After almost 2 years of being teased by fight trailers, UFC Undisputed 2009 is here and doesn't disappoint.
The first and most important thing to talk about is the game play, which is excellent. The fighters that I have used and fought against, fight like themselves; for example Liddell can end the fight instantaneously and will do everything to keep it standing, St. Pierre is successful on almost every takedown, and when you fight against Hughes he will try to take you down and ground and pound you, it is quite remarkable how well they have done this. With all that aside the game play is still solid, the controls on the feet are simple and easy to use and once you get used to the ground game it is actually quite simple. You have to time your takedowns and clinches to be successful with them, when doing transitions on the ground you feel like you have a lot of control of what is going on, but the real icing on the cake is when you land a huge shot on the feet or ground and knock your opponent right out you can feel the blow land and it is so realistic. All I can say is the fighting is so true to UFC fighting maybe the closest I have ever seen a game come to the real thing.
The presentation just like the game play is second to none, the graphics are amazing, you can see bruising and swelling quite easily, you can tell if your opponent is hurt or tired because they will hang their hands or move quite sluggishly (this is really helpful to let you know when to go in for the kill). Most of the fighters look exactly like their real-life counterparts, the octagon girls even look very much like themselves. They are spot on with the pre-fight tale of the tape and Bruce Buffer's fighter introductions and once the fight is going on the commentary by Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg is pretty damn good as well. The only poor presentation is the set-up in the career mode, I've heard complaints of the main menu, but I actually like the set up, I think it's pretty cool how they have it set up with the quick fight clip at each menu selection. One other thing that could have been added is fighter entrances, but I'm sure it will be in the next one.
I've just started the career mode and am quite excited to get a little further into it. I like the picking your opponent and some of the emails (not all). The fights are definitely more exciting than in exhibition because you feel like you actually have something to lose. The only down side of the career mode is the whole menu set-up and training probably could have been set-up a little better, but I'm not to upset about that because it's the games first kick at the can and they did an awesome job with everything else. I've also heard complaints about not enough stuff in the create a fighter and that is a valid point for some but for me I don't like spending 2 hours making a guy, so the create a fighter is fine by me.
The classic fights mode is pretty cool, you have to try to win the fight in the same way and the same round to unlock some fight footage, and before the fight it shows the pre-fight smack talk. It is a cool little extra in the game and one that will be appreciated by the hardcore UFC fans like myself.
If I have one advice to anyone reading this review its buy the damn game, you won't regret it. The game is amazing, it is fun to play by yourself and is even more fun to play with your friends, so don't bother renting it, just go buy it.