UFC stands for Ultimate Fighting Championship. It’s a sport that brings together many fighters, all trained in different fighting styles, so that they can punch, kick and throw each other around. There are rules, of course – crotch-shots are against the rules, for example. But that’s not the point. We’re here to talk about the demo of the game, so I’ll point you to the UFC website and be on my way.

The demo comes with two fighters, Chuck Liddell and Shogun Rua, exhibition mode and a load of tutorials to get to grips with the fighting system. You can play as either fighter against the other, who can either be AI controlled or controlled by a friend with another controller if you want to beat the crap out of someone you know.

The graphics are superb. The character models are brilliantly detailed, with sweat trickling down their bodies as they fight for longer, cuts appearing on their face as you punch/kick them and other nice touches that make you feel a little weird when you say they’re impressive. The fighters look just like their real life counterparts, too, so if you happen harbour irrational hatreds to any UFC fighters, this is the game to help you sort it out.You’ll be happy to know that the girls that hold the round number up before every round are just as well detailed and extremely bouncy.

Most of the arena looks good too, the fence around the ring is sharp, the audience is all 3D and sufficiently good-looking enough for something you don’t really care about too much. However, the the blood that splashes from the fighters as they are punched, whilst it looks good as it splatters, looks very blurred and a little pixellated as it hits the mat. Not really a big problem and the fact that every is so clear and sharp just brings it out to the forefront of things to notice. The mat itself seems a little blurred when the camera gets close, too.

The match goes for up to three rounds, but fights can be very short. As is the way with UFC, a punch or kick in the right place can floor you or your opponent instantly. I was floored in 13 seconds after about 11 seconds of me punching and kicking the opponent – he threw a single punch and my fighter went down instantly. I was torn between annoyance and respect for the realism – things like that happen all the time. So it is important to guard yourself, if you just go in throwing punches you run the risk of getting knocked out without even seeing it coming.

The left analogue moves your character (obviously), whilst each limb has a button to itself; square is a left handed jab, triangle is a right straight, X kicks with the left foot and circle with the right. The attacks are context sensitive – specifically distance, if you’re a couple of feet away you’ll throw a far punch or a kick, if you’re practically stroking the other guy with your pecs you’ll elbow and knee, instead. Holding L1 will throw your punches and kick towards the head, whilst L2 will kick the legs and punch the body.

The right analogue is for grabbing. Push it towards the enemy and your player will attempt to go into a clinch, from where rotating the right analogue in certain ways will throw the opponent to the ground, where you can punch him or go for submissions. If you hold L1 whilst going for a clinch you’ll go for his head, from where you can punch him in the face and knee him in the stomach (or the head if your fighter knows Muay Thai), whilst holding L2 will cause you to take the enemy down (which can be avoided by the enemy pressing back on the right analogue at the right time).

Whilst on the ground, square and triangle are used to hit the opponent and the right analogue being rotated will transition between positions. The right analogue works in quarter rotations for minor transitions and third rotations for major transitions. The former will change your position slightly (for example, sitting up) whilst the latter will change it more drastically) standing up). They can be countered by pressing the opposite direction. It all works quite well once you get used to it, and is surprisingly deep.

All in all, the demo has really interested me in the game. It’s accessible, but deeper than it might seem, and it looks great. I’ll be watching and waiting intently.

Filed under: Games, Review, U, UFC 09