On the E3 show floor, EA has several next-gen titles on display in the “Ignite Laboratory.” While all games shown in the lab were impressive in their own right, the most impressive – even though it was the earliest in terms of development – was EA UFC. Up until now, EA has shown CG trailers or target renders for the UFC product, with a few glimpses of character models and faces. We weren't allowed to film what we saw, but if it development keeps up with what they have at this pre-alpha stage, MMA fans are going to be stoked.

EA UFC is mainly focusing on atmosphere, “human intelligence,” gameplay impact and fighter realism. This E3 demo only really highlighted the fighter detail, but there were a few other key elements also talked about. The most important thing to know is this: EA UFC contains a shocking amount of character detail, and it's not all just superficial detail either. Much of what was shown also has a dramatic impact on how a match plays out.

Compared to UFC Undisputed 3, the character models look remarkably better, with incredibly expressive faces, better looking hair, and much more natural animations on the punches, kicks and footwork. The effort of the fight was emphasized here, with exertion represented by fighters as they threw and received shots. The idea seemed to be that from round to round fighters would express effort in more dramatic ways. The full body deformation that EA has talked up played a role in this, with two fighters on the ground actually engaging in an intense struggle, with no more hover hands (in other words, the collision detection looks great).

The example shown was Benson Henderson applying a rear naked choke to Anthony Pettis. You could actually see the veins popping out on both fighters' necks, demonstrating the effort of the technique, and Pettis' face started to change color as blood rushed to his face. Even more crazy was the body triangle that Henderson had on Pettis. You could see Benson's legs digging into the torso of Pettis, causing contortions and a real sense of a fight. Pettis' face even got panicked was the choke was cinched in, which was compared to earlier tech when these types of details weren't present. It's hard to look at the blank gaze of the previous games, where fighters were being submitted but seemed to be completely tranquil about the whole situation.

The faces in general were impressive, with EA actually demonstrating some exaggerated reactions to show what the engine was capable of doing. Cain Velasquez was shown biting down on his mouthguard and mugging at the screen. Ben Henderson went through a wide range of emotions, from his common “aloof” persona, to outright cocky, to slightly fearful. This all looked great, even if it was a bit on the silly side.

More impressive was what was shown for cuts and face damage. No longer will cuts happen in a “linear” fashion, with predictable gashes and blood streams. EA actually lined up five mugshots of fighters (all cut up and bruised) to get people to see who was actually a character model. I did correctly deduce that the fourth option – a battered Cain Velasquez – was the fake, but it still looked amazing. There was a specificity to the damage that hasn't been seen up until now, with the cut on his lip looking garishly real and bruising on his cheeks that seemed much less “predetermined” than in UFC Undisputed 3. EA claimed that a well-placed elbow could cause a cut early in a fight, and that it would look awesome and play a factor in the match.
 

Only one real striking sequence was shown, once again between Henderson and Pettis, but it looked really good. Both fighters demonstrated the new footwork system, where each athlete actually plants his foot and pivots correctly, rather than sliding and shuffling like in the previous games. This made the act of “stalking” an opponent look that much more real, and I can only imagine how it would play out with tall fighters or pure grapplers. Both fighters exchanged combos, and the action looked much smoother than the rock 'em sock 'em robots that we've sort of accepted in the Undisputed series. I think a lot of this has to do with the increased fighter detail and footwork, since the overall movement of the fighter just looks much more lifelike. Two other cool tidbits: Henderson actually tossed his hair out of eyes after taking a punch, which I totally geeked out for, and he also executed a showtime kick on Pettis (weird, right?). The showtime kick was a bit in the early stages, but it did demonstrate the octagon cage physics, as the fence bent and strained from the fighters' weight.

Finally, EA talked a tiny bit about the new submission system and MMAI. The only real detail about the submission system is that it would be “strategic” and not require brute force. I'd assume this means they're abandoning the minigame of UFC Undisputed 3, especially if they're going for realism, but who knows. As for the improved AI, the main focus seemed to be on gameplanning and goals. The basic pitch was that fighters would want to accomplish certain things from round to round, and they would change tactics or get desperate if things were or weren't going according to plan.

Final Thoughts

The important thing to remember is that all of what was shown to press was incredibly early. It's easy to be wowed by aspects of a game when they're shown to you in a vacuum, with no real context for other parts of the whole. Still, EA seems to be stewarding the MMA brand well, with careful attention to detail on the fighters, some awesome realism and exertion during the fight, and some much-needed retooling of the footwork and submission systems. Hopefully we hear -- and see -- more about this game in the next couple of months.