The birds are chirping, the sun is out, the roses are in bloom and winter seems like a distant memory. And for MMA fans, that means it's time to crowd your local video store and trade those hard earned dollars for a plastic box adorned with Brock Lesnar's angry, unfortunately tattooed visage.
Undisputed 2010 has arrived.
The second instalment of what the UFC is hoping will become a yearly franchise a 'la the "Madden NFL" series certainly has big shoes to fill. Last years Undisputed was a runaway smash that took the video game world by surprise and set the bar for all future MMA titles. For the first time, a video game managed to capture the amazing complexity and diversity of a Mixed Martial Arts contest while still being (somewhat) playable and featuring (somewhat) solid presentation and polish.
Still, the general feeling was that Undisputed 2009 was the shakedown cruise, the maiden voyage, so we forgave the odd sway of leak as long as the ship made it into port alright.
A year later, and the bell has rung for round two. Does the THQ developed fight-sim come out swinging, or retire on the stool? Canadianprofighter.com stepped into the cage with Undisputed 2010 to find out what's good, what's bad, and what's just plain ugly in this year's instalment of fighting's biggest gaming franchise.
So, is Undisputed 2010 the pound-for-pound best, or just a paper champ? Time to find out - now let's get it on!
The Lowdown:
The first thing you notice when you fire up Undisputed 2010 is the much improved presentation. Gone is the bland, repetitive alt-rock, the pedestrian production elements, and the confusing menu system. From the opening video on, the game feels polished and legitimate, similar to a Madden or FIFA title in overall presentation quality.
The menus are intuitive and easy to navigate, the graphics much improved, the music suitably epic and the UFC production elements frequently and expertly used. If you've watched UFC even casually, everything will be familiar and should put a big smile on your face. This may represent the best improvement over last year's title. If the Undisputed series is aiming for "Madden" style legitimacy and staying power, the overall quality and legitimacy of presentation certainly elevate it to that standard.
Just get rid of Arriany as the series "hostess". No disrespect - she's smokin' hot and great at what she does, but there's a reason her day job doesn't require her to talk. She does the tutorial videos and pre-fight segments with all the passion of someone reading the phonebook. At a distance. Badly. Her presence is a noticeable drag on the otherwise spotless presentation and atmosphere. Get Rachelle Leah and a couple of Red Bulls - stat!
Of course, for any MMA video game, the biggest challenge and most important factor is the gameplay. Mixed Martial Arts is an incredibly difficult sport to try to simplify into a video game, and last year's Undisputed, to it's great credit, managed to do this quite admirably. The same core system of gameplay is intact here, only with key tweaks, adjustments, and improvements that combine to significantly change the game experience this time around.
Striking is still handled by the four face buttons, each button corresponding to an arm or leg on your fighter. The shoulder buttons allow you to mix up high and low strikes, as well as perform special "signature" shots like Chuck Liddell's overhand right or Georges St. Pierre's spinning hick kick. Fighting "ranges" - such as up close, long distance, running in, shooting for a takedown etc. - have a huge impact on the kinds of strikes your fighter will throw, and along with the addition of head movement (mapped to the left stick) the overall standup game is more technique and finesse oriented.
I've always felt that Undisputed 2009 was more of a "crazy brawl" simulator then a "realistic MMA" simulator, with all standup exchanges resembling Griffin vs. Bonnar. This year's instalment still features exciting standup battles, but rewards the tactical, thinking player over the frenetic button masher - a definite improvement.
This is good news, because the once frantic ground/grappling engine has been given a giant dose of Ambien. Transitions and submissions are still handled by the right stick, meaning the problem of confusing transition and thumb-numbing submission attempts/escapes is as present as it ever was. Submissions are much easier to pull off under the right circumstances, and ground-n-pound is both easier to do and a much more viable tactic this ti
me around. But that's the catch. Ever heard the BJJ mantra "position before submission"? The guys at THQ seem to have, because the whole grappling system is built around that philosophy. Before you can lock on your wicked gogoplata or rain down some sweet GSP style ground-n-pound, you need to advance position. Your opponent will try to prevent this, both of you relying on precise 1/4 and 1/2 turns of the the ultra-sensitive grappling stick (right stick). Button mashing or whaling away on the stick will gassed, swept, subbed - or most likely, nowhere at all. Knowing your positions and being patient is the difference between being Demian Maia or Houston Alexander on the ground.
That's not to say the system doesn't work. In fact, if stark realism is your thing, then you'll probably be in heaven. Just don't get mad when Brock Lesnar lays on you for three straight rounds and there is nothing you can do. You wanted realistic, didn't you?
In the end, it's tough to fault an MMA game for it's complexity and depth simple because MMA is extremely complicated, and any game that seeks to emulate it must by it's very nature be complicated in turn. THQ obviously designed the game for the devoted fan, as the steep learning curve will likely scare off the casual fan or gamer. If you've never seen the Ultimate Fighting Championship before, you might want to rent a few DVD's before you dive in - otherwise, you won't know what the hell is going on.
Structurally, the create-a-fighter and career modes are the same as they were last year. A great change to the create-a-fighter mode (and the whole game, really) is the removal of the "styles" that pre-determined your fighter's moves list last time. Now, instead of being locked into a limited framework like "wrestler/kickboxer", you can pick and choose from whatever styles you wish a 'la carte, and also "steal" the signature moves of other, pre-existing fighters. The result is that the fighters - both created and otherwise - feel much more authentic and individual and less like the same templates with different appearances.
Career mode plays just like it did last time. You take your would be world beater up through the ranks, starting with the jobbers and moving up to the elite. Along the way, you train, ass new moves, level up your various stats, apprentice at well known MMA camps like ATT or Jackson's, and manage appearances, sponsors, the color of your trunks, your bad facial tattoos and all the other day to day concerns of the average cage fighter who is "traneing UFC". The game seeks to add flavour by little touches, such as the inclusion of interviews, Dana White's video blogs, options for trash talking, and so on.
The level to which you will enjoy these flourishes depends on how much you like them when you're actually watching UFC. If you don't go out for all the bells and whistles - well, you'll be skipping a whole lot of cutscenes. Also, the novelty of some of these new additions begins to wear off when the bones of the game's inner engine are laid so obviously bare ("Trash Talk = +15 Prestige Points" seems too blas� a simplification of my scathing, Diaz brothers level of post-fight trash talk).
The Bottom Line:
At the end of the day, fans of Undisputed 2010 wanted a more refined, more polished version of the game, and that's exactly what they got. The biggest detraction remains the depth and complexity of the core gameplay, which may scare off the weekend warriors and will prove daunting even to the dedicated. If you accept that a good MMA game must by necessity be a complicated game as well, then UFC Undisputed 2010 will provide a satisfying and deep experience for the UFC fan.
Rating: A-
Review by Elton "Hobbie" Hobson
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