Discount UFC Undisputed 2009 - Xbox 360

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Keeping in context that this is THQ's first attempt to make a UFC game and you have to admit they did an amazing job.

This was obviously a very hard game to make because it's based on real fighting technique's and has to be grounded in reality. They didn't have the liberties to do impossible moves with super hero like abilities to dish out and withstand punishment like in other games. It had to be as real as possible and that alone must have made for a challenge. Why it's so much more challenging than a wrestling or fighting game is also for the fact that you have to be able to have as much ability to attack and defend from the ground as you do on your feet. A handful of moves won't do it either as it'll get old and stale real fast. Considering they had no existing engine to work with like they're WWE games and had to build a new one from the ground up, it's all the more impressive.

I've been playing it all morning and so far I have to say it's alot of fun. The controls are good although they take a little getting used to but it won't be long before your dishing it out like a pro. The fighters all have their own unique move sets so they're not just different looking, they actually play different from one another. I love the variety of ko's and submissions and I went alot of matches before I saw any of the same finishes twice. I started by jumping right in to exhibition mode to just go at it and get a feel of it. Then I went to tutorial mode to learn the various technique's to play the game how it was meant because I could only go so far on my own. The games excitement ramped up alot after that as I found myself eager to apply the new strikes, takedowns and submissions I had just learned. It really started to look and feel alot more real when thinking and strategizing during matches. Other than those, there's a deep career mode where you get to build your own fighter from scratch, train him, and fight up through the ranks to become one of the elite. Also included is an online mode and classic fights mode where you get to recreate some of the best fights in recent UFC history where your rewarded with unlockable video montages of those fights. I thought the original pre-fight interviews they show you before the fights were a nice touch. I'm also very impressed with the 80+ roster of fighters from all 5 weight classes.

Graphically, it looks great. Most all the fighters look very close to the real ones and some are almost spot on. The only one who doesn't is Mark Coleman and the strange thing is that he instead looks EXACTLY like Frank Trigg. Dana White also looks a little too unlike himself but I was happy with all the others. Otherwise, there's a great attention to detail with the rings, muscles, sweat, cuts and clothing all looking pretty real.

The audio is really good. You'll here the same theme songs from the Ultimate Fighter, UFC Unleashed and Fight Night. Also included are background music you'll hear played often at the events. It's all rock type and meant to get you pumped up for some fighting. The commentary is better than I've heard on any wrestling game. Mike and Joe don't repeat themselves nearly as much and actually have alot of informative things to say. They're also synched very well with the action going on in the ring. The crowd noises ramp up with the action or slow to a boo with inactivity and the smacks and thumps of combat are well represented.

It's not a perfect game though. It could be a little faster, ko's come a little too frequent and easy while submissions are pretty tough to pull off and the cpu doesn't attempt to ground you and try them very much. I'd like a little more blood effects from the fighters as in bleeding down they're faces, getting in they're eyes, and more on the body and shorts. Not to be gory but if you've watched alot of UFC you'll know it happens often enough. There are no ring entrances which also means none with customizable music which is what I would've like to see for my fighter in career mode. And why not have your created fighter start out on The Ultimate Fighter show for a chance to be the next Forrest Griffin? I'd also like to save my best matches, highlights and maybe have a tournament mode like the old UFC where you'd have to beat 3 or 4 guys in the same night. But that's all secondary. What matters is that the core game is intact and it was no doubt a very tough task but I believe they pulled it off.

I've been very excited about this game from it's announcement and early screens and video, till picking it up today and I have to say that I'm not disappointed at all and believe most fans of the UFC and video games won't be disappointed either. For the most part, it lives up to the hype. It's also light years beyond any other UFC game that's ever been made and one heck of a start to capturing the feel of the UFC and MMA in general. I give it 4 stars out of 5 for room for improvement next time but also a big recommendation for UFC fans.

Update: I've been playing the game alot over the past 4 days since I got it and am just continually blown away by how authentic it is. The fighters fight alot like their real life counterparts. Chuck Liddell backs away and counters, Anderson Silva constantly tries to get you in a muay tai clinch to punish you with knees and Brock Lesnar attempts to ground and pound you out, brilliant. There are also tons of reversals and escapes on the ground to make it a really fun and interesting part of fighting. I'm also really enjoying the commentary by Rogan and Goldberg, as they'll also recognize and talk about previous matches between fighters who had significant matches like Arlovski vs Silva, Liddell vs Ortiz and Silva vs Franklin, very cool. Congrats to THQ and Yukes, they really did their homework.

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UFC Branding: 10/10

This game is extremely faithful to the UFC franchise: the arenas, announcers, referees, commentators, Octagon girls, and of course the fighters and coaches are all there and look and sound very realistic. I thought the coaches mumbled too much and didn't really give good advice but at least you get the feeling of advice being given (moral support?).

Controls: 8/10

I wanted to be able to jump more and generally be more reckless. For example, I wanted to do flying kicks (the flashy kind real fighters never do unless they want to lose in the first few seconds). There are a lot of really cool moves like Superman punch and flying knee but these can only be activated contextually (you have to be a certain range from your opponent). I have never played a "wrestling" game before so I wasn't sure what to expect but the use of the right analog stick for a lot of grappling/wrestling moves seemed to do the trick. It is somewhat intuitive but I am still struggling with transitions (there are easy and hard transitions and the hard ones don't always seem to work). I would have really loved customizable controls but I did not see that option (probably because the practice/tutorial mode would be harder to script), but the defaults are fairly intuitive and get the job done. I don't like having to press the analog sticks inward (left inward to run, right inward to submit) The left bumper and trigger are height modifiers that convert strikes to high and low respectively. This also modifies grappling: high to clinch and low to do a takedown. Then, on the ground you can still modify for head shots or body shots. So, that much is intuitive. The right bumper and trigger are defensive height modifiers, though even if you block you'll still take some damage. I had to take off one point for the lack of jumping and fun controls and one point for the omission of customizable controls, otherwise they are reasonably comprehensive and intuitive.

Tutorial: 8/10

The tutorial is very long and takes a while to get through it all. I am happy it exists and had to go back and consult it a few times. I think there could be better integration of this with the training camps in Career mode but it's still decent.

Practice Mode: 10/10

This mode has everything: choose your fighter, opponent, and opponent's AI level. This lets you configure whether your opponent will be an inanimate punching bag, someone who will defend only (with many options here), or someone who will fight back (and you can set the difficulty level). If you or your opponent is knocked out or submitted, it's no big deal, the fighter positions reset quickly and you can resume practice. If there is one thing I would have liked, it would have been to have more options for where you fight (instead of just the gym).

Historic Fights: 2/10

I thought this was cool but it seemed to force me to play as one of the fighters and not just have the fights play out as they actually did (or have AI's fight it out and simulate what might have happened). I guess I just don't see how you couldn't do pretty much the same thing with Exhibition Mode.

Exhibition Mode: 10/10

This is the normal "versus" mode of the game. I had no problems with the options presented. Yes, you have to choose your weight class (an appropriate constraint), but you get to use custom fighters and toggle stats and fighters who have actually fought in more than one weight class are able to be selected in both (e.g. BJ Penn). I think you can even choose your arena and referee (but not the Octagon girls). Importantly, you can choose how many rounds it will be (which constrains the arena selection a bit): 2, 3 or 5.

Career Mode: 7/10

This mode is hard. First, the fights are hard. Second, the time management can be tricky. Basically, everything is done on a weekly basis and most physical actions take a certain amount of stamina away. So, you can't do Intense training twice in one week but you could do Intense and Moderate training and then have virtually no stamina left. There's nothing wrong with using up your stamina except that it might be bad if you have none on the week of your fight and you can only recover part of your stamina in one week so you need about two weeks to fully recharge. This is rough because you may only have 4 or 5 weeks to get ready for a fight so half your time is wasted to recharging. I loved the sparring and training camps options (and actually felt like the training camps helped me learn and improve) and you can even use points from sparring to boost specific stats (and they are very specific let me tell you) or you can focus on Strength, Speed and Cardio (if you prefer the macro level). There are also emails and interviews and making public appearances (e.g. at other fights) which all seem fine but maybe a bit of a time waster for people who just want to fight. Of course, this is career mode so what do you want? Oh, and if you really like detail, you can add sponsors and micro the logos on your trunks for reputation points. The nice thing about career mode is that it is VERY forgiving. If you screw up and lose a fight or two, you'll still be given opportunities to step back into the Octagon. Dana White and your manager/agent are very nice and bend over backwards to promote you and help you along.

Graphics: 9/10

I thought Dane White, Herb Dean, and a few fighters did not look right. However, the vast majority are convincing. I think the camera angles are great and have no complaints there (you don't even notice it). The movement of the fighters is very impressive and there is a lot of attention to detail to things like breathing and hunching over when low on energy. I love the ragdolling (though maybe it's too frequent and it seems knockouts frequently cause the opponent to lose his mouthguard). There is too much sweat and not enough blood, but the sweat doesn't detract that much. I loved how you can create a fighter and customize so much about his physical appearance (it is very thorough). I would have liked to see more options for hair color (for Chris Leben etc.) but that's about it.

Voice Acting: 10/10

Music: 2/10

I hate the default music (even though it is true to UFC style) and turned it off as soon as it got annoying. I would have liked to have seen an option to use custom songs for your fight entrance (which by the way is oddly absent in this otherwise very detailed and realistic game) and otherwise have a song library to play as background music. I think the commentators are spot on in terms of how they sound and what they say. I think there is a tendency for the commentators to overstate how crazy or epic every fight is, but otherwise they do a good job of stating the obvious. I don't know about the licensing and stuff but it would have been great if they could have had the fight entrance songs (e.g. when Quinton "Rampage" Jackson enters and Roy Jones Jr. "Can't be Touched" plays). Oh, and the game obviously doesn't know how to pronounce whatever jacked up name you give your custom fighter so it just uses a preset nickname (you can choose from a dozen or so) like "Headhunter" when doing announcements at the beginning and end of matches. I would have liked more nicknames to choose from (why not include actual fighter nicknames?) but it's not a big deal.

Miscellaneous:

There are some load time issues. I also think it gets a bit confusing when it's autosaving (do Exhibition matches count toward my Custom Fighter's Career Mode?) or you go to save redundantly. It's not a big problem and isn't terribly confusing just a bit weird (it shows all the steps it does in each part of the save process when it probably could have suppressed some of it).

I have yet to see Jens Pulver or Mark DellaGrotte (not sure they aren't there just haven't noticed them) and I'm sure a lot of MMA geeks will bemoan that there is no Fedor but this is explicitly UFC Undisputed and not a general MMA game. If you want to you could probably create him with the custom fighter options anyway which should be the default response to any qualms over missing fighters.

It is probably worth mentioning the fighting styles. In this game all fighters are classified into a striking style and a grappling style. There are three striking styles: Boxing, Kickboxing, Muay Thai. Only kickboxers can do head kicks (as far as I can tell). Only Muay Thai can do special moves in the clinch (e.g. knee to the head). There are three grappling styles: BJJ, Wrestling, Judo. BJJ has the best transitioning and submissions. Wrestling and Judo let you do throws and slams and I think you have to be a wrestler to do certain throws (or have a guaranteed ability to do them). I'm not sure whether the style limitations are problematic but considering that fighters are normally encouraged to be well-rounded and learn everything (and how that's the whole point of MMA), it's weird that these limitations are built-in.

There are a lot of nice little touches in the game and if you're an UFC fan or at all into MMA this title will probably hold your interest. If you're looking for Street Fighter mechanics and the ability to do Hadoukens, you won't find it here. However, if you're looking for a level of realism never before seen in this genre of video game, this is it. I was skeptical that you could ever develop a control system to faithfully translate MMA into a video game format, but this game gives me hope. I do think it tends to emphasize the strategic rather than the visceral aspect of the sport but it is a video game after all (if you want something more visceral, then try the real thing I guess or get a button masher).

Best Deals for UFC Undisputed 2009 - Xbox 360

A great fighting game with deep controls and tons of replay. The online gameplay with created fighters and known UFC vets alike is fun and rewarding for anyone who put hours into their create-a-fighter.

Some folks have complained that leveling up your character through the training sessions were boring, menu nonsense, but I also really enjoy RPGs so I found this menu system intuitive and way faster than going through mindless mini-games over and over for hours on end (you're building a fighter's career that's years long!).

The fighting in the game is fluid and deep. Getting the controls down is made easy with the in game tutorial and a bit of time in the octagon. Once you're familiar with the controls getting in there and punching people in the face is tons of fun. The different Striking and Grappling techniques make interesting combinations possible that should please any fight fan. The animations and sound effects are very good. It's truly satisfying to drop a Superman punch on someone or deliver a truly spectacular head kick that rocks your opponent! Whether you're a fan of the UFC or just a casual gamer I think that this game will keep you playing for a ling time.

Honest reviews on UFC Undisputed 2009 - Xbox 360

The fighting is ok, but this game is packed with so many idiotic limitations I wonder if the developers were actively trying to frustrate gamers.

Problems with this game:

1. No open weight fights. Not only can you not have BJ Penn fight Brock Lesnar, you can't even have Georges St-Pierre fight Anderson Silva. This game is absolutely rigid in their restrictions on who can fight who. And disallowing certain fights is not even realistic a lot of these fights have actually happened. Penn fought Machida, Nog fought Henderson, etc. But not in this game.

Fight Night games allow for open weight bouts you could have Pacquiao vs. Tyson if you want and that's something that would NEVER happen in boxing. But EA realizes that its a video game and that it would be stupid to not allow all fighters to compete with each other. Meanwhile, UFC started as an open weight event and PRIDE was holding open weight tournaments relatively recently.

Looking at the back of the box you may be wowed by the idea of 80 fighters, but guess what? Each fighter can only face 15 other fighters so don't get too excited. And in career mode you will end up facing the same couple guys over and over. I played a welterweight career and literally fought GSP, Hughes, and Serra 6 or 7 times each.

And if you want to argue that those bouts would not actually happen in the real UFC, I say to you: you are wrong. GSP may very well go up in weight and fight Silva. But you cant do that in this game which is so ridiculous it is mind-boggling. If I want to have Florian vs. Cro Cop I should be able to! And if Florian gets murdered, so be it.

The lack of open weight cuts a huge element out of an already shallow game. It would be exciting to see if you could beat your friend while he is using Nogueira and you are Dan Henderson... oh wait, Nogueira and Henderson actually fought before, but they can't in this game. Yeah, that makes sense.

2. Can't use UFC fighters in career mode. This is especially awful because you will soon realize that the UFC fighters can only be used in the exhibition mode or online. This means that if you want use, say, Rampage Jackson against everyone in his division, you have to go through the menus and manually select each different fighter in exhibition mode. It's clunky and slow and gets old fast.

3. Career mode is WAY TOO SHORT. Look, it's THQ, so that's an iron-clad guarantee that the career mode will disappoint. I knew that going in, THQ is obsessed with ending your career just as it's getting started. They've done it on every wrestling game they've produced and they did it here. Except in the WWE games you get 50 matches. Here you get 35 and then you are forced to retire. The career mode lasts 7 years. That means if you make your created fighter 18, he is forced to retire when he is 25. That's blatantly stupid and has no relation to an actual UFC career. Why can't I just continue for 100 matches or more if I want? SO STUPID.

Fight Night Round 4 is going to have a career mode that's going to last at least 10 years from what I have seen, but then again, EA is making a sports game and not modelling their career mode on wrestling games.

Basically the whole single player game amounts to the career mode and thats it, so why not let it go on for a while? Why is THQ so obsessed with ending your career prematurely? Why not have it be open ended and just go on forever?

4. There are hardly any modes. There should have been a basic Arcade mode or something where you can pick a real fighter and fight in a bunch of fights. That may be a dumb idea but it's something... ANYTHING. The single player game is wretched, you get the career mode and that is it, then there is exhibition for fighting your friends, online, and... that's it. I won't even bother to review the completely worthless "classic" fight mode. They leave out tons of stuff, yet give you the classic fight feature which is a genuine, honest-to-goodness waste.

There should be a dozen different modes. Tournaments, Arcade, a career mode that simulates an actual career.

5. No title fights. That's right, outside of career mode you can't have any title fights. If you choose a 5 round fight, Mike Goldberg will call it a title fight, and he'll call the winner the new champion, but it doesn't mean anything. No one actually wins a belt. There are no title fights, if you want to win the belt you have to do it in the career and that means you can't win the belt with a default UFC fighter. Imagine a UFC game where you can't win the belt with a UFC fighter. You don't have to imagine, here it is. So much for running your own fed with your friends.

6. Create a fighter is pointless. You CAN'T create a great fighter off the bat, the basic CAF mode only allows for average fighters to be created (75 is the max rating). So you can not create Fedor or Couture or anyone good right away, which makes the basic CAF as unusable as the stupid classic fight mode.

What's the point? Who wants to sit around making bum fighters? No one.

That leaves you with the career mode which allows you to create a fighter and build up his stats. But you can't have this fighter have both special punches and kicks like many real fighters do, and there are other limitations: your created fighter will never be as good as a real fighter.

Apparently you are allowed to create up to 100 fighters, but the game only lets you choose from *TEN* different nicknames. So that pretty much ruins the idea of creating 100 fighters. Are you supposed to create guys with the same nicknames over and over? As far as I am concerned, you can only create 10 fighters because I have no interest in having 2 different guys with the same nickname. I should also mention that the nicknames are horrible and make your character less cool for having to use one of them.

There are dozens of decent nicknames on here that belong to the default fighters that would have been ok for gamers to use, they could have easily allowed that but they didn't. They gave you 10 of the nerdiest nicknames you could possibly imagine.

What should have been done is this: you should have been able to type your OWN nickname, whatever you want it to be. Then there should have been a list of names for the in-game announcers and commentators to call you during the fights, and if you did not choose one, they could just call you, "the fighter". This is basic technology that has been available since the birth of PS2 at least. Sports games have been calling me by my real name for years. That was something this Bush League game could not manage, so I guess I have to name myself "Big Nasty"... =/

10 nicknames! Why not just spit in gamers' faces?

...

Honestly, this is an ok game. You'll have a little fun with it. But it's so obviously rushed, barebones, and cheap that it gets old super fast. A game like this should be overflowing with modes and options. Everything I listed here should be in this game and more. There is no comparison with Undisputed and any serious sports game. UFC Undisputed is not a serious sports game. It's a more realistic wrestling game.

When Fight Night Round 4 comes out, everyone is going to realize what a class fightsport game looks like, and this game will look POOR in comparison. Count on that, and save your money if you are only going to buy one.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for UFC Undisputed 2009 - Xbox 360

UFC 2009 Undisputed is a very good game. THQ has put in everything to make a great MMA game they included every detail and put everything into the game.

One problem is that every Muy Thai fighter is the same, every Boxing figher is the same, and every Kickboxing fighter is the same. All the moves for each style is the same and also for the BJJ, Wrestling, and Judo fighters. That sometimes makes the game repetitive.

The career mode also gets repetitive after a while especially after you win the title because you fight the same four or five fighters all the time. I got very agitated that in career mode you are forced to retire after seven years.

But overall the game is very good and i believe is definetly worth 50 bucks.