UFC 2009 Undisputed (Xbox 360, PS3) Preview

Posted by Ramon Aranda on 07.30.2008

E3: First Look: Enough screenshots! We see the game in motion with our very own eyes.



During E3, we had a chance to check out THQ's upcoming UFC game, UFC 2009 Undisputed, for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. For those keeping up with our columns, you'll recall that John Curry recently did a two-part feature on UFC games. That being said, it was time to see the game for ourselves and get a first look as to what the game will bring to the table.

First and foremost, the development team really wants to recreate the feeling and environment of a big pay-per-view. The intros, the commentary, those are things that are being focused on to make sure you feel like you're watching an event. You'll be able to fight through an entire bout without the use of any health bars so that the screen looks clean and appears like a real telecast. The states of your fighters will be represented by crowd reaction, the commentary as well as the fighters' behaviors and reactions. I was shown a fight between Rampage Jackson and Forrest Griffin. In the fight, Jackson had Griffin pinned down and he was raining punches on him. Griffin's face began to bleed and bruise up quickly showing the effects of the punches. Then Griffin was able to grab a hold of a tiring Jackson and put him into an armbar which looked pretty cool. Jackson then took advantage by getting out of it and slamming Griffin to the mat which looked pretty brutal. You can do technical escapes or use brute force to try and get out.

The ground game is the core of the combat; trying to move yourself around into different positions to inflict punishment, clinching etc. If you know you're using someone who's strong with submissions you want to try to keep the fight on the ground and of course likewise, if a guy is a good brawler then he'll be more effective on his feet. The demo also showed Jackson clocking Griffin with a straight right hand on the kisser that knocked him cold. You can pull off instant knockouts though don't expect quick matches necessarily. The movements look very lifelike and Griffin went down like a sack of potatoes – pretty hilarious. I'm sure Jackson wished he could've done that the other night. (For the record, the THQ team was in town for that fight and they saw Rampage out every night partying and drinking up…tsk tsk tsk!)

The commentary is spot on, in particular Joe Rogan does a great job of calling the action and it sounds very realistic. It doesn't sound at all like they're reading from a prompt or cue card and I was very impressed. Graphically speaking everything looks very, very good. The models not only sweat but they breathe and move like their real life counterparts. You'll see ripple effects of the photorealistic fighters when they get smacked around. If a fighter gets injured, you'll see him react accordingly though you can only get hurt by the opposing fighter – you can't hurt yourself fighting.

The collision detection system looks great too. For instance if a guy comes in for a Muay-Thai clinch and a guy throws his arm up, it's going to block the arm and trying to get into a full clinch and it'll get you into a single collar tie. I wasn't able to notice any clipping so arms weren't going through bodies or anything like that. Fans worried about bad decisions or early stoppages need not worry as we won't be seeing any of those shenanigans in the game.



The game will have exhibition matches as well as a career mode. In career mode, you'll develop different attributes while fighting for the right to be in the UFC Hall of Fame. You'll go through storylines and build relationships as well as develop rivalries. . Over 80 fighters will be included through the UFC's weight classes. You'll be able to create your own character from scratch to build him up to be the next big thing. Some of the fight disciplines will include Judo, Muay Thai, Wrestling, Kickboxing, Boxing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Online fighting will be included in the game but no extra details were given.

All in all, the game looked smooth, fun and as realistic as you could hope for and I'm anxious to get some hands-on time with it in the near future. Of course the game still has nearly a year before its 2009 release but we'll have more on UFC 2009 Undisputed as the details trickle through.

If you have any questions that you'd like us to feed to THQ, feel free to ask them here in the comments section and we'll do our best to get answers to your burning questions.

Screenshots
All 11 UFC 2009 Undisputed Screenshots