EA Sports UFC 2
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Dev: EA
Pub: EA Release Date: 15/03/2016 Format: PS4, Xbox One |
7/10
James Davie |
Two years can change much in the world of UFC. Let's see, in 2014 UFC fighters wore different coloured trunks to the Octagon, had multiple brands slapped all over them and yes, EA Sports UFC debuted on the XBOX ONE after Dana White had once claimed they'd never work with EA Sports. Here and now in 2016 the colours of the trunks are limited to black or white and black and white, the only endorsed clothing line is Reebok and EA Sports UFC 2 hasn't learnt a heap of lessons from its debut. If something seemed uneven about that last statement then sorry but it's mostly true. EA Sports UFC 2 has certainly improved in the gameplay department and the roster is enormous and varied, but tearing through the epidermis reveals familiar meat despite new bones in the form of modes and features.
Things get off to an immersion drenching start as you're introduced to the highlight reel-filled UFC 189 co-main event Rory McDonald vs. Robbie Lawler for the UFC Welterweight Championship in delicious videogame cinematic form. Yes, it's just a glorified tutorial like the Gustafsson vs. Jones Light Heavyweight title intro from the original game, only this time the shorts are black and white. So you slap Rory around for a bit just to “feel the fight” before you unlock your first achievement and the rest of the game. Holding a game to ransom just for a tutorial seems like a bit of a stretch, but at least UFC 2 doesn't try to constantly hold your hand......oh wait the career mode.
Yes just like the last game the career mode doesn't make you feel like a fighter, so much as it does make you feel like a regimented recruit committing to training drills and signing contracts for easy fights against average competition. But hey there is some relieving news, you no longer need to suffer the real time clips of UFC fighters encouraging you, so UFC 2 gets respect for omitting them. So just like the shortcomings of the career modes in EA's Fight Night series, UFC 2's career mode is repetition personified. You start out by creating a fighter from a diverse range of customisation options, though they feel quite limiting given UFC's sponsorship deal with Reebok. You can create and fight as a woman for the first time which is neat and will stop feminists from nagging, but there isn't too much difference between a male fighter and a female fighter besides the gender and that women wear bra tops. After you've created a fighter, you're initiated as a cast member in the Ultimate Fighter, but unlike the show, there is no reality TV base around it, so you just engage in successive fights in a tournament-style format, then win a contract with the UFC; plain, boring and not what the Ultimate Fighter is really all about, but hey it is a sports videogame, it doesn't need a career mode like Fight Night: Champion's because that was too character-driven and immersion consuming. On the UFC roster you start off on the undercard and by winning fights, you gradually make your way up the rankings to fight for the title. Again, you'll fight a lot of nobodies with nicknames like your fighter, but when you face the champion, boy does the challenge and feeling of an epic fight sync in. To think you go through a bunch of bum fights, levelling up, learning new moves to add to your repertoire just to be matched up against a champion like Robbie Lawler, who is leagues above you in overall attributes, and who has an ultra-hard brawling style, you will really feel like you have received a massive wake up call. For pro players this will be some of the best times you'll have with UFC 2's career, as the feeling of a steep challenge and the chance for closely fought fights become realised here. The tedium of accepting fights and going through training camps saps the appeal of the career mode and the few redeeming qualities are hamstrung by an inauthentic presentation, but if you want to build your own fighter and see him or her rise through the ranking with the chance of some truly great bouts, the career just about justifies the slew of negatives against it.
Things get off to an immersion drenching start as you're introduced to the highlight reel-filled UFC 189 co-main event Rory McDonald vs. Robbie Lawler for the UFC Welterweight Championship in delicious videogame cinematic form. Yes, it's just a glorified tutorial like the Gustafsson vs. Jones Light Heavyweight title intro from the original game, only this time the shorts are black and white. So you slap Rory around for a bit just to “feel the fight” before you unlock your first achievement and the rest of the game. Holding a game to ransom just for a tutorial seems like a bit of a stretch, but at least UFC 2 doesn't try to constantly hold your hand......oh wait the career mode.
Yes just like the last game the career mode doesn't make you feel like a fighter, so much as it does make you feel like a regimented recruit committing to training drills and signing contracts for easy fights against average competition. But hey there is some relieving news, you no longer need to suffer the real time clips of UFC fighters encouraging you, so UFC 2 gets respect for omitting them. So just like the shortcomings of the career modes in EA's Fight Night series, UFC 2's career mode is repetition personified. You start out by creating a fighter from a diverse range of customisation options, though they feel quite limiting given UFC's sponsorship deal with Reebok. You can create and fight as a woman for the first time which is neat and will stop feminists from nagging, but there isn't too much difference between a male fighter and a female fighter besides the gender and that women wear bra tops. After you've created a fighter, you're initiated as a cast member in the Ultimate Fighter, but unlike the show, there is no reality TV base around it, so you just engage in successive fights in a tournament-style format, then win a contract with the UFC; plain, boring and not what the Ultimate Fighter is really all about, but hey it is a sports videogame, it doesn't need a career mode like Fight Night: Champion's because that was too character-driven and immersion consuming. On the UFC roster you start off on the undercard and by winning fights, you gradually make your way up the rankings to fight for the title. Again, you'll fight a lot of nobodies with nicknames like your fighter, but when you face the champion, boy does the challenge and feeling of an epic fight sync in. To think you go through a bunch of bum fights, levelling up, learning new moves to add to your repertoire just to be matched up against a champion like Robbie Lawler, who is leagues above you in overall attributes, and who has an ultra-hard brawling style, you will really feel like you have received a massive wake up call. For pro players this will be some of the best times you'll have with UFC 2's career, as the feeling of a steep challenge and the chance for closely fought fights become realised here. The tedium of accepting fights and going through training camps saps the appeal of the career mode and the few redeeming qualities are hamstrung by an inauthentic presentation, but if you want to build your own fighter and see him or her rise through the ranking with the chance of some truly great bouts, the career just about justifies the slew of negatives against it.
Modes and options elsewhere are relatively threadbare. Besides the dull career, you can participate in a curated set of training challenges designed to acclimate you to the intricacies of the fight game. Some are much tougher than others and they have three tiers of difficulty. Standing gets you fine-tuned on the basics of striking using your fists and feet, parrying and dodging to avoid dangerous
strikes and the good ol' input game, where a button sequence appears on screen, and you need to correspond with the right presses on the controller. The clinch tutorials have you learning the intimate body-on-body experience, transitioning and holding position, taking your opponent down and avoiding takedowns. Lastly there is the submission game to learn, getting you to use the same awkward system found in the first game,whereby you gradually synch the submission in, technique, your body and ratcheting pressure to force your guy to tap out by toggling the right thumbstick when a direction signal flashes up. While these sessions are useful to newcomers getting to know the ropes, you never get the feeling you're anything more than Dana's workhorse. Persistence after failure is the allure of getting to know the systems of UFC 2, but when you're given arbitrary grades to reflect how well you did, then all you'll feel is more grunt work and less overall satisfaction. You might ace a tutorial but you'll be glad you'll never have to face it again, which makes these challenges seem lethargic as they are more concerned about how good you are than rewarding your efforts.
Other single player modes worth mentioning are K.O mode, which turns the UFC experience into a traditional fighting, just so you can purely revel in the multitude of ways you can knock your opponent out. The promotional tagline “finish the fight” is most referenced in this mode, where you are challenged to defend strikes and commit to well timed strikes to knock your foe unconscious. The glory of a Mcgregor spinning roundhouse kick or Denis Siver's turning sidekick can be felt to its most epic degree here, so as a mode that creates thrilling and unbelievable knockout moments, there is no better mode on display in UFC 2. You can also create a custom fight card, pitting up to 11 fights, where you can choose the referee and location of where the card takes place. Again, much like the presentation of the career mode, custom fight cards lack spectacle and seem to be added purely as a way to feast on your UFC obsession. There are no post-fight interviews, no press conferences, not a lot of statistical information and a gross sense of dryness to it all. This mode is best sampled with buddies within your own vicinity, as you can really get a raucous fight party started, but with the inability to select fixed champions and the sorely restricted attention to detail, the custom fight card is still in need of some work. And please, don't use a rolling ticker tape to inform us who Fight of the Night and Performance of the Night winners are, you remember UFC Undisputed had ace video highlight packages for that which were considerably better and proved that those games still reign supreme, even after four years since the last entry was released. Work harder EA!
Online modes and functionality is where UFC improves most in terms of modes. You can compete in online championships with your created fighter, only now there is a wrinkle in terms of UFC Ultumate Team. Though it's easy to point out there is no team aesthetic in UFC, it's equally contestable to say there is no I in UFC either hardy har! Here you can purchase cards using in-game currency which can gift you a raft of new moves and attributes for the fighters you create. You can become notorious by racking up wins in single player championships, or compete against others to maximise your team's dominance. Unusually, you can only select a few of the weight classes for your team to compete in, but seeing your fighters improve and being able to manage them all to their own success carries great reward and time with it. It is the kind of mode EA have institutionalised into its own franchises, and while it might not fit entirely into the culture of UFC, it still creates and breeds a highly-competitive environment and more potential for great moments.
strikes and the good ol' input game, where a button sequence appears on screen, and you need to correspond with the right presses on the controller. The clinch tutorials have you learning the intimate body-on-body experience, transitioning and holding position, taking your opponent down and avoiding takedowns. Lastly there is the submission game to learn, getting you to use the same awkward system found in the first game,whereby you gradually synch the submission in, technique, your body and ratcheting pressure to force your guy to tap out by toggling the right thumbstick when a direction signal flashes up. While these sessions are useful to newcomers getting to know the ropes, you never get the feeling you're anything more than Dana's workhorse. Persistence after failure is the allure of getting to know the systems of UFC 2, but when you're given arbitrary grades to reflect how well you did, then all you'll feel is more grunt work and less overall satisfaction. You might ace a tutorial but you'll be glad you'll never have to face it again, which makes these challenges seem lethargic as they are more concerned about how good you are than rewarding your efforts.
Other single player modes worth mentioning are K.O mode, which turns the UFC experience into a traditional fighting, just so you can purely revel in the multitude of ways you can knock your opponent out. The promotional tagline “finish the fight” is most referenced in this mode, where you are challenged to defend strikes and commit to well timed strikes to knock your foe unconscious. The glory of a Mcgregor spinning roundhouse kick or Denis Siver's turning sidekick can be felt to its most epic degree here, so as a mode that creates thrilling and unbelievable knockout moments, there is no better mode on display in UFC 2. You can also create a custom fight card, pitting up to 11 fights, where you can choose the referee and location of where the card takes place. Again, much like the presentation of the career mode, custom fight cards lack spectacle and seem to be added purely as a way to feast on your UFC obsession. There are no post-fight interviews, no press conferences, not a lot of statistical information and a gross sense of dryness to it all. This mode is best sampled with buddies within your own vicinity, as you can really get a raucous fight party started, but with the inability to select fixed champions and the sorely restricted attention to detail, the custom fight card is still in need of some work. And please, don't use a rolling ticker tape to inform us who Fight of the Night and Performance of the Night winners are, you remember UFC Undisputed had ace video highlight packages for that which were considerably better and proved that those games still reign supreme, even after four years since the last entry was released. Work harder EA!
Online modes and functionality is where UFC improves most in terms of modes. You can compete in online championships with your created fighter, only now there is a wrinkle in terms of UFC Ultumate Team. Though it's easy to point out there is no team aesthetic in UFC, it's equally contestable to say there is no I in UFC either hardy har! Here you can purchase cards using in-game currency which can gift you a raft of new moves and attributes for the fighters you create. You can become notorious by racking up wins in single player championships, or compete against others to maximise your team's dominance. Unusually, you can only select a few of the weight classes for your team to compete in, but seeing your fighters improve and being able to manage them all to their own success carries great reward and time with it. It is the kind of mode EA have institutionalised into its own franchises, and while it might not fit entirely into the culture of UFC, it still creates and breeds a highly-competitive environment and more potential for great moments.
Another excellent addition are the Live Events. In these you can select predictions for real upcoming events, as well as fantasy cards set up by EA Sports. Just choose the fighters you think will win their individual bouts as well as the way and the round you think they'll be victorious in. You can also play and attempt to make your predictions come true through the game. Getting correct predictions and meeting the terms of your prediction nets you some special Ultimate Team cards, the more predictions you get right the greater the reward. The mode is very addictive and feels like gambling without the loss and the monetary factor. Once you start you won't want to stop,
and the mode adds to the hype of the fight cards, so its inclusion is an exceptionally positive one.
Claiming EA Sports puts spectacle over quality is true in most cases, but besides the array of technical hiccups you'll find, the experience of playing UFC 2 is delightful if you have the patience and give yourself time to learn the ins and outs. The stand up game packs a mean punch, and you'll always know when you've dealt devastating blows because your opponent will react like a shot overwhelmed him or her as they grab their faces in pain or stagger around as awkwardly as someone who's been to an all-night stag party with a farm of Irish human wildlife at a pub. One little oddity is when you do make your opponents wobbly, your player tends to go in for the final blows by smashing both of his fists together against the opponent's face like he/she was taking part in an arm-slapping contest. Not only do you finish the fight in the UFC, you also feel it thanks to tremendous controller feedback. Most will prefer the standup game because there are so many techniques that can finish the fight in one blow, you'll find yourself negating to tear yourself away from throwing hands, knees, elbows and feet at your opposition. Looking for a stylish knockout has never seemed so obsessively advertised as in EA Sports UFC 2.
When you succumb to the ground game things get relatively complicated, but unlike the first game, this entry makes the ground game a lot more technical and deep. Just like the previous entry, you initiate a takedown by holding a trigger and by holding left on the right analogue stick. From here you'll engage in top position, with your opponent on the ground. You'll notice there are a range of up to four options to choose from as to how you advance. Do you take side control and hammer elbows into your opponents cheekbones, do you posture up and lay a beatdown, do you press left trigger and see if you've got any submission options at your disposal? There are a handful of ways to engage on the ground, but of course the guy on the bottom is far from helpless. When you try to advance position, often times your opponent will block your attempts, which can lead to constant option spamming until you successfully form a highlighted yellow circle around the R toggle. Your opposition might even to reverse position on you, so you'll have to fight off your back. At all times you need to ensure you're not overwhelmed, because you can get completely battered if you don't know how to get out of tight spots. You can get frustrated a lot, so try picking a Jiu Jitsu expert like Demian Maia if you're having real problems, but when things click, the ground game works very well, even if the submission game is still largely the same, but you can switch holds and execute flying submissions like an MMA ninja, so those are welcome additions.
It is not often that a licensed soundtrack becomes a notable part of a sports game, that is why UFC 2's soundtrack is fairly atrocious. Yes music tastes are subjective but thematically the songs are so cringe-inducing to this fighting game and serves to reflect UFC and MMA as a sport, which it is, but it isn't FIFA. Too many of the songs just don't mesh with UFC and it says something totally baffling about how EA Sports are targeting as wider demographic as possible, much like the UFC and equally monolithic businesses seem to be doing these days. And this whole fascination with spectacle is commendable in UFC 2, but given the technical issues, it isn't as polished as EA pretends it is.
There are many things this year's version of EA Sports UFC does very well. The Ultimate Team mode might not fit the UFC world, but is pulled off wonderfully. The online option are very strong, particularly the Live Events option, immersing players in the world of UFC like never before. On top of this, there has been a lot of love and care put into making EA Sports UFC 2, allowing it to be the most playable, diverse and dynamic UFC videogame out there, with a brilliantly implemented stand up and ground game, not to mention the biggest, most impressive roster to date. Yet a number of qualms hold it back from grabbing the brass ring such as a boring career mode, training minigames that seem designed to make you nothing but a tired workhorse, Custom Events lack the finer details of the sport such as press conferences and interviews, the same could be said about the aforementioned dull career mode as well. The deluge of technical issues are still present too even if
some of them are chucklesome. If you love UFC videogames this one won't change your mind, the same can be said if you don't love them. This new entry is better than its predecessor in almost every way, but is still reeling from lingering issues stemming from it. So a worthwhile contender then, just not an ultimate fighter.
and the mode adds to the hype of the fight cards, so its inclusion is an exceptionally positive one.
Claiming EA Sports puts spectacle over quality is true in most cases, but besides the array of technical hiccups you'll find, the experience of playing UFC 2 is delightful if you have the patience and give yourself time to learn the ins and outs. The stand up game packs a mean punch, and you'll always know when you've dealt devastating blows because your opponent will react like a shot overwhelmed him or her as they grab their faces in pain or stagger around as awkwardly as someone who's been to an all-night stag party with a farm of Irish human wildlife at a pub. One little oddity is when you do make your opponents wobbly, your player tends to go in for the final blows by smashing both of his fists together against the opponent's face like he/she was taking part in an arm-slapping contest. Not only do you finish the fight in the UFC, you also feel it thanks to tremendous controller feedback. Most will prefer the standup game because there are so many techniques that can finish the fight in one blow, you'll find yourself negating to tear yourself away from throwing hands, knees, elbows and feet at your opposition. Looking for a stylish knockout has never seemed so obsessively advertised as in EA Sports UFC 2.
When you succumb to the ground game things get relatively complicated, but unlike the first game, this entry makes the ground game a lot more technical and deep. Just like the previous entry, you initiate a takedown by holding a trigger and by holding left on the right analogue stick. From here you'll engage in top position, with your opponent on the ground. You'll notice there are a range of up to four options to choose from as to how you advance. Do you take side control and hammer elbows into your opponents cheekbones, do you posture up and lay a beatdown, do you press left trigger and see if you've got any submission options at your disposal? There are a handful of ways to engage on the ground, but of course the guy on the bottom is far from helpless. When you try to advance position, often times your opponent will block your attempts, which can lead to constant option spamming until you successfully form a highlighted yellow circle around the R toggle. Your opposition might even to reverse position on you, so you'll have to fight off your back. At all times you need to ensure you're not overwhelmed, because you can get completely battered if you don't know how to get out of tight spots. You can get frustrated a lot, so try picking a Jiu Jitsu expert like Demian Maia if you're having real problems, but when things click, the ground game works very well, even if the submission game is still largely the same, but you can switch holds and execute flying submissions like an MMA ninja, so those are welcome additions.
It is not often that a licensed soundtrack becomes a notable part of a sports game, that is why UFC 2's soundtrack is fairly atrocious. Yes music tastes are subjective but thematically the songs are so cringe-inducing to this fighting game and serves to reflect UFC and MMA as a sport, which it is, but it isn't FIFA. Too many of the songs just don't mesh with UFC and it says something totally baffling about how EA Sports are targeting as wider demographic as possible, much like the UFC and equally monolithic businesses seem to be doing these days. And this whole fascination with spectacle is commendable in UFC 2, but given the technical issues, it isn't as polished as EA pretends it is.
There are many things this year's version of EA Sports UFC does very well. The Ultimate Team mode might not fit the UFC world, but is pulled off wonderfully. The online option are very strong, particularly the Live Events option, immersing players in the world of UFC like never before. On top of this, there has been a lot of love and care put into making EA Sports UFC 2, allowing it to be the most playable, diverse and dynamic UFC videogame out there, with a brilliantly implemented stand up and ground game, not to mention the biggest, most impressive roster to date. Yet a number of qualms hold it back from grabbing the brass ring such as a boring career mode, training minigames that seem designed to make you nothing but a tired workhorse, Custom Events lack the finer details of the sport such as press conferences and interviews, the same could be said about the aforementioned dull career mode as well. The deluge of technical issues are still present too even if
some of them are chucklesome. If you love UFC videogames this one won't change your mind, the same can be said if you don't love them. This new entry is better than its predecessor in almost every way, but is still reeling from lingering issues stemming from it. So a worthwhile contender then, just not an ultimate fighter.
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+Vastly improved stand up and grappling gameplay.
+Live Events are a cool immersive feature. +Ultimate Team fits neatly into the UFC template. -Same old technical problems. -Career mode is boring still. -Still not the ultimate UFC game. |
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