UFC Undisputed 2010 Coming To A Cage Near You

by GrathiusXR:

©2010 Arthur Kotsopoulos – Community Editor

It was an event which not only gave us the chance to see UFC Undisputed 2010 (MMA – Mixed Martial Arts) in action right before our very eyes, but also a chance to hear a little about what it meant for the Ultimate Fighting Championship to be down under in Australia for the first time in its history.

After a little introductory speech by Don Gold (Executive VP of UFC) on how the UFC 110 Sydney Event was the 2nd fastest selling UFC pay-per-view in history of the sport, as well as how amazing it was for UFC Undisputed (MMA) to finally be in Sydney, Australia for the first time, then it was down to business on why we were actually there.

Let me get this out of the way now- UFC Undisputed 2010 looks absolutely amazing. How amazing? It’s like they skipped 2010 as a whole and went looking to make a game that was being developed for the year 2011.

Yes – it’s ‘that’ amazing!

For a yearly title when you look at it, it feels as if they revamped the whole game and started again from scratch to fix the problems that were in UFC Undisputed 09. It features new photo realistic visuals where fighters in game looked even more like their real life counterparts.

They sweat, they breathe, they stumble, they lean and fight exactly as they would if you were to watch them on TV. Much like Fight Night R4, UFC Undisputed 2010 has captured each fighter’s personality and fighting style.

• UFC Undisputed 2010 coming to a cage near you soon

The crowd is quite possibly the BEST visually appealing crowd I’ve seen in a sports titled video game. Smackdown vs Raw over the past few years have a dull and bland looking crowd as does FIFA which is disappointing, but UFC Undisputed 2010 is much more graphically impressive.

Sure they may not look like the fighters in the ring but they stand out and when you’re cage fighting you’ll see them jumping up and down and waving their arms in the air like lunatic monkeys.

Cage fighting is a new feature in UFC Undisputed 2010, with the ability to clinch/grapple your opponent onto the side of the cage where you will see cage deformation. So it will basically react in a realistic way as to how much weight is being forced on to it.

Along with this, the clinch has been redesigned as well as the introduction of some new fighting techniques and on top of that the animations have been completely been revamped. Fighters now feel alive and don’t just drag on and on during a fight.

A comparison would be how the last few FIFA titles were always faster paced on the Playstation 3 than the Xbox 360 and then when FIFA10 was released both versions featured identical game speed which finally brought the whole argument of FIFA being better on PS3 to an end, that’s how UFC Undisputed 2010 is compared to 09.

Everything has been updated with the mindset of improving the sequel like it was a game being released in 2011.

The fluidity of the leans and dodges blend nicely with the ferociously fast punches that you can throw at your opponent, and there won’t be any moments where the gameplay just feels sloppy and slow. It’s all strategy and quick thinking in UFC Undisputed 2010.

One thing that I should mention are the controls. Apparently they have been slightly changed around so that the learning curve is much shorter so you won’t have moments where the match just becomes about kicks from a distance and cheap hooks or jabs.

It’s still a while before the game comes out and there’s so much that can still be said but unfortunately we were only treated to a short bout between Velazquez and Nogeuira in the time we had.

But what we did see was something beautiful.

UFC U09 was the first next gen UFC game and it blew me away, period. I gave it 7.9/10 which is an amazing score mainly because it was the first next-gen UFC title to be released on consoles, and not only did it capture the sport to an almost perfect level, it offered a fighting sports title that was brutal, enjoyable and technically proficient to the hardcore gaming and UFC fans around the world. I have high hopes for UFC U10 after what I’ve seen so far.

The brutality of the sport has been captured, the octagonal strategy has been captured, the crowd has been captured and even Bruce Buffer and his trademark Bruce Buffer 180 has been captured to perfection.

As Neven Dranski of THQ US stated, they set out to not only be the best sports title of 2010 but they set out to completely destroy UFC Undisputed 09 in every way.

With the game presentation out of the way we where then introduced to Gray Maynard who came down with the rest for promotional purposes and talked to us about a few different striking moves as well as certain grappling moves, which he had 2 UFC (MMA) students demonstrate on the mat set out in front of us.

It was interesting to see just exactly how technically and physically demanding the sport really is and you get a real appreciation for the effort these guys go through to put on a good show. What made that presentation even better was the fact that seeing it done in real life and then seeing those moves in the game will make me enjoy it a lot more.

Afterwards, THQ Australia, out of the kindness of their hearts, treated everyone to a few tickets to UFC 110 which was being held over at Acer Arena (ex Sydney Olympic Stadium) in Sydney that coming Sunday. It was truly a spectacular place to be at and just hearing the crowd roar for blood and violence got the adrenaline pumping in me.

Not since the Australian Tour of WcW Thunder back in October of 2000 have I heard such an energetic excitement  in the crowd to see some blood-splattering action. What started off as a dull week ended up being UFC madness. The event was a complete sell-out, and made UFC history in being the fastest sell-out event on the UFC calender, and we ‘hope’ to see them back next year, as there’s ‘rumours’ a-foot that it will become an annual event, but that is unconfirmed at this stage.

I’m pumped for some octagonal brutality and I throw down the challenge right now: If there is anyone who wants to take me on in the UFC Octagon once the game is released, you know my gamertag!

©2010 Arthur Kotsopoulos – Community Editor

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