Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Ron Burke

On November 12th, 1993 the world was introduced to a sport called The Ultimate Fighting Championship.  The first UFC featured 14 fighters in a bracketed system with the winner moving on from the preliminaries to the semi-finals, and then competing in the finale for $50,000 dollars to the winner.  There were no weight classes, very little rules, and in a single night, changed the world of martial arts and combat sports forever.   A young Brazilian named Royce Gracie defeated all of his opponents in first round choke-out submissions, taking most down in less than 60 seconds.  Gracie continued his dominance of the UFC for several years, but the sport was also changing and evolving.  The fighters wearing a gi (uniform) into the ring are gone, and we’ve seen a rise of some of the best mixed martial artists in the world.  As we come up on the 100th UFC competition in July, THQ and Yuke’s Co. Ltd. have teamed up to bring the most realistic representation of the sport to the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.  Several other companies have tried to bring the intricacies of the MMA world to game consoles – it’s time to find out if UFC 2009: Undisputed is going to step up or tap out.

The largest problem with any fighting game is collision detection.  Half the time you’ll find yourself punching through your opponent, clipping through them as you get close, or the engine will register a hit when your opponent isn’t even close.  The Fight Night series suffered from it, early UFC titles were ruined by it, and almost every 3D fighting title grapples with it now and again.  The folks at Yukes have been making wrestling games since 1996 (Toukon Retsuden 2 in Japan) so they’ve certainly had their fair share of struggles in this department.  Utilizing a completely new engine, Yukes Osaka has been working on UFC 2009: Undisputed for several years now, trying to perfect the exact nature of the striking and grappling game.  To really bring it to life Yukes would have to call on the active fighters of the UFC for motion capture, so that is exactly what they did.  Rashad “Sugar” Evans, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida, Frank Mir, Brock Lesnar (who has the worst chest tattoo ever, but I’d like to see you say that to his face…if you can see that high), Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, Anderson Silva, Rich Franklin, Georges St-Pierre, Josh Koscheck, Matt Hughes, both Ultimate Fighter Season 9 coaches Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson, Mike Swick, B.J. Penn, Mac Danzig, Tyson Griffin, and many other fighters (82 in all) have lent their likeness to the game, and the results are stunning.  While fighters like Tim Sylvia got some generous “adjustments” (it looks like he lost about 80 pounds and hit the gym pretty hard), most of the fighters are pretty spot-on.  There is one oddity that was visible almost immediately to me as a fight fan – why are my favorite fighters suddenly right handed?  Kenny Florian, Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida, Rich Franklin, and Mirko Cro Cop are all lefties, but when you play them you’ll find them all squaring off as a righty.  It isn’t a big deal, but if you are trying to make the game, as the slogan says, “As Real As It Gets”, then this seems like a bit of an oversight.

The collision system being as detailed as it is enables something thus far unique to this title – glancing blows.  Having fought full contact for most of my life, I know full well that a glancing blow can knock you unconscious just as easily as a bone-aligned straight punch to the jaw.  The game recognizes this, giving you the ability to ‘clash’, making your punches slip off, riding up the forehead.   These can still cause damage, as does blocking an incoming strike, and it is great to see them come to life in a fighting game.

Yukes employed the Havoc engine for their physics, enabling the incredible clipping detection present in the game.  Thankfully you can download a demo of the game to see for yourself, so don’t take my word for it.  There is something that you might not immediately recognize however, the new Havok system for clothing.  Sure, it’s a little thing, but when a fighter is down, their shorts (especially the long ones) will hang a certain way.  Similarly, they’ll bunch and adjust based on body posture.  Just one more detail to bring the UFC to life.

Speaking of bringing things to life – the game features a multi-stage damage system for your fighter’s face.  As you take damage to a specific area on the face, your fighter will develop redness, bruising, swelling, and eventually ever-widening cuts that act as beacons for the other fighter.  While the game doesn’t feature stoppage due to damage, you will take additional hits to your health by taking repeated punishment in those areas.

One thing that really made me happy about UFC 2009: Undisputed was that I only saw a framerate hitch in a single place – training.  When sparring (we’ll talk about that later), you’ll occasionally see your sparring coach in the background, and as the camera swings through him he will become semi-transparent.  For some reasons this causes the framerate to drop momentarily.  This doesn’t occur during actual fights, or anywhere else, leaving the player with a very smooth framerate throughout.  Given the level of detail in the fighters (each are made from roughly 35,000 polygons), that is impressive.

Since THQ and Yukes were working hard to bring the most realistic representation of the UFC experience to life, they went straight to the commentary source and picked up Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg.  Recording more than 30 hours of commentary, the two will run commentary throughout your fight, just as if you were watching the fight live or on TV, announcing the big hits, the misses, the submission attempts, and much more.  They’ll occasionally make jokes or talk about the strategy of a particular type of attack or defense as well.  Not content to stop there, Yukes also obtained the entire audio package of all of the UFCs from UFC40 to the last one in January to ensure they had comments for every fighter in the game.  Additionally, Bruce Buffer, Steve Mazzagatti, Herb Dean, and even Dana White did some voice work for the game – I think the short introduction in the game is the longest I’ve heard Dana go without dropping the F-bomb!  As the game loads you’ll hear some of the post-fight interview stuff from various UFC events, including the incredibly painful “My throws are the best, throws in the world. All the other throws, are done by little girls.” quote from Karo Parisyan.  It’s good stuff, and if you have been a long time fan, you’ll immediately recognize them.

The sounds of fighting aren’t the ones you hear in most movies – it is usually more of a smacking sound as hands, knees, elbows, and feet impact sweat-covered skin.  Obviously Yukes did a bit of sound capture to bring this to life.  Punches land with a satisfying thud, and kicks to the shin certainly sound like bone on bone.

To round out the experience, Yukes brought on STEMM to lend the UFC soundtrack song “Face the Pain” to the game, as well as all of the other music and sounds you’d normally hear during a UFC Pay-Per-View event.  You’ll hear the Gladiator-esque lead-ins during the Tale of the Tape portions, you’ll hear the heavy hitting sounds and guitar riffs as the game loads, and you’ll hear the closing credits after your fight.  For anyone who has watched a lot of UFC PPV, you’ll immediately recognize the format as it is exactly as it should be.

The only knock I have against the audio presentation of this title is, surprisingly, repetition.  Certain techniques clearly only got a handful (or less in some cases) of voiceovers, so if you try to wear someone down using a particular strike pattern, you’ll begin to hear some repetition.  For instance, performing leg kicks will almost always trigger a comment from Goldburg asking Rogan about the defensive strategy for leg kicks.  You can only hear “you should check em, or get out of the way” so many times before you can quote it verbatim, as I just did. 

Street Fighter II has somewhat simple controls on the surface.  Punching, kicking, and even throwing a fireball is pretty simple.  Killer Instinct has one of the most complex combination systems I’ve seen in any fighter to date.  Which game has sold more copies?  Complexity doesn’t always make a game better.  Simplicity isn’t the key either.  There is a certain balance to fighting games where it has to be realistic enough to please hardcore folks like me, but easy enough where most people can pick it up and play.  Since UFC 2009 straddles the line between a sports title and a fighting game, it is only right that it also tries to reach both sides of the isle.  The game has incredible depth, and it will take a while before you can truly master it.  Standup fighting is fairly simple with the face buttons handling high left and right punches or high/middle left and right kicks.  Holding the left trigger modifies this to throw those same techniques lower.  Holding in the left bumper makes them into more risky high power equivalents, depending on your selected style.  It isn’t particularly difficult up front, allowing players to immediately begin taking down fighters with a flurry of punches and kicks, provided they get the timing down.  Blocking is handled by the right bumper.   It is the ground game that makes things a little more complex.

Jiu-Jitsu is not unlike chess.  Taking a guy down to the ground changes the dynamic of the fight.  You can’t step in to a punch for more power on the ground.  You can’t pivot your hips for power on the ground.  It’s hard to overcome gravity to punch upwards if you are on your back, and there are lots of leverage points that can be used against you if your opponent has the right type of training.  Add on top of that the energy required to dust yourself off and get up, and knowing a bit of ground skills might be the only thing keeping you from being put to sleep in the Octagon.  To that end, you can take down a fighter by flicking the right thumbstick forward.  Your character will shoot towards his opponent, attempting to grab one or two of his legs out from under him to drop him to the ground.  Using the trigger and bumpers you can modify this into various other throws but most of them end up in the same place, so it instead becomes important to know when to use each of them so you don’t catch a knee to the face on your dive in to grab a leg.  From there, you’ll use quarter circle thumbstick moves to improve position (full guard to half guard, etc.) or by holding down the left bumper and going slightly beyond the quarter circle rotation, more aggressive attempts like moving into full mount.  The ground game is the absolute best we’ve seen to date, capturing the incredible nuances of grappling.  It all comes apart when you try to do something other than ground and pound your opponent.

I had beaten the game once with a striker, taking down Rashad “Sugar” Evans in a Round 1 knockout with my fighter when I decided that I’d like to see how the other half lives.  Creating the most hillbilly fighter (Clevon “The Grim Reaper” Johnson) I could possibly make, complete with an oversized flag and skull tattoo, I decided to build the best grappler I could make.  I ramped up his skills and core strengths until I was ready to start submitting people.  The mechanic for submission is to move your fighter into position, click the right thumbstick, and then rotate the thumbstick furiously until you’ve depleted your opponent’s stamina (yours depletes at the same time, so you’ll have to wear them down a bit first).  The ‘shine the car’ method is the best way to get the speed necessary to complete your submission, so that’s what I did.  Time and time again I was thwarted – I completed my quest for the belt having only submitted three people, one of them being my training partner during a sparring match.  Put simply, even on the easiest difficulty level, submissions continue to evade me.  I’ve even followed advice from the developer and I still find it overly difficult.  I’m not asking for a single button press submission, but something has to be easier than this method.  I hate to hit it as hard as I’m going to, but a good chunk of the ground game is simply broken by this game mechanic.

Fighting games that are as complex as this are really all about hardcore math.  To that end, Omar Kendall and his team at Yukes broke down the UFC skills into six different styles (boxing, kickboxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling, Judo, Muay Thai) and 16 major skills.  These combine with three core stats of Stamina, Speed, and Strength to create your fighter.  The skills include standup striking, standup defense, takedown offense, takedown defense, submission offense, submission defense, grappling, clinch, and more.  You’ll improve these skills the way any real fighter does – sparring.  You’ll improve your stats by spending time in the gym.  You’ll become a better fighter overall the way everyone else does – putting your chin and pride on the line in the ring.  In UFC 2009, your fighter truly is the culmination of all of these things.  You’ll likely face fighters that have incredible stats, but with a certain focus.  You use your ground game against punchers, you use your standup against the submission specialists. 

The game is split into several sections.  In the Exhibition mode, you’ll get to face off any of the 16 fighters in 5 different weight classes against each other.  You have to stick to your own weight class (although some fighters span multiple classes), but you’ll have access to all of them.  (the last two are DLC exclusive to GameStop)  In Classic mode you’ll be presented with challenges to recreate some of the more famous fights in UFC history, and meeting those challenges will reward you with some cool footage of the actual fight.  There is a full online mode that we’ll talk about in a moment present here.  Before that, let’s talk about the Career mode.

In UFC 2009, you can create your own fighter utilizing a pretty robust creation system.  The create-a-fighter system allows you to bring a fighter from the very bottom of the ranks up to the very top, clawing your way from low-rent freebie shows up to being the headliner of your very own Pay-Per-View fights.  You’ll work with UFC fight coordinator Joe Silva to map out your own fight destiny, picking between three fighters after each win or loss for your next match.  You’ll also work with real coaches from various camps like Nate Diaz, B.J. Penn, and Forest Griffin to build your selected grappling and striking styles.  Rather than go with mini-games like many fighting titles, Yukes went with a more streamlines simulation.  When you attend camp you’ll be presented with a task list to complete before the time runs out.  These tasks can range from complex things like landing a certain submission from a specific position to the very simple task of landing 5 punches.  The other fighter will be working hard to prevent you from completing your tasks, so the rapidly ticking clock is your enemy here.  How you perform will determine how many points you get towards moving to the next tier in your discipline, which unlocks new moves like the Super-Man Punch and the Flying Knee.  The stats and sparring are more about managing your stamina before your fight.  You have a calendar and a specific amount of time before your fight in which to train.  You can hit the gym and train light, medium, or intense on your three skills, or you can hit the mat and spar with your partner.  How well you do in the ring with your partner will give you points to use on your 16 skills.  No minigames, and no gimmicks.  Keeping your stamina low is a bit of a risk though – what if you are called on to fight on short notice?  It happens in real life, and it happens in the game – sometimes with only 7 days to prepare.  The career mode also has a ‘Cred’ system where you can gain better gear (yields more points for your stats) or access to new sponsors (you can customize your trunks with their logos, although I think putting “Viral…” across my junk might impede my progress with the ladies) more than Cauliflower ears)   I was hoping to see a bit more depth to the ‘experience’, but this game is all about the action inside the Octagon, not outside of it. 

In terms of actual combat in the Octagon, this game is spot-on.  Your opponents will utilize the styles in which they’ve been trained, using their natural advantages to try to take you out.  Chuck Liddel will use his overwhelming power and uncanny knack for landing that overhand right to his advantage.  Nick Diaz will use his lanky frame to tie you up on the ground, submitting you from a rubber guard on the bottom.  Mirco Cro Cop can stop a train with his kicks.  Each fighter is well represented, and while I imagine THQ had fun trying to ‘balance’ the complaints of the fighters about how they might have a head kick that’s never been seen in any UFC, Yukes did a fantastic job making that heavy math into a fun game.   I just wish that submissions were a bit easier to complete – in real life they are certainly tough, but I shouldn’t wear a hole in my palm trying to do it in a game.

Sports games and fighting games are somewhat odd to judge in terms of value.  If this were Madden, you could argue that, other than the stats, the teams are technically all pallet swaps for each other.  Now that I’ve made all of the Madden folks angry, let me say that personal team investment carries the value the rest of the way.  In this way, UFC 2009: Undisputed lets you play as your favorite fighters, allowing you to square off against your least favorite.  I personally find the attitude of Nate Diaz reprehensible – he’s arrogant and cocky, and it was my great pleasure to knock him unconscious.  Similarly, I like taking Cro Cop into the Octagon and celebrating twice as much when I win since he hardly celebrates at all.  To that end, the versus mode is perfect, but I don’t think that’ll be the big lure here.

The create-a-fighter mode does eventually culminate with you taking the belt.  Once you’ve taken your fighter as far as you’d like to go you can retire him (you can actually retire sooner, but good luck in the online mode if you do).  Once a fighter is retired, their stats freeze where they are and they can be used in the aforementioned versus mode.  They can also be used online.

The online mode for UFC 2009: Undisputed works exactly as you might expect.  Just like sitting next to your friends, you can take your retired fighter online, or use one of the already-included guys.  The few online matches I played were mostly lag free – I had a few connections that had issues, but the majority of them were clean.  You can chose either ranked or unranked fights, or host your own if you are inclined.  Surprisingly, the stats that were missing from my career fights were present here.  After a fight you can immediately rematch or go back to your search, so playing a string of games with a friend is less of an issue than in other games that mysteriously boot you to the lobby. 

Overall, the game gives you 7 years to build your fighter in your run for the belt.  Realistically, and with enough practice, you can fight your way into that belt and defend it quite a few times before you reach the end of that timeframe.  To that end, I could take the belt from the reigning champion in roughly 3 hours on the easiest difficulty level.  The levels ramp up quickly, but even at the easiest level there is a good bit of challenge.  Just like the real deal, there is always the chance that you’ll go for something big and end up catching a punch on the button, putting you to sleep suddenly and embarrassingly.  On the other end of the spectrum, if you plan on playing on the Expert level, you’d better have your skills in order – the AI is downright brutal. 

There are a few missteps along the way, the submission control method being the most blatant of them, but for a freshman effort from the Yukes / THQ agreement, this is a great deal more than just impressive.  The game does a fantastic job of capturing the intricacies of Mixed Martial Arts and delivers it in the most realistic representation of a real UFC fight experience.  From perfectly motion captured fighters, seamless online modes, and excellent presentation, UFC 2009: Unleashed truly is “As Real As It Gets”. 

Gaming Trend Score

80

1. Graphics: 95
2. Audio: 87
3. Controls: 60
4. Gameplay: 77
5. Value/Replay: 85
6. OVERALL:80