Ultimate Fighting Championship: Throwdown Updated Preview
We went hands-on with Crave's latest build of Ultimate Fighting Championship: Throwdown for the Nintendo GameCube.
During a recent visit by Crave, we had the chance to play a near-final version of Ultimate Fighting Championship: Throwdown for the Nintendo GameCube. Developed by Genki, the game will feature 25 of UFC's popular fighters, including light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz, heavyweight champion Josh Barnett, and welterweight champion Jens Pulver. The game features a number of gameplay modes, including arcade, exhibition, tournament, career mode, legend, create a fighter, and training.
UFC: Throwdown's championship mode pits you against a series of opponents in an attempt to win a UFC championship. Fighters can participate in various UFC championship challenges, separated by weight class--heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, lightweight, and welterweight. Upon winning any of the different championships in your weight class, you can save your fighter with his belt, and then participate in the legend mode, where you enter your reigning champion fighter and defend the title against seven consecutive challengers, attempting to keep the belt around your waist for as long as possible. The training mode from the Dreamcast version of the game has also returned, albeit in a more fleshed-out fashion. You can define the actions of the CPU opponent and learn the ins and outs of each character.
The GameCube version's create-a-fighter mode is one of the deepest in the genre, and it's a rewarding game mode in itself. We had the chance to create a custom fighter and check out the process you'll be able to endure in the hopes of making the baddest fighter in the cage. First, your fighter's background is created, including name, hometown, size, weight (which defines his weight class), appearance, attire, and fighting style. Choosing each created character's different fighting style is the most important part of the process, as it defines not only his most basic abilities and move sets, but also his potential. Each fighter begins with near minimal scores in the areas of punching, kicking, wrestling, life, and stamina, and these scores can be raised with experience points gained from sparring with AI partners. Sparring sets your created character against AI-controlled opponents in a three-round format, where your performance is judged and you are rewarded with experience accordingly. For example, you can jab and feint your way through three rounds, winning a close decision and earning 10 experience points, while a first-round takedown followed by a submission victory may net you 16 points. These points are spent on a sliding scale that corresponds to your fighting style's natural affinity--jujitsu stylists can raise their wrestling and stamina attributes fairly easily, but specializing in kicks will cost them dearly.
Created fighters initially begin with only the most basic maneuvers--a couple of weak punches and kicks, a shot, and perhaps a basic submission maneuver. Spending points in punching and kicking will unlock useful combos to add to your arsenal, and spending points in wrestling will earn you better tackles and submissions. Raising your fighter's attributes across the board will in turn unlock a variety of new moves to add to his repertoire, eventually allowing created characters to completely master each facet of their martial art.
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