First Impressions: UFC Undisputed

[Ty Burna]

I downloaded the demo off Xbox Live and fought enough matches to get a good feel for what it will be like, gameplay wise.

First and foremost, punching and kicking are pretty straight forward, you can hit LB and/or LT to alternate where your punches/kicks go and what kind of punches/kicks. This was a bit confusing at first and required a bit of reading from the pause menu. Transitioning from certain aspects of the fight were pretty smooth, I didn't see judder or any twitchy motions by the fighters, and looked like a legit UFC fight. The game is similar to the Fight Night series as there is no health bars or anything to that effect. This has good and negative, with Fight Night you knew when you were going to get crushed or when you were close to dropping. In Undisputed, you could be dominating and suddenly get caught by a right jab and drop and KO'd. Not necessarily bad as that is the nature of the UFC beast, but at least some sort of warning you're on weak legs would be nice. Graphics wise it looked good for the most part, but some of the blood showing on the body doesn't look too realistic, but it looks awesome beating the hell out of your opponent and seeing him spewing blood everywhere.

Now to the bad or questionable parts, this will have a very steep learning curve, and even after about 7 matches I still had no idea how to transition to different parts of the guard while on the ground. I also couldn't figure out how to keep a clinch for an extended period of time. Submission moves I'm thinking are going to be extremely difficult to pull off, which is fine but then it boils down to a slug fest and a lot of MMA fighting is based on ground fighting and submissions. I do note that this was a demo and that could change by the time the full game is released.

Overall I'd say based off the demo it looks like they were able to accurately translate MMA fighting into a video game, and I think it assures me that this could be a very solid game. I guess we will have to see what the full game has going for us, but for now, first impressions are very solid, and good first impressions always show good promise for a game.

 

[The Rob]

The demo is exactly that, a demo. It's bound to be a shadow of what the actual game will be like. But... as a demo, man it's fucking awesome. The graphics are superb, the likenesses' of the fighters is incredible. Theres so much detail into everything. The cut-scenes look sweet as a nut and the crowd (unlike in the WWE titles) looks good.

Gameplay wise... I'm stuggling to come to grips with it. Maybe I'm just a shit player but any fight I have ends up being a button bashing affair where it ends with one lucky shot to the face. I may need to sit down and fully master the controls before I can make a full judgement about the controls. I'm sure their fucking amazing once you get to know them.

The little details in the game are sweet. The commentary is 95% superb and, unlike the Smackdown games, the commentators actually talk about what is happening in the fight your in. Before each fight theres the 'tale of the tape' and Bruce Buffner does the ring annoucing very authentically.

Overall the demo fucking rocks and I'm seriously looking forward to getting this come release day.

 

[ROHDude]

I'm loving the demo.

I still struggle with submissions. I've tapped out a buddy of mine twice, one of the times he wasn't even trying, so I technically only have one tap out victory under my belt. I have a feeling on my wins will be via KO.

In the options menu you can turn on the stamina bar if you want. I've noticed that you breathe heavier and move slowly when you are worn out as well.

As of now my biggest complaints is that the cage seems useless. I expect it to change in the next game, but we should be able to push our opponents up against the cage. And my other complaint is that every now and then I notice that cuts disappear between rounds. I'd like to see guys looking like Joe Stevenson during the Penn fight every now and then.