Being an MMA fan and a Gamer, its understandable that when I heard UFC Undisputed 3 was coming out I was pretty excited.
I had played UFC Undisputed 2010 and it was a very good game, but felt like it was 85% of the way to being a great game. I knew that the next UFC Undisputed game would be a very good one. Well, the wait is over…
I reviewed the game on the XBox 360 and thoroughly enjoyed it. So lets get into the guts of this monster!
Gameplay
UFC Undisputed 3 forces you to fight like a Mixed Martial Artist. If you are lazy, you will get beat. If you fight dumb, you will get beat. If you start a fight throwing haymakers, you will gas out and get beat. You really have to think about the entire fight and use every aspect of your skill to win a fight.
Unlike UFC Undisputed 2010, you can’t just go toe-to-toe with an opponent and have a slug fest without having to worry he will shoot and take you down. In UFC Undisputed 3 the stand up game is is well balanced. You can knock out an opponent with a good, well timed punch, but you get the feeling you have to break down an opponent first, which is the way it should be.
The ground game has been split into two modes. An advanced mode and an easier mode. I went for the easy mode and I have to say, it makes the game a lot more enjoyable. The easy mode simplifies the way you go for a submission move and also how you defend it.
This easy mode however does not over simplyfy things and you will find yourself trying to pull off complicated submissions against UFC’s masters, which is fun!
In one fight I had with Anderson Silva I looked to have him in a triangle. He picked me up and slammed me to the mat, it was spectacular!
Using a created fighter with a great standup game, I took on Joe Stevenson. I had the better rated fighter. He did what you would expect him to do against such an opponent in real life. He took the fight to the ground and beat the hell out of me. It is that sort of realism in the game plan that UFC Undisputed 3 does so well.
You need to think about fights and how you want them to play out. You need to weight up you fighters sterngths and weaknesses against your opponents, and change your tactics accordingly.
The Fighters
One of the criticisms I had of UFC Undisputed 2010 was that it seemed like some of the best fighters were the easiest to beat. I never lost a fight against Anderson Silva for instance.
Oh how things change…
Now when you take on the top guys like Silva or GSP, you get picked apart by a master, and thats the way it should be.
Bob Sapp makes an appearance and I’m happy to say that he is the giant monster you would hope he would be. He is well rated too. Fighting as Brock Lesnar, I found I could pick him apart. As one point I got Sapp to the ground and it was great to see Lesnar’s hammer fists are in the game and seemless. However, in a second fight against Sapp, once againt beating him faily easily, I got lazy. Sapp ended the fight with a straight right, and it felt right.
When you take on a striker, you need to think about if you have the ability to really throw down with them. When you take on a wrestler, they will take you down if they have that as a strength over you. The balance of fights is great and the old saying of “styles make fights” really plays out in UFC Undisputed 3.
All the main fighters are there with a few more supposedly downloadable as you get online with the game (Something I didn’t have the ability to do….my internet connection is rubbish!).
If there was one thing UFC Undisputed 3 cemented for me it is that Dana White needs to get Silva and GSP to face off in a mega fight, and have them fight at least five times before their careers are done.
Graphics
All fighters look a lot closer to their real life counterparts in UFC Undisputed 3 and created fighters are so detailed they they use your created fighter for fight intro and they stand up as well as any fully detailed fighter in the game.
In fight graphics are great and players get realistic looking injuries during a fight. Cuts look real, players faced swell up and it seems like the splashing of blood has been dialed back a little. One thing I liked was that, if you take a number of kicks to the body during a fight, you will get big red welts. That type of realistic detail is what this game is all about.
Video cut scenes are used when you achieve certain things within the game. They document the journey that UFC fights have taken over their careers. For instance, when you lose your first professional fight in career mode, you will get a video in which UFC fighters talk about the effect of their first professional loss, and it is a really nice touch.
Fight introductions are exactly what you see when watching a UFC event and the commentary gives you a great run down of a fighters strengths and weaknesses. Ever single part of a created fighters entry into the Octogon is customisable, even down to the lighting effects and music you walk in to.
UFC Undisputed 3 captures both UFC and Pride’s television presentation very well. Light is great and fight animations are smooth.
You are given so much information on menu screens that at first, its almost overwhelming. Once you get used to it you realise that at no point will you ever be left looking at the game manual to find out what is going on. UFC Undisputed 3 lays everything out in great detail and it gives you complete control over every aspect of your fighter.
Having said that, pre game menu’s are well set out and you never get confused as to where you need to go to get to a certain area of the game. You’re never more than a couple of clicks away from any information or settings you need.
Sound
Menu music is very good and that carries over on through to the fights themselves. The crowd noise is very well done although I felt like the commentary, especially from Joe Rogan, wasn’t as natural as I expected it to be. With other in fight sounds are so dramatic and so natural that it really stands out how calmly Rogan in particular is calling a fight as the crowd is going off its head.
Also,you kind of miss Bruce Buffer going insane during the intro to a big fight. There is nothing better than seeing him almost explode as he introduces a main event!
The sound for Pride is done really well and the crazy excitment comes through in bucket loads.
Fight sounds are fantastic and the crowd noise really add to the excitement of fights.
Pride
There was always something very raw about Pride and its a real shame that has been lost to the sport. To get a chance to go back to those Pride days, with the WWE style ring introductions, the boxing ring, the Japanese ring announcer and some of the different rules, its fantastic!
UFC Undisputed 3 really captures the feeling of Pride.
The only thing I wish they had added to this part of the game was the ability to make some of the freakshow fights Pride had where you’d get a heavyweight taking on a lightweight. I can understand why they left it out (The fight mechanics would be a nightmare to work out) but damn it would have been awesome!
Customization
It is one of the area’s I am the most critical of in sport games. I like creating my own fighters.
I can’t think of a single thing that they missed out when it comes to your ability to build your own fighter. The a create fighter mode in UFC Undisputed 3 is as good as any sporting game I have ever played.
There is not one area of an overall created fighter you do not have control over. Even the ability to make a sponsors banner or a logo is very well done.
The best part is, once you have created a fighter, they look every bit as detailed as real life fighters.
Career Mode
For me, sport games are all about career mode.
In UFC Undisputed 3 you get the ability to created a very detailed fighter and customize their looks, weight class, appearence, the gear they use, and most importantly, where they come from. Yes, you can be born and fight out of Australia in UFC Undisputed 3!
The balance between learning new skills, raising your statistics through training and managing things such as your sponsors is very well done. Selecting your next fight can make or break your pathway. If you pick and easy opponents, you will take longer for your career to progress and a loss against an easy opponent will hold you back. At the same time, if you take on an opponent that is beyond you, you will also pay for it.
You start off in the WFL and if you impress enough you will eventually start to be offered fights in the UFC.
You get a real sense that you are part of the wider UFC too. You get news about other fighters, guys retire as they get old, the fight bonuses get handed out and the ranking and champions are always on show.
Overall
This is one of the most complete sports games I’ve ever played. The combat is fluid, requires strategy and yet it still has that element that every fight can be all over in a second with a good punch or some wicked BJJ.
UFC fans simply need to go out and buy this game. There is nothing better than beating the hell out of Brock Lesnar or leaving Chael Sonnen lying face down on the canvass.
UFC Undisputed 3 is out in stores right now. GO GET IT!
Visit the UFC Undisputed 3 Web Site: http://www.ufcundisputed.com/
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