For those of you living in a basement tied up with rubber tubing and bondage tape, the newest UFC video game, “UFC 2009, Undisputed” is now on the market and available for purchase at your nearest video game outlet. The short and curly of it is that this game is one of the greatest ever, but beware some of the quirks.
I waited months for this game and was able to get a copy the day it was made available. I have to tell you how great this game is. I had this thing in my xbox for two days. I’m not joking, nothing else even touched my gaming system until I was completely dehydrated, starved, sleep-deprived, and my girlfriend had left me. There aren’t very many facets to the game. You’re pretty much stuck with career or exhibition mode. The one exception is the classic fights mode, in which the backstory and pertinent information about one of the classic fights in recent UFC history are explained to the player, in hopes that they can assume the position of one of the fighters and try to recreate the same basic outcome of the fight. If the player is successful, they will unlock a video montage of the real fight, Ultimate Knockouts style.
I’m not an avid gamer by any means, but I was easily capable of learning the ropes with minimal effort. After about thirty minutes to get through the full tutorial, I had a blast beating down the likes of Cain Velasques, Frank Mir, Mirko Cro-Cop, and every other superstar I idolize. The gameplay was great, until I noticed a problem that I never gave another thought to. For a while..
Creating a character was simple enough, with the only obstacle being the seemingly labyrinthine menus. They were a little tough to deal with at first, but made the process much more in-depth than other games I’ve played. You can choose your fighter’s full backstory, size, shape, tats, trunks, and even choose both his stand-up and his ground techniques. The only problem is that you only have six to choose from, so if you’re a Val Tudo fan, you’ll have to settle for muay thai, kickboxing, boxing, wrestling, judo, or BJJ. If you’re ready to put in a little time, you’ll come out with a fully-customized bruiser ready to stand and bang with the greats.
Career mode is truly something to behold. After your first tryout match In front of Dana White himself, you’re ready to hit the gym with your choice of training camps to invite over, and a regimented calendar interface to coordinate your training, matches, publicity stunts, and training camp invites on a weekly basis. As long as you keep your stamina in check and train evenly, you’re off to a promising career. Be sure to train your striking and grappling at even levels, because the fighters at the top of the standings WILL exploit your weaknesses. My character could kick Brock Lesnar’s head off, but had the ground skills of an infant. As soon as he was on the ground, it was lights out. Two very important things…
ONE: The ranking system is based on momentum. My character beat the famous Gracie streak with nine wins in a row, but after getting greedy and losing a title shot against Brock Lesnar, I was doomed to stay around the top ten bracket until…
TWO: I got an e-mail from Dana White saying the doc wouldn’t clear me anymore and I was approaching the end of my contract. That’s right, you have a contract. If you don’t do what you have to do as soon as possible, you’re forced to retire.
All in all, this game cost me a doctor visit, many hours of my life, and a relationship, but I’m still at it, and I love it! If I had an official rating system, I’d give it three out of five takedowns. It’s an epic game, but it took a HUGE hit for the crappy grappling system, a big slap on the wrist for THQ and YUKE’S for that rip-off. There’s a code out there that enables you to unlock Skyscrape as a character, which should provide a little extra entertainment. Although I’m still asking where Randy Couture is at, here’s a link to a decent trailer…Enjoy!
