EA Sports UFC 2 Review

UFC 2 is the second installment in the EA Sports mixed martial arts genre, Since they got the rights to produce this great and growing sport there has been pros and cons to the game. Its EA and a really hard game to get the physics spot on.

Unlike some of the other games from EA where they just copy and paste in UFC 2 they have really stepped up in terms of getting the game just right but there is still spots on the game that make players see stars in frustration.

In this addition they have overhauled the career mode and made it easier to train but have also added the fact that your fan base can prolong your fighting career which i found to be stupid as fans don’t really make you last your body does. If you get battered in a fight to many times like Rocky you will need to retire simple…not if some fan forum decide that it is time for me to hang my gloves up.

The career mode is similar to last years game and will probably be the same in the coming years with you starting in the sports reality competition The Ultimate Fighter and earning you place on in amongst the elite fighters the UFC has to offer.

Gone are the stupid web cam cuts when you win your first fight and gain loads of popularity added is this system where you start training and certain things can happen to either dampen your camp or boost it, like i created a UK fighter and had a fight in London’s O2 during my training camp i got a message stating that my family were coming to fight which made my training attributes get a minus as i was nervous…erm i don’t need a bloody computer to tell me i’m nervous. I’m nervous when i literally have to fight a 92 rated fighter when i’m 78, normally you get to choose from three fighters for the next show but when you rise up the ranks you get fight challenges where you have to fight that person and sadly enough mine was one of the top fighters in the game in Donald Cerrone…rest assured he kicked my arse in the first round cheers EA now i have a loss on my record.

“Visually the game is stunning and captures all the atmosphere the UFC delivers at its shows, Bruce Buffer hasn’t sounded so good.”

 

They have made the match features look more realistic now with brutal effects on fighters faces when you’re peppering them with jabs and kicks, blood flows and eyes swell. I also noticed that if you kick or knee your opponent where they’re bleeding their blood will show on that part of your body which is a cool visual aspect. There is still issues with the game being easy at times i found that taking my opponent down and getting into full guard then just spamming him/her with punches will end the fight early into the first round, it’s like the issue that the first game had with the body punches not being able to be read and then winding them to grab the victory.

Players still clammer into each other if they attempt the same move but this time they either both fall over or one gets swept to the floor and has a small window to get up, they have also added a new control mechanism with the right stick unlike all the UFC games prior this time. When you attempt you get a small octagon with desired moves and transitions then you need to hold the stick in that direction to attempt the move these can be countered and also reversed but in the early stages can be done quite easily.

Visually the game is stunning and captures all the atmosphere the UFC delivers at its shows, Bruce Buffer hasn’t sounded so good. EA have also added a really cool feature which i’m yet to try as it’s not available yet but it is the live events basically these work like a betting system where you decide what you think the outcome will be in the real life UFC events and decide who will win, what round and how either by decision, KO, TKO or Submission. If you get these correct they amount to points you your profile which can be redeemed in Ultimate Team…Yes UFC has Ultimate team.

Ultimate Team was first released back in 2009 on EA Sports Fifa franchise and has nearly become its own game all the EA Sports games are using it from Madden to NHL and even NHL but now UFC has it now don’t be like me where you think that you need to collect all the best fighters and face them off in UFC events it is nothing like that and i was amazingly surprised. You create a camp of up to five fighters all custom created by you and then fight them off against other players, packs in UFC Ultimate Team contain attribute boosts, new moves and training partners so you could learn the Spinning Heel Kick that Conor McGregor uses at the start of mostly all his fights and train with him to perfect it and use it in the octagon.

I haven’t pumped to much time into it so can’t go into to detail how good it is but at first impression i’m intrigued to get it off and feel it is a very interesting game mode in a sport that isn’t really a team based sport. EA have done well again at getting its users to spend more money with the Ultimate Team being something that uses micro transactions to can find yourself spending more money on that game you have already brought.

Other mentionable features in this game are the create events where you can relive past events or even create your own dream card of all the best fighters. There is also a game mode where you fight your way up the rankings online to be the best pound for pound best fighter/player on the planet.