UFC Undisputed 3 Review

After the release and the subsequent disappointing sales of UFC Undisputed 2010, THQ faced a stark choice as to what to do with the franchise.

The first option was to keep pumping the series out in yearly instalments like it does with the WWE games, inevitably condemning it to a similarly slow and painful decline.

The other was to move the series to an 18-month cycle and actually try to improve the series with each release, giving gamers something other than a roster update to look forward to.

In an unusual turn of events, THQ decided to take the latter option. This is doubly surprising as the dev team also makes the aforementioned WWE games, and does so on a schedule so punishing that Navy SEAL drill instructors have been known to comment on it as being ‘a bit much’.

Has it worked? Yes. UFC Undisputed is a fine game, and a wonderful representation of the sport of mixed martial arts. That said, its core fighting mechanics still aren’t quite up to par with those found in the sadly now defunct EA Sports MMA title.

Which is a shame, as the supporting package found in UFC 3 is as stellar as they come, mixing great additions (Pride) with much-needed tweaks to existing elements to create the best UFC title yet. 

The biggest – and most welcome – changes are to be found in the career mode. Yuke’s last effort was often engrossing yet hampered by boring, repetitive tasks between fights.

That’s what you get for not looking at your opponent

It featured so much stat-tracking and number-nannying it wasn’t always clear if you were meant to be a mixed martial artist or an accountant.

UFC 3 remedies this in fine style, replacing the constant (and morally crushing) juggling of constantly degrading abilities with a more streamlined progression system and Fight Night-style mini-games. The difference this makes to the whole experience is staggering. 

Now, instead of grinding – or, as more experienced players will attest, exploiting – your way to higher grades through arbitrary tasks, you’ll actually use your skills to improve.

A good example of this is the sprawl drill, which makes avoiding takedowns nothing more than muscle memory by having players hit the deck to stop medicine balls from rolling past them. Simple but effective and far more enjoyable than the training mechanism found in previous efforts.

It’s a wise change and one which makes the rest of the career mode even more enjoyable. It’s standard fare: start off in smaller promotions before earning your place in the big show, but with the UFC licence behind it, it flies.

Everything from the organisation is perfectly replicated, from the arenas you fight in to the referees that step into the Octagon with you. The UFC is the biggest MMA promotion in the world, and a large part of its appeal is its ultra-professional presentation.

Fighter likenesses as are superb as ever

Seeing this replicated here (both visually and aurally: UFC 3 has the best commentary of any game ever made, fact) enhances the experience, in both career and the myriad other modes to a degree that it would be half the game it is without it. 

So with the maddening irks of the campaign mode ironed out (and the returning modes such as classic UFC fights and Title Defence still as addictive as ever), the fact that UFC 3’s combat still feels a little stiff and robotic comes as a slight letdown, even if it’s in no way a game-breaker. 

In fairness, Yuke’s’ engine is still more than capable of delivering a realistic, enthralling MMA experience, one that takes possibly the world’s most complicated real-time sport and makes it accessible and engaging to almost anyone.

The crushing knockouts of before return, as well as an improved ground game (that takes a little getting used to, it must be said, thanks to the new chase-style submission mini-game) and the fact that different attacks and stances now ‘flow’ into each other better than before. 

However, this isn’t enough to dethrone the superb combat found in EA MMA, which boasted an incredible slickness in animation that made every fight look and feel like the real thing.

UFC 3 can’t hope to match it in this regard, but what it can do is present an overall package that will cater to the desires of pretty much every person that knows and loves the sport.

For those that want the ultimate in digital MMA, it’s not the game with Ultimate in the title but a tragically forgotten effort that can be found for less than the price of a Happy Meal.

For those that want the ultimate representation of the world’s biggest promotion, the hype, and the excitement that only the official licence can bring, then look no further.