Since EA Sports took over gaming rights towards the UFC, they've had issues looking for that perfect balance between making a fun fighting game and simulating the actual action that takes place within the Octagon. In the past, with two fighters standing, trading fists and feet, the series has done a bang-up job of representing MMA. Everything outside of that, however, has been varying levels of disappointment, and I'm here to let you know not much has changed with EA Sports UFC 3. Some new features add depth to the stuff that worked before, but there's still a good amount fundamentally wrong with the game-and not all of the alterations introduced this season have been for the best.
Building on one of the strengths of previous games may be the striking. A bigger, more customizable moveset for any created fighter can help you craft the type of combatant you want to be. And, when you step into the Octagon to deliver those blows, it looks like a real fight sometimes, with incredibly fluid movement, startling realistic body contortion, and accurate impact (that is reflected by both your fighter and his health bars). Keeping an eye on these health bars, which appear upon proper impact, are also critical to your strategy.
If you notice your attacker has weak legs, you might try to TKO them by focusing on-and potentially breaking-the limb. Or, you may focus on blows to the head if they have a particularly weak “chin,” a new stat added this season to more accurately assess damage your noggin may take. You can also observe how close you're to potentially “rocking” an opponent, an event that is triggered whenever you or perhaps your opponent are at particularly low health for a part of the body, and therefore more susceptible to KO. Understanding what areas of the body to focus on (so when) are a critical part to the MMA fight, and the feedback in UFC 3 does a stellar job of telling you what is going on moment to moment.
You also can't spam moves, even if your attacker seems susceptible to one or two. The stamina bar for your fighter, looming overhead at the top of the screen, might be the best element in each fight; should you become gassed, there's almost nowhere to run in the cage. The seconds it takes to recuperate seem like a very long time when in the ring with Conor McGregor, Jon Jones, Minotouro Noguiera, or Daniel Cormier, who'll press that advantage.
As realistic because this part of the game is, there are also moments in which the game tries too hard to become realistic, which could shake you loose from the immersion you may have experienced. Two of the first moves I unlocked for my fighter were the spinning back fist and the Superman punch. Suffice to state, they became staples of my repertoire, even after adding some leaping Muay Thai knees and leading uppercuts. Playing on PS4, performing these moves required a mix of a shoulder button and square for that back fist, or triangle for the Superman punch. Often times, however, the sport would over-contextualize based on my position within the Octagon, and instead perform a different move despite my very obvious button presses-or simply be slow to reply to my inputs.
It might have been the game's way of trying to say “a back fist would be better here than the usual Superman punch because of how close you are to your opponent,” however i didn't care. Yes, it may not happen to be proper because it left me open, but at the end of your day, I'm the main one using the controller within my hand. I needed my guy to leap into the air and then try to clock my opponent, distance be damned. Don't alter the move; don't slow down my momentum like a cable-service provider throttling my internet. This happened frequently in every fight, and with other moves as well. It might make for a better-looking match, but it definitely soured my experience some.
These delays didn't occur just in the striking. 1 / 2 of MMA could be reduced towards the “ground game,” in which you tackle or throw your opponent to the mat and try to beat them senseless and/or submit them with any number of maneuvers (like triangle holds and armbars). For the uninitiated, though, it may quite often just seem like two guys rolling around, trying to get a much better position alternatively. Once more, when attempting to desperately to adjust my fighter into half guard, full guard, north-south, or just obtain the heck up, the controls felt sluggish.
Of course, to make matters worse, the ground game and submissions remain a minigame fest, making the drag feel a whole lot worse. Desperation quickly sets in when you find yourself within an unenviable position on the ground while you attempt to rotate the best stick the right way to slip out of a submission, lock one in, or simply adjust position. The game does let you know in still all-too-brief tutorial screens that you could block your opponents' moves if you find yourself for the reason that situation, but it still feels like there is information missing-and whether playing career or online, everything has a long trial and error sense to it in terms of “mastering” the floor game. I still have no idea how I escape holds half the time, and I retired with a 29-2 record in career and 3-0 in online matches.
Now, there is said to be a far more in-depth tutorial section-it's a tile on the main menu-but it had been completely empty after i tried reviewing the game in the last week, again forcing me to rely on the game's random prompts mid-fight. A real tutorial mode, one that goes over each and every aspect and enables you to actually get a feel for things with the controller, giving players some thing than just text on the screen, would serve this franchise much better.
There are three difficulty modes when you start, having a fourth-Legendary-unlocking after completing the job. If you're acquainted with the series, Normal is a good starting point and refresh your memory, as you'll still be punished to be overly aggressive or cautious, and developing a technique is a must while you fight. If you feel bumping the difficulty down will be a easy way learn the game to work around the trial-and-error feel of everything, however, you'd be sorely mistaken. Easy mode is actually asking for the game to just rollover for you personally, and also the few fights I admittedly tried on Simple to speed up my playthrough (and see if I couldn't get a better grasp from the ground game) all led to 45 seconds or less. It felt just like a really huge drop-off, also it wasn't well before I went back to normalcy mode in order to feel some satisfaction when I won (however, all of this comes from the truth that game does quite a poor job of teaching you the way it all works).
If you may make feeling of all this and become a competent competitor in the Octagon, there's a fair quantity of things to do in UFC 3. The new career mode, called G.O.A.T. mode, tasks you with 12 arbitrary goals, and if you complete eight of these over your career, you will be dubbed the “Greatest of All Time,” somebody that changed the sport of MMA forever that will live on in songs and the like. After picking unwanted weight class-I went light-heavyweight-you'll be asked to make your fighter. There aren't as many options when i personally would really like for create-a-fighter (you cannot even help make your own last name, instead choosing from a list of predetermined choices), and wound up using the EA's Game Face feature again. That jaundice-looking fellow towards the top of the review is my guy. If you want, however, you can also import a present UFC fighter's look from easily the largest roster the series has featured to date, and build your favorite fighter instead.
As you win and progress in UFC, you will be tasked with trading barbs with pre-determined rivals on social media, gaming with fans on streaming services (so meta, eh?), and training your character at certainly one of twelve possible gyms to understand new moves and get in better fighting shape. All of this is performed on menus and at most you'll get a pre-recorded Megan Olivi-hosted UFC Minute where she talks about the fact you changed gyms. (Considering how frequently you'll have to change gyms while you move up to understand better moves and get stronger, it gets old fast.) The only real interesting aspect of training before your actual fights happens when you spar with someone who has an identical moveset for your opponent. Following a minute of the, you'll learn a secret regarding the best way to defeat them, like they're susceptible to ground and pound, or can't ever escape a rear-naked choke.
If career isn't your thing, there's also some offline options such as the new Tournament mode, which anyone who used to watch old-school Bellator might appreciate, while you try to advance within an offline bracket of your creation. Additionally, there are options in offline fights like Stand and Bang, where you basically need to trade strikes and try to knock the opponent out, or even the opposite Submission Showdown where you have to wrestle your opponent down and make them tap.
Finally, there's the online suite of modes. You can play ranked or unranked matches on the internet and attempt to earn online championship belts if you're able to succeed enough against various opponents. It was difficult finding individuals to have fun with online because of the pre-launch state from the game, however when Used to do, the game was stable and that i never experienced a drop or lag in my limited time playing. I'd have like to have spent more time testing the online, but again, opponent availability was sparse, so it'll be interesting to determine the way the servers endure once players actually begin to populate them.
The biggest piece of UFC 3's online suite, though, is Ultimate Team. Since MMA is a one-on-one sport, instead of creating a full team here, you have a sort of stable here, similar to in wrestling. You've four fighters-three men and something woman-from different weight classes, and you may try to advance each within their respective divisions to online glory, fighting with individually. Just like in other EA Ultimate Team modes, this can be a clear cash grab, trying to enable you to get hooked towards the mode in the hopes you'll spend real-world cash on card packs to more quickly advance your fighter's stats, or get a rare or legendary fighter to bolster your stable. Even some relatively common moves require special cards to unlock, leaving your fighter predictable in their offense if you do not either grind in offline Ultimate Team challenge or drop cash, and it's nothing short of infuriating.
EA Sports UFC 3 looks good on the surface, but has too many flaws buried underneath. Sure, every fighter looks great, and just how they move in the Octagon is easily the most realistic we've seen yet in any game. Striking seamless comfort, however the ground game remains a mess, career mode doesn't have heart, and Ultimate Team feels shoehorned in. If you really love MMA, it's frustrating it seems that EA Sports still can't seem to produce a game that is a true simulation whilst being fun-and I think it might be time for UFC to just tap out.
