UFC: Sudden Impact

"A good game with some nuances"

Everywhere I went, the people there told me this was a bad game. I have no idea why, when I finally gave in and bought it. Sure, it has its fair share of nuances but that doesn't mean it isn't fun for a casual or hardcore UFC fan, and it's better than all of the other UFC games. Let's get started with the review then.

Graphics- 7/10
Not bad, but not great. They definitely look better than Dreamcast graphics, but not by too much. The face detail is quite good; Tito Ortiz actually looks like Tito Ortiz, and they have a new female fighter, who, once again, looks similar to the real picture in the game. The lighting is done rather well, but I'd say the skin is a bit too shiny, but the trunks and gloves are spot on, and have all the little details that they have in the real UFC. The game runs at a steady pace, with a constant framerate 90% of the time. Sometimes, for some reason when you manage to get pinned up against the cage, and your opponent is on top of you, it has some slowdown, and that can make it hard to get out of that position. Overall, I'd say the graphics are above average, but not the best.

Sound - 7/10
I have to give this a good rating for the introductions, they always seem right, the music is spot on most of the time, and they have the ring announcer in it. But after that it goes a little downhill. All the punches and kicks have two separate noises: one for when you hit someone and they are blocking, and one for when you hit someone and they aren't blocking. You also hear them scream if you try to submit them and fail, you scream if they try to submit you and they fail, and you hear a bone crack if you get tapped out, which I think is a nice touch. The presentation of the sound really isn't that bad, except for one thing: THERE'S NO COMMENTARY! That drove me nuts. Is it really that hard to record the UFC commentators saying a couple of things and putting it in the game? I guess so, as that's not the case in this game. The matches are completely silent except for the crowd noise, which is also well done, and the fighting noise, and the guy before the match who says "YOU READY! YOU READY! THEN LETS GET IT ON!" It's not terrible, but not the best, again.

Gameplay - 6/10
This is where the game has some issues. The game feels more like a generic fighter game (say, Tekken) than a UFC fight. Each button on the controller is an arm or leg, and you combine these to get your opponent onto the ground, punch them, kick them, try to submit them, etc. Overall this doesn't seem too bad, until you get to the issue of tapouts. It's too random and too easy to beat someone or get beaten with a tapout. Most of the time, you don't even see one coming, and you just lose all your life instantly. Your stamina doesn't matter for tapouts either, you can be at perfect stamina and still get tapped out. The manual says you have to spin the control stick in a circle to get out of a submission, but you have to be able to do that in basically less than a half a second. I don't think that's the way they should have done it. The other problem is when you get on top of someone, you can basically just keep pounding away at them until they are KOed. The computer can counter it a lot of the times, but human vs. human matches basically consist of who can get on top of the other one and submit them first.

Game modes/Unlockables - 9/10
There's tons of modes and unlockables. The modes are championship run, multiplayer, arcade mode, tournament, and story mode. Championship run pits you against other fighters, and you have to beat them. After you beat a certain number in the weightclass of the fighter you picked, you get unlock a fighter, and can bring that fighter through Championship mode again with a Legend selection to unlock more fighters. You have to play through this mode quite a bit to unlock everyone, so this is a good mode. The story mode gives you three years to train a fighter to be ready for the UFC and then run him through Championship mode. Depending on how good your training choices are, the fighter can have different fighting styles, learn new moves, or be a complete dud. You also unlock clothes in this mode, so when you run through it again, you have more to dress your next fighter up with. You have save slots for 10 fighters, so that mode lasts a while too. Multiplayer can be fun if the other person is really good at the game, if not you can just get on top of them and pummel them to death, since they don't know the timing to get out of it or get on top of you, so it removes all the fun. Arcade mode is basically just an arcade fight with two different fighters. You can't unlock anything from it.

Replay Value- 9/10
As stated above, with all the unlockables this game can be played over and over and you still have things to unlock. Plus, it's quite fun once you get the hang of it

Overall 7/10
I'll admit it's not a game that will stay in your PlayStation2 all the time, but it is incredibly fun to pick up off your game shelf and run through the championship or story mode a couple of times, then put it away for later. I still don't see why every game store I went to said it was a horrible game with no replay value. That is a complete lie. Plus, at 20 smackers brand new, it's not a bad deal for what you get either Don't believe it, but if you don't know much about the UFC you might want to rent it first and see if you like the gameplay style of it before buying it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/14/05