When you ask someone about MMA, you could get a myriad of responses. The people who have never watched and only heard the news stories will tell you that it’s a barbaric sport for thugs thrown into a cage. People that have seen it but not really interested will tell you that it’s just grown men rolling around the floor and hugging. The fans will tell you a completely different story. A story of men (and now women) who spend every day training body and mind, learning Judo, Karate, Muay Thai, wrestling and boxing to name a few disciplines in the hopes of being the better Mixed Martial Artist and outfighting their opponent.
I fall into that final category when it comes to MMA. I’ve watched it now for about 5 years and waited with baited breath for EA’s UFC to arrive on PS4 ever since they got the rights from THQ and then announced that you could play as Bruce Lee (more on that in a second), but after that wait, is the game any good?
Firstly let’s start with the game modes. EA UFC offers you three single player options; Play now which is your standard exhibition matches, Challenges which allows you to learn various aspects and then there is Career Mode which allows you to create your own MMA fighter (or use Bruce Lee if you have him unlocked by completing career mode on Pro difficulty or higher.. or just pay to unlock him) and begin your rise through the UFC by taking part in The Ultimate Fighter TV show (that’s once you pass through the obligatory training sessions that you can’t skip).
To their credit, EA have done a fair bit of work on the Ultimate Fighter aspect. Much like the TV show, you get opening shots of fighters, and the shows venue and also shots of Dana White talking to the fighters. It gives you a decent look at the tournament brackets and the teams do seem to change in multiple playthroughs It all looks very swish, but it’s at this moment that I began banging my controller against my head. I’m not sure if X-Box One owners will have the same issue, but on the PS4 you will constantly get a little message appear in the top right hand corner of your screen.
Even if you are not recording or streaming any footage of the game, EA have added blocks to vignettes that appear in the game and every time you see Dana White appear, get a congratulatory message from a fighter or get a pre-fight video, you will get the little ‘Bing’ and that message appears. I’m presuming that they wanted to protect their footage, but it was really annoying and I had to go into my system settings and turn off all recording messages just to stop it from appearing.
Once you get into a match, the game really begins to shine. Although you get a short walk-in compared to Pay-Per-Views, you see the match preparation where the medics check the fighter before he enters the octagon and walks around psyching himself up as the team try and pump him up from outside the cage. It all feels very authentic. Once the bell rings, the blows look and sound hard, and the commentators do a good job of reacting to the moves produced. Character models (especially actual UFC fighters) look amazing and UFC makes me think that we are finally starting to see next generation graphics appearing on PS4. Fighter cuts do look a little off, and long hair still doesn’t look amazing, but everything else looks great.
Which is a shame as unfortunately the Career Mode becomes a bit of a grind. After your short stint in The Ultimate Fighter, you begin working the Undercard at Pay-Per-Views (that’s the fights before the show starts for the live crowd in attendance), and I began making short work of all of my opponents (TKO-ing almost all of them in the 1st round)
I soon got to the point where I had a 12 fight winning streak (undefeated at that point) and I was barely on the main card. It felt just plain wrong. Someone with that sort of streak should have been headlining already. Former Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar only had 8 fights in the 4 years he was there and he had been given a shot.. Where was mine? Finally Dana White sent me a video message saying I would have to fight someone else first and that winner would get a shot. I destroyed the guy and then the champion, but it just felt like it had taken too long to get there.
So what else is there to do in EA UFC. Multiplayer of course. UFC comes with the standard EA staple modes such as Online Leagues, Championships, and divisions based upon how well you do. For an EA game, what did seem lacking was some sort of Ultimate Team mode. I could easily have seem them make one using MMA camps instead of teams and pitting camps against each other. Maybe in next year’s version.
In closing, how do I feel about EA UFC. In-fight is definitely solid and enjoyable, but outside feels a little grindy and devoid of life. I’m also not sure if I got lucky or if it’s impossible to get injured, but I feel it’s the latter and if that’s the case, then it’s a real shame. It definitely dulls what could have been an excellent mode (especially if they added real fighter issues such as diets and making weight). I think the lifespan of EA UFC is going to come from Multiplayer (as long as you avoid the one move cheesers that is) or downloadable content.
