UFC 2009 Undisputed

UFC 2009 Undisputed

You won’t need to be a fan of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) to enjoy the tactical, hard-hitting bouts on offer here. But this could certainly make you a convert.

UFC 2009 Undisputed from THQ is the unlikeliest of contenders to attract Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 gamers away from their GTAIV and Fight Night sessions. However in just a few rounds you’ll not only be amazed by how spectacular this game looks, but expect to be bowled over by the intuitive command moves and depth of strategic gameplay. UFC 2009 makes you feel great to begin with, but doesn’t short change players who practice to become truly great over time.

By the nature of the sport, and the coverage it attracts on TV, UFC is brutal and explicit. This is a million miles and then some from THQ’s other famous rough and tumble series WWE Smackdown Versus RAW. In addition to realistic depictions of Mixed Martial Arts fighters there’s also live footage of historic bouts, and the best of them don’t end pretty. Everything is as it should be in Undisputed then, just be sure it is as you’re expecting if / when you put this in the family Xbox or PlayStation.

MMA isn’t just about violence, it’s about technical skill. Without this the real world sport would be a sham and any videogame left with nothing to build on. However because breaking down your opponent is such a technical exercise, button mashing feels unrewarding for once, but you’ll be surprised at how satisfying it is to land one good kick to the torso, or duck beneath the right hook of a weakened opponent with a swift uppercut. There are no pre-set combination moves in UFC 2009 Undisputed, not even one-twos. The approach is all up to you, and you will develop your own fighting style that can be feared or exploited by other players.

The game offers a Tutorial. Take it – if only because there’s another huge aspect to MMA bouts that has been cleverly, though initially dauntingly, employed: the ground game. Fights continue even when one of the men hit the canvas in MMA. The move to tackle a guy to the ground is quite simple. What happens when you’re down is much less so – twirling the analogue sticks this way and that in deliberate quarter or half circle motions to manoeuvre into attacking positions or achieve an escape. You’ll feel like an animal if you succeed in keeping the other guy down and thank the god that you worship for escaping in order to continue on your feet.

UFC 2009 achieves its realism in a subtle way that’s also very deep. Its greatest contribution to full-contact sports simulation is that every inch of the fighters’ bodies collides realistically, whereas in 3D fighting games until now you will have seen character models melt into each other. The latter not only looks terrible but tells you that there are only a few impact points, designed to suit pre-set rock / paper / scissor stone type priorities. In UFC 2009 when two men throw a punch the game takes into account every statistic behind it – power, range, physical size – then leaves the outcome to the resultant physics. In Tekken or Virtua Fighter, for example, you’ll have a move or series of moves that will diminish an opponent’s energy bar. In UFC you can systematically wear down an opponent’s stamina, and then throw quite a messy punch that just happens to connect with the elbow as you follow through and achieve an instant knockout.

Because of the above, you really get a sense of the fighter in UFC 2009 – they’re more than a photographic-likeness that happens to break into a sweat. You feel their weight, speed and power and must exploit their momentum in both offence and defence situations. And for this reason UFC 2009 is possibly the first fighting game, and this includes the Fight Night series, to really make you think like a fighter, proving the benefits of clinical method above white rage brawling.

Because UFC 2009 goes to such great pains to honour the sport it celebrates the expansive command system my feel out of reach of casual gamers looking for a quick fight. However rest assured that it is still possible to gain enjoyment from throwing random punches and kicks and hoping for a cool KO. But the fans of UFC deserve and no doubt demand nothing less than what’s on offer here – which includes a fully-fledged training routine for custom fighters in Career mode, broadly targeting strength, speed and cardio and broken down into 16 categories of development improving standing attack / defence and grappling attack / defence etc. Phew!

Fans will also appreciate ground-breaking commentary presentation from Joe Rogen and Mike Goldberg, which sounds convincing despite inevitably repeating itself. Indeed the presentation of UFC 2009 is slick throughout with replays that cleverly focus on the turning points of each bout. The ring girls look great too...

After long discussions here at Yahoo! UK Games we’ve realised that UFC 2009 Undisputed is the best that it could possibly be. It’s stating the obvious that it isn’t going to be for everyone, but for the fans its reaching out to, and as a banner for the sport it represents, UFC 2009 Undisputed is a work of martial art.

5 out of 5