Ultimate Fighting Championship

"As Real As It Gets"

1993 is the fateful year where a small-time league started, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC for short. Until today, UFC has been struggling for world-wide acceptance as many people preconceive it as nothing more than blood sport, or human cock-fighting. With its close demise in the next couple of years, the original owners, Semaphore Entertainment Group (SEG) decided to sell the UFC name to Zuffa Entertainment, who currently owns the UFC and has successfully revitalized it.

During this risky and critical times for UFC and Mixed Martial Arts in the United States, Crave and Anchor brought the UFC to the Dreamcast as an exclusive title. The UFC hoped to reach and educate more people through the video game, and this game, for a first-try, is pretty much as real as it gets.

UFC has 22 of the more popular fighters from the UFC taken during the tenure of SEG. Names such as Tito Ortiz, Frank Shamrock, Mark Coleman, Marco Ruas, Kevin Randleman and Chuck Liddell are familiar to those who follow closely to the sport. It is important to note that unlike Wrestling games that take a particular roster during a certain time of the 'story' and emulate that for the game, the game simply takes the more popular fighters during certain periods of the UFC. For instance, Marco Ruas is a rare sight in the UFC having to compete only in a couple of events and debuted way back at UFC 7 (1995). Tito Ortiz, on the other hand, became immensely popular at UFC 18 (1999). The game covers a great number of competitors that spans a couple of years time in the UFC, clearly with the goal of educating the uninitiated.

Graphics (9/10)

UFC (DC) features very impressive graphics during its time. The character models are very detailed and the many graphical quirks of the game really helps give you a very authentic feel. The character entrance sequence is simply amazing and really is a notch above most games. It has minor problems, though. Blood is present in the game, and it isn't emulated very well. It looks more like catsup more than anything else. There are polygon overlapping and collision problems that are too glaring to ignore. When you have Frank pulling an armbar and have his torso eat up the opponent's arm, it really doesn't look very nice anymore. A small nitpick is in the quality of the models, not that models are bad. However, the character models appearances compared to their real-life counter-parts range from either uncannily alike, a small resemblance, or simply don't look alike. I'm sure these small problems can be sorted out if Anchor pours effort on it on the sequels.

Sound (9/10)

The soundtrack of the UFC is simply amazing. It really shifts you to high gear, raring to get it on with your opponents. The UFC entrance theme is emulated very well here and gives a very authentic UFC atmosphere. Sound effects are really good and the crowd buzzing does add something to the touch. It truly is a remarkable achievement for Anchor in the sound department.

Controls (8/10)

UFC is not your standard fighting game, hence, don't expect those quarter-circle-forward punch, or those back two-seconds-front kick. Essentially, UFC utilizes four buttons mapped to either left kick (LK), right kick (RK), left punch (LP), or right punch (RP). The two analog triggers are used to map out two combination buttons such as LK + RK, LP + RP, etc. If you're wondering why, these combinations are used to pull of counters in the game. When an opponent pulls a submission move, you have to know what appropriate counter button combinations to pull out. This may sound complicated at first, but it's really button mashing more than anything. I have friends who can last by simply randomly pressing buttons. It doesn't get the most elegant counters, but it does keep you in the fight. Takedowns are done through button combinations, as well. Overall, control responsiveness is good and the game handles pretty well. Good job.

Game Content (8/10)

The game has a couple of features to keep you busy. The real thrust of the game is the UFC mode which is patterned after the original UFC event format. This is a tree-style loser-knockout tournament where you have to face and defeat three opponents in one run to win the UFC title. All competitors (except you, the player) are randomized and will compete with each other to advance in the tournament. This would have been 100% authentic if it weren't for the absence of the alternates bout. In the original UFC format, there is a tournament tree and the alternates bout. The alternates bout decides the fighter that qualifies as alternates (in case a fighter cannot continue but advances in the tournament, he will be substituted by the alternate). In the game, when a fight ends with a draw, none of the competitors advance and that side of the bracket is left empty. The other opponent that advances to this level of the bracket will automatically advance by default. However, the mode is very enjoyable.

Champion's road is the second main mode of the game and the prerequisite to compete here is that you have to play the UFC mode. It's not that you unlock this mode, but fighters with the UFC title (Silver belt, huh? Silver wha?) taken from the UFC mode can compete here. The mode is basically a survival mode where you face 12 fighters, the second to the last is Tito Ortiz, and the last is Ultiman (The bald abandoned mascot of the UFC).

The game also has a career mode which is a create-a-fighter mode but this mode is pretty lame on its own. It has some basic character models to choose from and some styles to pick, this determines the look and the moves your character has. You then go through sparring sessions to rack up points and make your character stronger. It's a little raw but will definitely get only better in the sequel.

There is also a tournament mode where you can setup your tournament and choose the fighters who will compete here. Finally, the game features an exhibition mode where you can face off with another player or the computer-controlled AI.

There are basically three attacks, you have grapples, strikes and submissions. Grapples range from takedowns to slams and strikes are punches and kicks. Submission moves are grapples that, when are done successfully, would merit a tapout and a win under your name. The basic fight system is divided into four basic scenarios: Stand Up, Mount, Guard, and Backmount. In the stand up game, strikes are usually the way to go and takedown is an open-option to use. There are basically some characters who are guaranteed the takedown (whether you like it or not), so that's an advantage to them so each character has a different gameplan to follow here. In the mount, strategy starts to dwindle away. If you are on top of the mount position, you can ground and pound (just throw punches while on top) your way to victory (which is usually the case, regardless of the fighter to use). If you are being mounted, you can almost see L-O-S-E-R written all over you. But don't despair, there's the next fight to look forward to. It isn't impossible to get out of this position. This varies from fighter to fighter so you have to really work behind your back and master your character to be able to fight off someone who intends to GNP you. In the guard position and you are on top, things can get a bit tricky depending on the fighter, but it's still straight forward GNP. If you are on the ground, you are in the best possible mounted position as you have avenues for some offense. In the backmount position, there's 1% chance you might live through the rampage. So there's the breakdown of the fight system in the UFC game. Some position have strategies involved, others close to zero. So the game can get mixed reactions from different people. Rest assured that if you stick with the game, you'll understand the game better and you'll see how the fighting system isn't so bad.

There are a number of lacking things in the fighting system. The freak one-shot KOs are non-existent here. There are no side mounts, no referee stoppages, no doctor stoppages, so there is some avenues for improvement for the sequel.

AI (7/10)

The AI is pretty much good. Not too good, just good. They know what to do but sometimes are simply too passive to do anything. Fending off AIs become some form of pattern-gazing in old video games where you simply use a move to setup the AI always expecting the AI to counter it. Then the counter the AI does is very predictable so you can literally setup the position you want and beat the crap out of them. It becomes very boring later on so you might want to look for someone to play with instead.

Replayability (8/10)

There's a wealth of unlockables in this game. There are movelists and character models to unlock. You also may want to square off with your friends for some interesting battles. So this game should keep you busy for a while.

OVERALL (8/10) NOT AN AVERAGE

UFC is not your regular fighting game and it will definitely not appeal to everyone. But it has its own strengths such as the impressive graphics, and the interesting gameplay that will keep players glued to it. The button-mashing issue may be something that people will look down on and see as simplistic gameplay, but there's a whole lot more strategy involved than just button-mashing (depending on where you are). UFC is a fine addition to the Dreamcast library and is clearly a unique title on its own right. Definitely a must have for UFC fans out there.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/15/04