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RADICAN’S UFC UNDISPUTED 3 REVIEW
RELEASED FEB. 14, 2012 BY THQ
PLAYSTATION 3
UFC Undisputed 3 marks the return of THQ’s MMA franchise after taking nearly two years to make improvements on the game, which didn’t get a new release in 2011. The first two editions of UFC Undisputed suffered from a lot of gameplay issues that made the game difficult to truly enjoy.
The main issues with the series in the past were the difficult submission system, the frequency of flash knockouts, and the frustrating career mode. A lot of the game was simply a chore to get through and frustration mounted playing the first two editions of UFC Undisputed because it simply wasn’t a lot of fun to either get knocked out or be unable to escape a submission. The career mode also wasn’t fun to go through and there weren’t a lot of customizable options in the career mode that made it worth going through the arduous experience of making a fighter and marching him up through the minor leagues into the UFC.
UFC Undisputed 3 has addressed all of the issues the plagued the previous editions of the franchise this time around. Playing the game is a lot of fun, but you have to be willing to invest in the in-depth tutorial that is narrated by Mike Goldberg. It takes time to learn all of the controls in the game, but once you get the hang of them, the game is a blast to play unlike in the past editions. The game features a wide variety of fighters and represents them well, as every fighting is true to his particular style of fighting.
One major difference in the game is the new submission system. Instead of rotating the right stick on your controller to navigate submissions, the game implemented a new mini-game. Now the person applying the submission must navigate their icon around a grid to overlap the icon of the person in the submission. Conversely, the person in the submission must navigate their icon away from the other person’s icon in order to avoid being submitted. This mini-game is a welcome change to the way the submission system was implemented in the past and you actually feel like you are in a struggle once you are engaged in the mini-game.
Outside of submissions, the ground game is vastly improved whether you’re on the top or on the bottom. You can avoid strikes from the bottom with the flick of your analog stick and you never feel like things are hopeless on the bottom, as you can use the controls to navigate out of poor positions as long as you’re not in a stunned state. The ground game was also improved vastly with unique options to employ once the action gets pushed up against the cage.
Flash knockouts are also very hard to achieve. In the past, it was very easy to randomly knock someone out with one punch. That has changed and now the flash knockout usually only occurs when someone dodges a punch and then delivers a counter blow. Even landing a strong counter blow isn’t a guarantee of getting a flash knockout. Most of the time, you have to get someone in the stunned state and then finish them off with punches on the ground to get a victory in that fashion.
There are many other changes to the gameplay that make this edition of the game a lot of fun to play. The clinch game is drastically improved and once you go through the tutorial it’s a blast to engage in battle while in the clinch away from the cage or against the cage. The tutorial takes you through the mechanics of the clinch game and you actually feel like you control your own destiny by using counters and leveraging yourself into better position which wasn’t the case in the past.
Career mode just wasn’t fun on the first two editions of UFC Undisputed. It was a frustrating exercise of navigating the menu and deciding how to level your created fighter’s attributes. That has been changed as well. Now, you have the choice to either create a fighter or take a real fighter and customize his attributes to your liking in the career mode. If you want Brock Lesnar to be a Muay Thai specialist, the world is your oyster. In order to level up your fighter’s attributes, you actually participate in a variety of training mini-games where you have to meet a certain set of criteria in order to get the most points to level up your attributes.
As you progress through career mode, you can join a camp and add special moves. The camp you choose to affiliate with depends on the moves you want to add to your created or UFC fighter. You start out in the minor leagues during career mode, but wins take you up to UFC and Pride. There are a ton of videos featuring fighters talking about their career, which are used to parallel your career in the game. Once you hit the UFC, there are pre-fight videos hyping your fight. All of these new features add an element of realism to the game that wasn’t present before. The game progresses quickly in career mode and you never feel bored moving from one fight to the next. Another fun addition to career mode is that you can move up and down in weight class.
When it comes to presentation, this game really nails the look and feel of UFC and Pride. The game now features full ring entrances for fighters in both UFC and Pride. The addition of Pride mode is a lot of fun as UFC is wise to use their acquisition of Pride in this manner.
The game really nails the look and feel of Pride right down to the obnoxious sounded ring announcer.
The Pride mode features Bas Rutten and Stephen Quadros on commentary as well. The commentary from Rutten and Quadros doesn’t seem as deep as Rogan and Goldberg’s, but this mode is a really fun option. Under Pride rules, you can use kicks, knees and stomps to the head of a downed opponent in the game. The Pride mode also comes complete with a roster of Pride fighters that are customized to look as they did in Pride.
The commentary on the UFC with Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg is deep and they come across like they’re actually calling a real fight. This game might have the most realistic presentation of a sport that I’ve seen to date given the pre-fight video packages, entrances, and deep commentary. Your corner also shots advice to you during the fight and gives you valuable advice in-between rounds. Nothing feels like it was mailed in when it comes to presentation of fights taking place in the UFC.
This game also features several other modes to play through. In Title mode, you have to win a series of matches until you’re declared champion. Once you become champion, things get a lot more difficult, as you have to now successfully defend your title up to 100 times in Title Survival mode. This can be a chore to get through, as there’s no save option. The game also features Ultimate Fights mode in which you compete in classic fights and have to perform specific actions during the course of the fight to successfully win. Online mode seemed to work well and didn’t suffer from any lag and it’s fun to take your created fighter online where you can compete in exhibitions or tournaments.
Overall thoughts: (8.5) - The only downsides to this game are the lack of a save option in Title Survival mode and the amount of time it takes to get through some of the load screens and videos before fights. The game is a lot of fun to play and the controls are great to use once you’ve learned the tutorial. The roster is deep and there are a wide-variety of options when it comes to gameplay.
The presentation of the game is fantastic as well. You really feel like you’re watching a UFC show at times when the fights are taking place. If you’re a fan of the UFC or fighting games, I highly recommend picking this game up. It’s a vast improvement on the previous editions of the game.
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Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Guest_Editorials_20/article_12706.shtml
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