Ultimate Fighting Championship Hands-On

One of the biggest assets of this new Dreamcast Fighter is the UFC license. The game features over 22 real world fighters versed in various martial arts techniques ranging from kick-boxing to submission fighting to freestyle street fighting.

UFC is supposedly more of a fighting simulation than other fighters. Matches can be decided fairly quickly (although the characters seem to be able to take quite a beating) and a variety of submission moves means that many matches will be decided on the ground.

Graphics for the characters look pretty good with the exception of the lack of facial expressions which could possibly be added in during development. Since UFC matches take place in the infamous Octagon, there's not much to say in the way of backgrounds other than the ring seemed faithfully reproduced.

Controls for the game are fairly simple, with the control pad or analog stick to control movement and the four main buttons for left and right kicks and punches. Pressing two buttons at once allows you to grapple with your opponent and button mashing seems to come into play a bit here. There were only a few fighters available to choose in this early version of the game, but they all seemed to share a basic set of moves with not much to really differentiate between styles. Of course Crave claims that there will be character and style specific moves, but in the time I spent with the title I wasn't able to uncover much in the means of variety. There are successive hits that resemble Tekken or DOA style combos, and it is interesting to be able to pin your opponent to the ground and deliver some face shots, and I was able to pull off a pretty painful looking arm lock.

If you're desensitized to Pro Wrestling and are looking for more violence Ultimate Fighting Championship could very well be your game.