UFC Undisputed 3 demo thoughts: I will buy anything with Bas Rutten in it. Fact.

As you could’ve guessed from reading this blog, for even a short amount of time, I’m not too big into sports video games. If there aren’t any RPG aspects, guns, explosions, aliens, space marines or epic quests, I probably won’t be playing it. While I have plenty of friends to play those types of games with, there is another section of video game pals who only really get down with sports games. So when I want to play games with them, they usually don’t care for the all-out war of Battlefield and I’m not a big fan of Madden – so what do we do? Well, there is one sports series that I will partake in, and that is UFC Undisputed.

I’ll get this out of the way early – I’m not a big sports gamer for the main reason that I see most sports series updates as pointless, adding nothing to the series save for new visuals and roster updates. While THQ has worked hard to add quality updates to each new title (to save it from suffering the same fate as many sports), I was worried about “UFC Undisputed 3” starting the trend of “new title, few updates.” I hadn’t read too much info on it prior to playing the recently released demo but after playing, I can say for certain that any MMA fan will want to check this game out.

The coolest feature in “UFC Undispuated 3” is undoubtedly the Pride Fighting Championship mode where players can do battle under the (now defunct) Pride FC banner. The promotion, which was popular in Japan in the early 2000s, sports a roster of some of MMA’s most legendary athletes in their prime such as Don Frye, Kevin Randleman, Gary Goodridge, Dan Severn, Phil Baroni and Marcus Aurelio. Not only does the Pride mode feature some of the sports’ most notable fighters, but the mode also allows for the use of Pride’s rather, ahem, lax rule set which allows numerous maneuvers now banned in UFC fights (such as knees to a downed opponent’s head and soccer style kicks or stomps to a downed opponent). You’ll even get to enjoy commentary from two of Pride’s actual commentators, Stephen Quadros and MMA legend Bas Rutten. But Undisputed 3 features a huge list of updates, apart from the inclusion of Pride FC.

In the Pride FC mode, players can play as legendary fighters

such as Don Frye (left) and Mirko Cro Cop (right).

To justify another addition to the Undisputed series, THQ didn’t just add a single new fight mode (Pride rules) and a new roster of fighters but took great pains to make the game more accessible to the average gamer. For as complex a sport as MMA, I’ve always felt THQ has done an admirable job making the controls as easy to learn and remember as possible. Still though, if you’ve never played an Undisputed title before, the learning curve can be a bit steep – especially once a fight goes to the mat. THQ has done a wonderful job making transitioning on the mat and in the clinch much more fluid and simple to pull of but they’ve gone a step further, allowing two different ways to perform transitions. Pro mode is transitioning how it’s always been done – quarter circle flicks for minor transitions and three quarter circle flicks for major transitions – while Amateur mode simplifies it to a flick up for minor and a flick down for major, greatly simplifying the transitioning mechanic for the uninitiated. Other new mechanics such as a reworked sway system (which also allows for swaying while in the guard), a feint system and sweeps also have found their way into Undisputed 3.

But, being a demo, only four fighters are available to choose from. You can choose to play either a UFC match or a Pride rules match in the demo, with Jon Jones taking on Anderson Silva in the UFC match and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson taking on Wanderlei Silva in the Pride match. From the very get-go of either match, it’s apparent that a lot of work has been done to make every fight more fluid. From the way strikes are thrown, to transitions to even the way a fighter gets off the mat, every mechanic and animation in Undisputed 3 feels more natural and fluid than in either game before it in the series. Updates to the sway mechanics help the action feel less stiff and make the animations look smoother, allowing you to effortlessly mix sway shots into combos.

Plus, there is also a new submission system in the game, turning each submission attempt into a mini-game. In 2009 and 2010, submissions were applied by clicking the right stick and rotating it, hoping that your opponent was worn down enough to submit to it with no real way of telling how close you are to actually pulling off the submission. It’d be a little difficult to explain with words how exactly the submission system is handled now but trust me when I say they fully explain it in the demo and after trying it out once or twice in a match, makes attempting and fighting off a submission attempt a whole lot more interesting.

Anderson Silva rearranges Yunshin Okami's face with a head kick.

But the new additions don’t stop there. After a quick glance at the game’s Wikipedia page, I garnered several other, interesting tidbits about the game:

-New game modes (besides Pride) such as Stamina Simulation mode (no details), Competition Spec mode (removes all random elements such as flash KOs and doctor stoppages), and Stat Equalizer (sets stats of both fighters to 80 – so now your newly created fighter will be on equal footing as GSP).

-Stats in Career mode don’t decay (fixing one of my biggest gripes about Undisputed 2010)

-Any Pride or UFC fighter on the roster can now be taken through the Career mode (which, in 2009 and 2010, was reserved only for created fighters)

-Cuts now affect stamina and stamina regeneration. Also, damage can be healed between rounds (no word on any corner-man mini-games like in Fight Night though).

-Fighters now have entrances (like in pro wrestling games).

-Pride’s Gran Prix tournaments will be available to play, which feature multiple fights on the same night with damage from earlier fights carrying over.

-An absolutely huge roster of characters, with a separate Pride roster. Plus there are even DLC fighters listed already such as Alistair Overeem, Phil Davis and Nick Diaz.

Long story short – I wasn’t at all anticipating buying or even wanting to play UFC Undisputed 3. Now, after playing the demo, I eagerly await its release on February 14.