I’m a big fan of MMA, especially the UFC which is home to the best group of fighters in the world, and I was happy with Undisputed’s first outing in 2009. That’s not to say I didn’t have any issues with last year’s outing. Submissions were a personal gripe. To be more specific I hated how difficult it was to get out of them once they were locked in, which happened very quickly. Unfortunately, this issue has not been addressed in 2010 and I hope they re-evaluate this next year. Until that time UFC Undisputed 2010 has some new additions and a great deal to offer fans.

In career mode you begin as an amateur and once you feel you’re ready to turn pro you’re given a contract to fight in the World Fighting Alliance. My created fighter was a Light Heavyweight. I have a bad habit of not reading manuals and because of that I didn’t fully understand how the fatigue system worked. I went into my first pro fight with 100% fatigue, for some reason I assumed that was good like a full health bar, that really wasn’t good. I gassed very early into the fight and was smothered to death by an over-excited wrestler. I learned from that harsh lesson and went on to win my next six pro fights in a row. This prompted Dana White to come calling and I accepted his contract offer to fight in the UFC. This was it, the big time.

If you were expecting an overhaul in the visual department you’ll be disappointed. Having said that, the graphics in 2009 were great and I was more than happy with THQ focussing on improving areas which needed a little more work. Commentary isn’t extensive but fans of the UFC, and MMA in general, will know there’s a limited amount of things to talk about during a fight. The volume of commentary is certainly no more limited than in most EA Sports titles on the market.

I was undefeated after five fights in the UFC and then faced Rashad Evans. It was clear this was a huge fight and if I beat Rashad I’d be in contention for a title shot. He repeatedly wrestled me to the ground and after much struggling I eventually lost by TKO. This was the start of a slide and I lost the next three fights. I managed to pull myself together, through hard training and a slight change in tactics, and went on another winning spree. I fought Rampage Jackson for the title, beat him, then had three successful title defences against Rashad, Machida, and Shogun. This prompted my coach to ask if I wanted to give up my title and move up to Heavyweight division for a new challenge. I accepted the offer, moved to Heavyweight division, and found that my speed was an advantage over many of the larger fighters.

There’s been a major overhaul to fighting camps. In last year’s version you would select a fighting camp, attend on the day, train with a sparring partner, and that’s about it. This time there’s much more focus on skills you gain from being at a particular training camp. My fighter started life as a boxer, and because of this had no head-kick ability, but by attending a training camp I learned GSP’s head-kick move. You choose a fighting camp for your fighter, select a move you wish to learn, and you train with a sparring partner. You gain points by successfully using one-two combinations and bonus points if you manage to include the move you’re trying to learn in your combination. You unlock that particular move by obtaining 100pts. This doesn’t have to be achieved in one sitting as you can gain some points and return as often as you like until you gain 100pts, complete your training at that level, and learn the move. The more levels you unlock the more efficient that particular move will be during a fight. This change makes the camp process much more realistic and offers a great deal of variety in your fighting style.

The action inside the octagon has seen a few improvements. Submissions in the previous title where pretty one dimensional but they’re been improved with the ability to transition from one to another. Opponent will need to counter in slightly different ways and this helps to freshen up the ground game. The cage, which was obviously present last year, now has a bigger part to play in fights. They offer some protection from wrestlers rushing at you looking for a huge take-down and while on the ground they give you a chance to flip off or wall-walk.

Throughout the career mode you’ll be contacted by the media and asked to perform certain tasks. If you’re successful your reputation will show a small increase. The tasks include interviews, recorded sparring sessions, and picking which fighters you think will win at upcoming events. The interviews are pretty straight forward, you’re asked some basic questions and you pick a response from a few answers. During the recorded sparring sessions you’re asked to successfully perform certain moves within the time limit. Picking fighters you believe will win, the round, and the method is quite fun, especially as you get to watch the AI fights to see how they unfold.

More thought has been put into the events themselves, you now see the proper UFC intro, complete with gladiator and pre-recorded talking heads section where fighters explain why they believe they’re going to win their respective fights. After winning an important fight you are interviewed by Joe Rogan who asks you some questions and, as with the media interviews, you select answers from a few choices. Nice little touches like this are what make 2010 stand clear of 2009 as far as presentation is concerned. Rogan will occasionally ask you slightly different questions such as who you’d like to fight next but they are generally the same questions repeated. This is one area I’d like THQ to work on a little more. I certainly don’t expect volume of dialogue on par with an RPG but more of what works is always a good thing.

Online play is very similar to last year’s version but you and some friends can now start your own camp. This addition probably sounds much better than the reality unless of course you were hoping for a chance to train with friends in non-pressure fights. Perhaps I have high expectations but I often expect a little more from online modes in sport titles. An online career mode would be a novel idea as would the ability to create mini-organisations, hire and fire fighters, and put on live events which others could watch. Here you’ll find nothing quite so innovative. There’s always next year though.

The PS3 and Xbox 360 versions have a couple of differences. There are three fighters exclusive to the PS3: veteran Jens Pulver and MMA legends Royce Gracie and Dan Severn. As well as the three fighters the PS3 version includes five exclusive Ultimate Fights: Condit vs Kampmann, Marquardt vs Maia, Hughes vs Gracie, Jardine vs Griffin, and Kampmann once more against McFedries.

UFC Undisputed burst onto the scene in 2009 and made a huge impact. The level of success convinced EA to develop their own MMA fighting game which will be released later this year. THQ set the standard in 2009 and have managed to improve on that with UFC Undisputed 2010. It remains to be seen whether EA are capable of challenging THQ for the MMA crown but they’ll have to produce something pretty special in order to do so.

8/10

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