As I said in my previous article “What EA Sports MMA Needs to Succeed”, I’ve had an intense love/hate relationship with UFC Undisputed 2010. For the most part, it’s a very faithful recreation of an actual MMA fight, and the large number of add-ons not seen in the 2009 version makes it a rare thing in sports games: a game with an actual life of its own, instead of a game that is basically just one giant roster update. However, that life can take a turn for the worse with unfair gameplay, unbalanced mechanics, and general controller-breaking madness. So here are five things I feel THQ should change or dramatically improve upon for UFC Undisputed 2011.
5. Either downplay or completely remove “stat decay” from career mode. On paper, it’s an interesting mechanic: your stats will actually go down the more you neglect them. However, the stat decay is so rapid in Career Mode that you’ll find yourself ignoring almost everything else in order to “cap” your stats. Unless this feature is completely removed or the rate of stat decay is vastly decreased, the Undisputed franchises’ career mode will be a hassle even at the lowest difficulties.
4. Lag-free online. Even after numerous patches, the amount of lag I encounter in UFC 2010 is staggering. I’ve only run into a handful of games that ran smoothly with no stuttering. It amazes me that I can get into a game like Modern Warfare 2 with 17 other players and, for the most part, have a game that’s completely free of lag, and yet a one-on-one fight is apparently too much for THQ’s servers.
3. Better downloadable content. Sports games have only recently begun to explore the full power of DLC, and both the 2009 and 2010 versions of Undisputed have had almost no DLC to speak of. UFC 2010 had PS3-exclusive Legends, and all versions had pre-order exclusives, but that’s only a handful of fighters from an organization that consists of PRIDE, UFC, WEC, and a host of other gobbled-up promotions. More DLC means more money in the pockets of all involved in creating the game, so realistically it’s only a lack of effort that’s holding back the Undisputed franchise from having great DLC.
2. Some sort of “booker” mode. I’ve never really enjoyed the more simulation-heavy aspects of sports games, but answer me this: is there anyone that wouldn’t jump at the chance to fill Dana White’s shoes? I know I would. If the Undisputed franchise gave us some sort of game mode that involves you being in control of the UFC, it could easily become a standout addition to the franchise.
But without a doubt, my #1 problem with UFC 2010 that absolutely must be improved is…
1. The reversal system. I honestly think there’s no argument here: the reversal system in UFC 2010 is broken and needs to be completely redone. Reversals are so fun to watch in MMA because they don’t happen that often. In UFC 2010, the window you have for reversing a transition is blown so wide open that anyone and everyone is abusing the system. It leads to boring, stalling fights where no one does anything because they’re waiting for their opponent to do something in order to reverse it. It’s not fun, it’s incredibly frustrating, and it needs to go the way of the dodo. Above all else, the UFC franchise needs to kill off its reversal system and reinvent it from the ground up before I sink any more money into this franchise.
So what do you think, fans and friends? What features did you like and not like in 2010, and what must be done before you give THQ more of your money? Undisputed 2010 seems to be pretty polarizing when people talk about what they liked and didn’t like about it, so opinions please.
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Comments
First of all, Id like to get more fluid animations! fighters look and behave like robots. Second, the gameplay sucks, they say its all physics based but the truth is you have to wait ages for the animations to end. And why the hell the Ko’s are all the same? And why can you finish your opponent in just one way? THe only thing UFC has got right is faces and commentary, that rocks! But the gameplay aspects are really lacking, ground game is so fucked up! What I’d like to see from future UFC games :
More modes, as you said, like booker mode or GM mode, better career mode.
Better Physics Engine and new and better animations. You said you improved it but I honestly cant notice it really. ITs still a rock-em sock-em game.
Better gameplay, especially on the ground. Dont make the ground game so rigid and tied-to-animation system, make it more fluid and dynamic.
Please more KO’S and please, much more ways to finish your opponent. Where is the brutal aspect of the famous UFC? ITs so hard to make your fighter run towards the lying opponent and unleash on him! Where is the explosiveness?
Better crowd. The crowd doesnt sound very realistically.
Oliver, it’s cool to see you’re writing again, and about something I’ve had the good honour of playing with you over Xbox Live. Admittedly you KO’d me, but it was still fun nonetheless.
My main debate from your article is as follows though.
What is your deal with stat decay? Once you get the hang of it, it’s really not that difficult to prevent. Once you’ve found a way to get a guaranteed 16+ points in Free Sparring (or even the maximum of 50, now it’s been capped in the most recent update) to get all your stats slowly to 30, you’re well away. I’m in my third career mode (only one is complete), my record is 13-2 and all my stats are 50+. Honestly, stat decay is only a problem to those who are too lazy or haven’t figured out how to prevent it.
I think the fact that it takes figuring out/tricks to begin with speaks volumes about it being a nuisance more than an attempt at realism. In my first career mode, I went through the sparring sessions doing just that: sparring. I only got a handful of points, and nowhere near enough to juggle all the various stats in order to prevent decay. I just truly believe that the system as it is right now is much more hassle than it’s worth, unless you find a way of cheating or working the system, which as I said before, is just a further indicator that the system is flawed.
Well yeah, I totally agree with you but sparring isn’t just striking. Depending on what fatigue you have (every 20% drops your Injury Modifier by 0.2) and what difficulty you’re on, just strike for a good thirty seconds, takedown, reversal to side control then just GnP away.
50 easy points. You can level all stats up three times. Save the two you have spare. Once all your stats are at 30, pick and choose what to get up to 50. Get your stats to 50 and 70 individually and trust me, Career Mode will be easy.
Another thing about this “50 point cap” thing I hate is how many points I’m being gipped out of.
I just had a sparring session where the math at the end works out to me receiving (pre-cap) 102 points.
I’ve just lost an entire sparring session’s worth of points. Really not happy about that, considering my Sub Defense is 50 and I’m fighting Demian Maia next…
I just still think that stat decay is more trouble than it’s worth, at least in its current incarnation. If THQ was going for realism, they shouldn’t have even used level caps. I just think that unless you know how to work the system, and there are a lot of people out there that obviously don’t since this has become a major sticking point for people who didn’t like UFC 2010, there are far too many stats to keep track of that deteriorate far too rapidly. The system needs an overhaul to make it user-friendly as well as challenging.
more fighters in undisputed 2011 and lady fighters
@stu
The UFC doesn’t even implement women’s MMA so what would be the point in wasting character slots on generic, non-existant female fighters?
They already cut down the Created Fighter space from 100 to 40 and increased the character slots from 80 to 100 and along with the 50 generic characters across the weight classes in Career Mode, that makes only a 10 character increase overall.
I’d prefer it if we got a really deep, 35 fighter-per-weight-class roster (or as many as there are if not 35) and a less menu-orientated Career Mode, so I could look forward to 2011. But as of now and the impending release of EA MMA, I don’t know what I’ll be like in May of next year.
make the first part of carer about tuf
I think that the ufc should let you fight fighters In different weight classes. I would want to make the Anderson silva vs GSP fight happen I’n the video game they should let different weight classes fight just like fight night.
Well, Mario really summed it up what I wanted to say about better finishes and better ground game. Like how can a guy transition from side to mount and side to mount. It’s almost impossible with a high class BJJ guy. And also I wanna see better combinations like machida or belfort the way they storm after you attemp a punch or a kick.I want to see most of the fighters taunts (different from the just the four), and the more than just one celebrations after they won the fight. And more legends with out downloading them. And definitely a GM mode and where you can be a fighter and fight the guys you wanna fight and to eventually win the belt unless if you’re the champ, you have to defend it. And your retirement has to be your option not when the game tells you when you have to leave.