UFC 2009 Undisputed (Xbox 360) Review

The UFC hasn’t had a video game in years, but after a long layoff, a partnership with THQ has led to a game that hopes to emulate the sport and eliminate the memory of past failures (Sudden Impact, anyone?).  The first of what is hoped to be many yearly installments, UFC 2009 Undisputed arrived this week to the anticipation of both MMA fans and gamers alike.  Does it succeed in simulating the sport and providing a fun experience?  Read on to find out.

The first thing that you’ll notice about UFC 2009 Undisputed is that a lot of effort has been put in to make the proceedings feel like a UFC event.  While some of the fighters are a bit off and Mario Yamasaki has a very large head (even Tito Ortiz would say to him, “damn, that’s a large head”), most of the fighters look very good and comparable to their real-life counterparts.  The little touches, such as the Octagon itself, pre-fight banners, production graphics, and of course, ring girls, are also included.

Also, there are an impressive amount of fighters included, around 80 in all, representing each of the UFC’s weight classes.  Just about everyone you’d expect to be included is there, and even a few that you wouldn’t expect to be in the game are, such as Tito Ortiz and Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, who just announced his real-life UFC return.  Of course, there are some omissions, such as Randy Couture and Clay Guida (who THQ couldn’t include because of trouble recreating his hair in-game…no joke), but there’s not a lot to complain about here.  It would be nice to see the WEC roster included in next year’s offering, though.

Of course, all of this is for nothing if the fighting itself is inaccurate or worse yet, not fun.  Luckily, the gameplay of UFC 2009 Undisputed is not only addictive, but also surprisingly deep.  Just about any ground position or situation that you could imagine is included in the game. 

In the stand-up portion, you will see a variety of strikes that are suited to each fighter (including signature strikes, like Chuck Liddell’s looping overhand right) and a lot of different clinches.  You’ll actually find yourself working for underhooks, just like in a real fight, or hoping that Karo Parisyan doesn’t use his single-underhook to dump you on your head with a judo throw.

Punches and kicks connect very realistically and in a satisfying manner that helps to reinforce the power of the blows you’re landing.  The strikes that you throw adjust automatically to the range that you are in (ie knees and elbows from close-range) to avoid any animations that don’t make sense, like your fighter reaching for a right straight against an opponent who’s only a foot away.  Combinations work well, and while the fighters don’t move at the speed of their real-life counterparts, they move as fast or faster than those in Fight Night Round 3, this generation’s biggest combat sports game so far.

How’s the ground game?  Well, it’s a bit difficult at first, because so much can happen, at any time.  However, this is a good thing.  THQ should be applauded for not watering down the ground game in order to attract casual gamers.  With a little effort and practice, you will adjust easily to the simple, yet deep ground controls.  Your regular punch buttons work just fine, along with the left trigger (on Xbox 360, the version reviewed) to modify your attack to hit your opponent’s body.  To advance your position, you simply use the right stick by moving it straight up or down and then to the right or left.  You can make a more major move by going diagonally up, instead of straight up.  This may allow you to attempt to move straight from guard to side mount, for example, but your transition is less likely to be successful that way.

You can also click the hold the right stick to the right to keep your opponent from transitioning, or click the right stick to attempt a submission.  Then, you either rotate your right stick or mash the face buttons to finish the submission, and your opponent does the same to fend it off.  Your success will depend on your fighter’s attributes (and your opponents) as well as your stamina and how much damage you’ve taken.

If it sounds complicated, it’s really not, especially due to the game’s excellent tutorial and career modes.  The two really go hand in hand, as the tutorial is a must before playing a fight, and the career mode allows you to grow as your fighter improves, which helps you by giving you a few new moves here at a time to learn and incorporate into your strategy.  For instance, my first character first knew only basic strikes, which expanded to include Superman punches and spinning backfists, among other things.

The career mode itself allows you to fight for seven years in the UFC, with your fighter starting out at Ultimate Fight Night events, and eventually making it to the pay-per-view shows.  The goal is to eventually win and defend the championship, and hopefully get a place in the UFC Hall of Fame.  You fight up the ranking, while doing things such as training your speed, stamina and strength or sparring in between fights.  You can also train with other camps, such as 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu (complete with digitized Eddie Bravo) to learn new techniques, like the spinning backfist that my fighter learned.

There are also promotional events you can attend, like autograph signings or photo shoots, to increase your fighter’s fame and “cred”, but they are kind of disappointing.  You simply see a screen shot of the UFC website with a picture of your fighter signing an autograph or posing for the camera, and that’s it.  Maybe that can be fleshed out with the next game, to indicate a more realistic interaction with the media and fans. 

Finally, you’ll get e-mails from Dana White, UFC matchmaker Joe Silva and others with information on your upcoming fights, chances to step up as a last-minute substitution, or results from UFC events that you’re not fighting in.  It’s another nice add-on, but pretty barebones in execution and more of an annoyance after awhile, as you’ll start ignoring most of the e-mails eventually.  Of course, seeing the results of the events is pretty amusing sometimes…such as when Sean Sherk submitted BJ Penn, or Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre were fighting for the Welterweight Championship (again!) at UFC 164.

Career mode has a few kinks, such as the inability to switch weight classes, and the fact that fighters never age (probably to avoid having a 46-year old Chuck Liddell fighting seven years into the career mode, I suppose), but it’s a good start and a fun mode.  It’ll take you several hours to take your guy through it, and then your created fighter can be taken online to fight against others around the world.

Online fighting in UFC 2009 Undisputed works very well, as I experienced no really noticeable lag issues while playing.  To add some depth to the mode, you can earn medals for certain actions performed during ranked matches, and you’ll also build up your overall ranking as you win fights online.  You can also fight against your friends in regular player matches, just for fun.

Finally, the “Classic Fights” mode allows you to relive a dozen or so of the best fights in recent (think: post-TUF) UFC history, including Liddell-Ortiz 2 and Diego Sanchez vs. Karo Parisyan.   You’ll see an introduction from Rachelle Leah beforehand, as well as the original “hype video” that aired before the fight, and if you can recreate the result of the actual fight, you’ll unlock a highlight video from it.  Some of the results are very particular (such as beating your opponent by rear naked choke in a specific round), adding some challenge to the proceedings.

If I had to list any gripes (and I should), there are a few things that can be improved upon for future iterations of the game.  The fighters could be quicker, though they understandably can’t be as quick as their real-life counterparts, as it would make countering and blocking attacks even harder than it already is.  Also, the fighters do move a bit robotically, and more dynamic reactions to strikes landing (instead of the same animations over and over) would add a lot to the fights themselves.  Also, a deeper career mode, perhaps with some kind of inclusion of “The Ultimate Fighter”, would seem to be in order.

Still, THQ has laid quite a foundation with UFC 2009 Undisputed, and it’s clear that they will continue to build upon it in the future.  Not only is the game a solid start for the UFC’s re-entry into the world of video games, but it’s a fun game and mostly faithful recreation of the sport itself.  If you are an MMA fan or a fan of fighting games that is looking for something a little different, you should definitely check out UFC 2009 Undisputed.

Final Score: 8.5/10

 by Jon Hartley for Fightmania.com

Tags: Chuck Liddell, Clay Guida, Dana White, Diego Sanchez, Georges St. Pierre, Matt Hughes, Randy Couture, Sean Sherk, Tito Ortiz, UFC, WEC