No matter what your feelings are on UFC, know that the sport has come a long way since the early “No Hold Barred” days. Ever since the late nineties, UFC has grown up, reformed and played ball with state athletic commissions. These days, each pay-per-view pulls in more buys than boxing and WWE events.
GamesRadar was on hand at the Palms in Las Vegas last weekend as THQ unveiled UFC 2009 Undisputed for 360 and PS3. Media from around the world rubbed elbows with UFC luminaries and Japanese developers as Keith Kirby, THQ’s VP of Product Development, laid out the game’s features. With a focus on realistic fight strategies, UFC 2009 Undisputed will offer 80 fighters in all 5 classes. Famed WWE developer Yuke’s is building the
Do you want to be an Ultimate Fighter?” excitable UFC commentator Mike Goldberg is fond of whooping – usually when someone in the octagon (UFC bouts take place in a cage-like octagonal arena) has just taken an elbow to the face, a shin to the ribs, a punch in the kidneys or an illegal knee in the balls.
We love Fight Night. EA’s beautiful boxing series defined how its sport was represented in games and with it, introduced a brilliant new analogue control system. As much as we love knocking men out with uppercuts, jabs and right hooks, though, sometimes we just want a dirty street fight. Thankfully, we’ve now got UFC 2009 Undisputed title to satisfy those violent, jail-baiting whims. Read on to see why this martial arts scrapper could KO
Las Vegas! It’s a beautiful place full of money, food, and unimaginative douchebags out to get married or to act out scenes from Swingers or The Hangover, depending on the age of the choads in question.
We've just been to New York to get to grips with THQ's hotly-anticipated UFC Undisputed 2010 - the vicious sequel to last year's grappler. From a standing start the game plays out essentially the same as last year - big fat KO's and wince-inducing submissions FTW - but as soon as the fists start flying in the octagon you notice just how far this sequel has come.
We took our seats inside THQ's ridiculous looking UFC theater on the E3 floor as a ring girl welcomed us inside. We say ridiculous because of the security standing outside, reminding us of testy bouncers at a strip club. After we settled, Dana White, CEO of Zuffa and all things UFC, introduced us to a video detailing the changes made to UFC Undisputed 3, set for release January 2012. The familiar voice of UFC, Mike Goldberg, then took over to go into detail on new fight mechanics, new submission system, and the inclusion of PRIDE championship fights making Undisputed 3 a hell of a package...
Back in 2009 THQ and the hotter-than-ever UFC were a match made in MMA heaven, as the game redefined how fighting games could play, becoming one of the year's biggest titles. 2010's version was a very good update, but it wasn't as financially successful, leading the devs to make a surprising decision: take 18 months instead of the normal 12 to make their third UFC game, UFC Undisputed 3. Was the time off enough for the team to create something special?
Forget the new submission system, forget the simplified transitions, and forget the addition of featherweight and bantamweight classes. Forget all of the upgrades, updates, and fixes in UFC Undisputed 3. We spent a few hours passing the controller back and forth, trying out the game’s new combat and fighters, but none of the additions we saw were as cool as the inclusion of the Pride Fighting Championships. Pride was a mixed martial arts professional fighting league out of Japan that the UFC purchased in 2007. Now, in the third iteration of the fighting franchise, THQ has added a Pride Mode to their game, letting gamers get a chance to step into the squared-circle for something different than a typical UFC event.
And it’s absolutely freaking brutal...
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