in Career mode are just like anything else, except the commentary – called ‘THE GAME IS WATCHING YOU’, but that sounds a bit too scary – goes a long way to make your created character feel real. If you land a big head kick in the first round then do the same in the second, the commentator will pick up on this and mention it. It even does the same from match to match. A very impressive piece of tech that other sports games could do with picking up.
The off season was where I struggled. With up to twelve weeks between fights you have to train your fighter, being careful to keep him conditioned and well rested before the fight. I could do this, this was easy. But then there’s sparring, where you just batter your trainer and use the stat points; specific training, where you can just work on takedowns or stand up and gain extra points in that field and camp invites, that let you learn new moves by fighting the trainer and meeting certain criteria. I just found myself baffled by all this and just wanted to, you know, fight.
That may be the main problem with UFC Undisputed 2010: It’s hard for newcomers to the sport. But the fans will love it, with over 100 fighters, many game modes, online capabilities – I tried it, I mostly got beat, but the games were lag free throughout – hundreds of moves and skills, all wrapped up in great graphics and full licenses. Give it a shot, but be prepared for frustration.
VideogameUK verdict: 8/10
