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UFC
Undisputed 2010
Score: 6.0 / 10
It's been derided as human cockfighting by
U.S. Senators, hailed as the successor to boxing by its promoters, and
mocked as blatantly homoerotic by the boys at Penny Arcade. It has
spawned a reality TV show on Spike TV and made household names out of
Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Matt Serra, and Kimbo Slice. It's UFC
fighting and the latest virtual iteration, UFC Undisputed 2010, brings
the action to the Xbox 360 with bone crunching and blood spattering
results.
For this year's version, Yuke's went back to the drawing board with the
visuals, scanning or rescanning over 100 different UFC fighters to
provide a higher degree
of fidelity between the real fighters and
their virtual counterparts, along with referees, announcer Bruce Buffer,
and the lovely swimsuit models who carry the cards to announce the start
of each round.
Character models not only look lifelike, but they move fluidly as well.
The various striking and grappling animations are smooth as glass and
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excellently captured. Where the game's
visuals really shine is in the details. Sweat sheen, blood from cuts to
the face, bruises, contusions, whatever your chosen avatar looks like
after a fight, he'll look like he's been in a fight. Adding to the
detail is the customization options for creating your own custom fighter
and the branded gear worn during and after the fight. There are
literally dozens of licensed logos from various merchandisers associated
with MMA fighting in general and the
UFC in particular, and once you've unlocked them, you have the option of
plastering logos on your trunks or other articles of clothing. During a
fight, the camera tends to maintain an angle that gives players the
greatest degree of visibility whether you're striking or grappling and
shifts when you move from standing strikes to ground grappling, as well
as when one fighter is standing over another to pound away. The game
takes advantage of the graphics engine to great effect.
When it comes to sound, UFC Undisputed 2010 brings a lot to the table.
Joe Rogan, and Mike Goldberg sound exactly like they do at a real UFC
match, offering up plenty of color commentary that is not only authentic
and matches the action on the screen nicely, but gives subtle cues to
the player of how well they're doing in the course of a bout. Bruce
Buffer announces the start and end of the match with his usual bombastic
style, even going so far as to announce a fighter's weight in pounds and
stone depending on the venue. Even the refs get in on the act by laying
down the ground rules for the fight before gloves touch and stopping
fighters when one of them is clearly unable to continue. While there's
not music during the actual fights, there's plenty of tunes to be found
before and after, and it sounds much like you'd hear if you were
watching a Pay-Per-View event on cable.
One of the nice touches in the sound department is the use of vocalized
names for your custom fighters. With tens of thousands of combinations
of first name, last name, and nickname, it's a bit of an ego boost to
hear your custom fighter's name announced by Bruce Buffer, though if you
put in a custom name that doesn't appear on the lists, you're simply
referred to by your nickname.
As far as the gameplay is concerned, this may be one of the deepest
fighting games I've ever played. Those looking for a quick fix can pick
a fighter and an opponent and jump into Exhibition Mode. For those
wanting a more traditional fighting ladder experience, Title Mode can
certainly satisfy that craving, and Title Defense Mode can put you on
the other side of the coin, taking on all comers as they try to take the
championship belt from you. Tournament Mode can be a small 4-man affair
or a massive 16-man undertaking. The Ultimate Fights Mode gives you as a
player the chance to relive UFC history or try to change it by
recreating various key fights and setting the victory conditions for
them, not all of which are easy to accomplish. The Career Mode guides
you through 12 game years in the life of a custom fighter as you try to
become the UFC champion in your chosen weight class, and this is very
likely where the most meat in the game is found as you rise in the
rankings, train in places like Black House and Arizona Combat Sports to
learn new special moves, and become a celebrity by showing up to media
event mini-fights or giving colorful post-fight interviews with Joe
Rogan.
The 360 version of the game requires an Xbox Live Gold account to access
all the multiplayer goodies like Online Fight Camps, which create MMA-themed
clans for you and your friends to build and support as you take on other
players in ranked or unranked Xbox Live fights. Rather a static combo
system as was found in last year's version of the game, this iteration
goes with a dynamic combo system. Combined with the opportunity to
customize your fighter's special moves, and drawing from numerous
fighting styles, there are practically limitless build options for your
custom fighters, which will doubtlessly make for a lot of interesting
forum discussions on what makes the best fighter. The game's AI is
surprisingly good and forces players to mix things up rather that just
button mash their way through fights. There's almost too much good stuff
to do in this game and I'm glad to see all of the options available to
keep players playing.
With all of the great features, high production values, and multiple
gameplay options, you may be wondering why I've given this game a score
that doesn't unequivocally say “buy this now!” Shortly before the game's
release, THQ announced that they would be using one-time use activation
codes and charging $5 for a new code once the pre-packaged code on the
back cover of the manual had been used, a move that mirrors Electronic
Art's recently stated “Online Pass” program albeit not quite as
expensive. In the past, I have given games with otherwise excellent
qualities lower scores when I believe there has been some issue which
fundamentally harms the gaming experience at some level. Usually that
issue has been some form of DRM. In the case of UFC Undisputed 2010, it
is this latest fad started by EA regarding one-time codes and
multiplayer. As a reviewer, it is my responsibility to write critically
not only about the features of a game and their relative merits, but
also its value to gamers and its longevity. I have not, do not, and
shall not ever make any sort of distinction between gamers who buy a
title new or used. I believe my reviews should stand as a guide not only
to what is a good purchase here in the present but what will be a good
purchase in the future, long after the first surge of sales has faded,
and I cannot write two reviews saying “This game is a great buy!” for
the consumer buying new and “This game is not a great buy!” for the
consumer buying used. The game is the same, new or used, and UFC
Undisputed 2010 cannot be an unequivocal “must buy” game as long as it
is hobbled by the idiocy spawned by EA. I can only hope this “business
model” dies quickly and painfully and that next year's version will not
be afflicted with it.
