Giant Bomb Review
22 CommentsUFC Undisputed 2010 Review
4- X360
by Jeff Gerstmann on
UFC Undisputed 2010 has some great gameplay additions and solid online performance that makes you want to just keep fighting.
The fighting system has been enhanced in ways that make it easier to understand in some cases, and deeper in others. For example, the standing clinch, where the two fighters grab each other and struggle around a bit, throwing in some close punches or knees along the way, now controls a lot more like the ground game, requiring sweeps of the right stick to pummel for position. You can also press fighters up against the cage from the clinch, leaving them with fewer ways to escape. The submission side of things has been given a new layer of depth with submission transitions. Some fighters can go from one submission attempt directly into another, which requires the defending player to alter the way he's trying to escape from the hold. Also, button mashing for submission escapes and other spots in the game has been completely removed in favor of rotating the right stick.
Things like the way fighting styles are assigned to fighters have also changed. Instead of just picking a couple of styles and getting all of the moves that come with it, created fighters can be pieced together, one move at a time. There are still plenty of templates for those of you who don't want to get that specific, though. The combo system has also been changed, relying on the natural chaining of moves based on how long their animations take to complete, rather than using canned, style-specific combos. This will feel like a fairly subtle change if you didn't spend a lot of time with last year's game, but it makes all of the combat feel a little more natural and fluid.
Other single-player options include a title fight ladder mode, a title defense mode where you have to keep your belt after completing the title mode, a configurable tournament bracket, and things like that. The "ultimate fights" mode from last year's game returns, and it feels even more like the "relive or rewrite history" aspect of THQ's WWE Legends of WrestleMania. You'll have to complete specific tasks over the course of a fight to satisfy the requirements and unlock additional content. There's also an event mode, where you can build your own eight-match fight card. Events play out a bit more like UFC pay-per-views do on television, with additional graphics and introductions that showcase each fighter. It's a neat idea, and you can just watch the AI fight out your created card, if you like.
UFC Undisputed 2010 comes with a single-use code that is used to unlock the online side of the game. That's nothing new, but the way it conveys this information is particularly poor. The Xbox 360 version of the game checks for downloadable content and pops up a store window asking you to pay $5.00 for the ability to play online. If you correctly deny that, it then makes its way to the main menu, where it tells you you'll need to enter a code from the manual to play online (or pay that $5.00 if you're renting or playing a used copy). I shudder to think about how many people went ahead and bought the online access, not realizing that the game came with a code. Sure enough, message boards across the Internet are flaring up from time to time as someone unwraps the game and thinks that they're being expected to pay another five bones. It's an awful way to implement this sort of first-sale code idea.
Better fighting and deeper online support with a clan-like "fight camp" system make UFC 2010 Undisputed a better-playing game than its predecessor, but its solo side is a pretty dry. Keep that in mind as you make your purchasing decision.
