by Ian Hamilton
www.theringsidelive.com

It has been a while since the UFC’s license appeared on a console game – over five years, in fact, since UFC Sudden Impact escaped onto the PS2. Since then, the UFC has had its license acquired by a company who knows how to make a fighting game, with THQ appointing Yukes to modify its long running WWE franchise into a UFC game.

Don’t be alarmed though, this isn’t SmackDown inside an eight-sided steel cage. This is far more complex than any SmackDown game has been. This is THQ’s first attempt at a UFC game in what is a four year license (the game will come out over two years since they signed their deal in January 2007), yet THQ have done more in their two years than Midway did in their development of TNA’s Impact game.

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As you’ll know by now, the UFC demo is out – it’s around a 600Mb download on the PS3 and Xbox 360 online stores, and it is worth the time taken to download it. You get two fighters in it, with Chuck Liddell and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua available from the roster of 80+ that appear in the final game; and as you’ve guessed, you’ve got the chance to rewrite history and see if the Iceman can avoid his defeat to Shogun at UFC 97.

From the title screen, you can only pick between the game options, an extremely in-depth tutorial (which you kinda need to read and play through if you want to avoid button mashing), and of course, the exhibition fights. There are no elaborate entrances, after all, THQ would have had to license a tonne of music for the 80 fighters, or at worst, produce generic music to assign to fighters as they meander through the crowd, so instead the game starts with the tale of the tape, which is where everything hits you.

Yes, it’s a “next generation” console, but the graphics on the game are so true to life. The “tale of the tape” is out-dated, thanks to UFC’s recent graphic redesign, but it is pixel perfect, as announcers Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan take you to Bruce Buffer, who has been made to look a little on the porky side by THQ. Still, the in-cage entrances are spot on, and then… it’s the fight.

For the purposes of this, I did the game in three steps: 1) versus a non-existant Player 2, 2) versus the CPU, and 3) versus a real player.

Firstly, the game DOES need you to go through the tutorials. Yes, you can play the game button mashing it, or even by pausing every other second to look at the move list a la any other fighting game. In a nutshell, the four face buttons do weak strikes, combining them by moving the left stick or pressing L1/LS will make them a strong strike. In the demo, you can pull off some wacky moves, like a spinning backfist or a Superman punch for Liddell… or for Shogun, a jumping knee strike. All in all, a very varied moveset considering the limitations that THQ have had us work with on SmackDown.

Grappling and takedowns are all down to the right thumbstick – there are variants, but the basic double leg is L1/LS and moving the right stick towards your opponent (a traditional clinch is just a flick of the right stick, while you can modify takedowns either way by using the shoulder buttons). From the ground position, it gets a little weird – the face buttons deliver strikes (obviously, no kicks in some positions), while clicking the right stick will pull off a submission in some positions. To move from position to position, you need to move the right thumbstick in a variety of 90-degree-plus motions, very few of which are orthodox. So if you’re used to pulling off, say, the dragon fireball in Street Fighter, you’ll need to start those rotations in a different position.

If you’re not up on your half guards, rubber guards, and fire guards (err…), then this may be a little perplexing, but a few exhibition fights will warm you up into knowing what goes where, and also how you too can start on the ground and slam a guy on his back. I’ve also had the (misfortune) of being piledriven by my opponent, which isn’t a nice experience!

So, after a few games vs a nonexistent second player, I took on the CPU, which is where I found the first tweaks that THQ need to do. In the demo, on easy, the CPU is extraordinarily easy to take on. So much so that my fights hardly got past the first round… thankfully, the CPU isn’t a total dunce on the harder settings, but I can see easy being, well, too easy for most.

Finally, I took on a “real second player”, in the form of my fiancé. To put it bluntly (and Jen will admit this!), it was a fight between a button masher and someone who tries to do all the moves, and I got my rear end kicked. Until you get the block timings down, you are open to pretty much everything, including (bizarrely) taking a kick that stuns you as you attempt a double leg takedown.

Then again, this probably highlights how delightfully random the game is. Just as in real life, you can throw a series of punches and kicks, and earn an instant KO. Other times, it won’t even stun you. Sometimes you can lock your opponent in a submission right out of the gate and win, others he’ll smash the face buttons or wheel away on the right stick to fight it off… and bizarrely, you can make your opponent lose while he’s on top of you (strong strikes do indeed rule). While there is an option to turn on a stamina meter, this game is best played with it turned off – in real life, you don’t see them, so why should you in the game?

For me, the meat and potatoes of this game will come in its career mode. The random one on one fights will outlive their usefulness, and this game needs a solid career mode for it to be worthwhile. As the SmackDown series has shown, people will pick their favourite fighter and go through career mode once, and then that’s it. The weight classes will probably force players to do this several times to win the respective belts, but beyond that, and a good create-a-fighter mode, this has the unusual distinction of being a highly anticipated game that could be a home run, or could be a huge flop. If the career mode is a letdown, will online save it? Either way, the demo is promising enough to make me pre-order this – and from THQ’s point, hopefully many many more are of the same view.

**UFC 2009 Undisputed (PS3, Xbox 360) is released in North America on May 19, and in Europe on May 22, 2009**