GamerNode: Reviews - UFC 2009: Undisputed

UFC 2009: Undisputed

• UFC 2009: Undisputed
• PlayStation 3
• Yuke's
• THQ
• May 19th, 2009

To represent the complexities of mixed martial arts in videogame format is no easy task, and successful translations of realistic fighting have mostly evaded developers, despite their best efforts. With UFC 2009: Undisputed, however, developer Yuke's has leapt into the Octagon with care, resolve, and attention to detail, and has come away with a winner.

The game is very thorough. Yuke's has put together a complex and comprehensive fighting system featuring multiple ranges of combat for striking, clinching, and grappling, both standing and on the mat. Players use the face buttons for simple strikes, modifying their attacks with the left analog stick, L2, and L1 for strong, low, and technical blows, respectively. Combos are possible, though players will find the pace of matches to be much more deliberate and not as smooth-flowing as arcade fighters such as Street Fighter or Virtua Fighter. UFC 09 feels more like a boxing sim than anything else.

Unlike a boxing game, however, combatants in UFC 09 each fight using two separate disciplines -- one for striking and one for grappling. Grappling is controlled almost entirely with the right analog stick; players move the stick in specific patterns in order to clinch, throw, shoot for takedowns, and change positions during grapples, as well as to defend against these techniques. Fights are over when a fighter is knocked out, submits, or is rocked to the point of defenselessness and is pummeled by his opponent. The game's tutorial is indispensable for getting one's bearings as a novice, especially for the less familiar mat grappling part of competition.

The combinations of martial arts skills vary by fighter. While this variety is a welcome feature, future games would benefit from expanding beyond the current set of six styles. In UFC 09, only boxing, kickboxing, and muay thai are available for striking, and wrestling, judo, and Brazilian jiu-jistu are available for grappling. I would have liked to have access to more options, particularly in the career and create-a-fighter modes.

Career mode is the bread and butter of UFC 09, where players create a fighter and work their way up the ranks toward championship and eventual retirement. Fighters train, spar, and sign up for fights on their personal calendar, and then earn "cred," sponsorships, equipment, trophies, and new trainers for their performance. They can also participate in photo shoots and attend special events between fights and training. Progressing through a fighter's career, winning fights, and improving skills and attributes ends up having a "just one more round" effect on players, making it difficult to stop at will. In this case, that's a good thing.

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