OS Roundtable: Will EA Sports UFC Live Up to Its Predecessors?

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Submitted on: 05/22/2014 by

Can EA Sports UFC live up to and even surpass the standard set by the THQ versions of UFC?

Glenn Wigmore: I think EA Sports UFC has a very good chance of meeting the bar that the THQ games set, if not surpassing it. Visually, it seems like the game is totally bananas, with incredibly realistic fighters as well as interesting peripheral detail. The gameplay appears to be borrowing the right elements from both EA Sports MMA and THQ's games, allowing for a strong emphasis on striking while still delivering a ground game that rewards mastery (particularly with submissions and transitions). It's also encouraging to hear that the career mode has had some thought put into it, and I'm still holding out hope that the online modes will be stable.

I was going to say that locating gameplay video for EA Sports UFC was harder than spotting Big Foot, but then here comes EA with some gameplay video. I liked a lot of what I saw in the video, including some incredible presentation and introductions and some great footwork and striking during the actual fight. I'm a little concerned about the speed of the action and some of the animations, but many aspects of this are leaps and bounds better than what was seen in the last generation (checked kicks, foot-planting, fluidity of some combos, etc.). I feel this product will easily stand alongside its predecessors, and it may surpass them in a few ways.

Matthew Coe: Absolutely. Being a game developed on next gen hardware will automatically give it an impressive visual advantage at first glance and that's what most people will fixate on. The audio seems to be well done from the footage we've seen. The animations are still a sore spot for me, as I was hoping that the jump to better hardware meant more lifelike animations. The Aldo vs Pettis gameplay video showed me that we've still got a ways to go for animation fidelity to match the visuals.

Going off of what footage has been released it appears that gameplay will be at least on par with what THQ was doing in UFC Undisputed 3, one of my favorite games of the last console generation. As long as EA brings a solid career mode, and since we will have an extensive roster, we should be looking at a very good game. Despite my quibbles with the animations and overall speed of striking, I'm very exited to play EA Sports UFC.

Chris Sanner: There's a lot to like about what EA Sports has shown off with EA Sports UFC up to this point. The feature list released earlier this month had several intriguing features within, with MMAi and the Strategic Submission Battles piquing my interest most. With the recent gameplay video also released, we now have more than enough information to judge where EA Sports UFC might stand in comparison to its predecessors.

I'm taking the more cautious route, because no first attempt at a next-gen sports game has blown me out of the water thus far. I think EA Sports UFC can certainly match THQ's productions, but I don't think you will see this game surpass them. There's a lot of molding of ideas and theories from the previous games and from EA Sports MMA for something not to go wrong -- but there is no doubt in my mind we'll have at least a solid game on our hands in June.

How do you see EA Sports UFC stacking up when its released next month?

EA Sports UFC Videos

Member Comments

# 1 BigBadTom @ 05/22/14 12:21 PM

I liked almost everything I saw in the video. It was great and it looked leaps and bounds better than any game in the past. The issues I saw was the gameplay style and how many haymaker attempts were thrown--hopefully the game won't play like that and reward players who have patience. Hopefully there is a good submission system too

# 2 CaliDude916 @ 05/23/14 02:20 PM

Absolutely. Everything I've seen so far has looked very good. THQ's UFC games were good, but EA UFC looks like it's gonna be on another level.

# 3 ManiacMatt1782 @ 05/23/14 05:08 PM

one very important part of the game I am at tad worried about. EA MMA did this right. the Early counter. you come in all crazy, and someone times you, and their hook beats your wild hook to the punch, you were in a world of hurt. Now go to fight night champion, and the same punch did not mean as much, and did not even register as a counter shot. you could only counter off the sway or parry. Because this team worked more with Fight Night than EA MMA this element of the striking game worries me. Now this may have been fixed, but it is concerning until we see a little more.

# 4 SwedishTouch76 @ 05/24/14 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigBadTom


	I liked almost everything I saw in the video. It was great and it looked leaps and bounds better than any game in the past. The issues I saw was the gameplay style and how many haymaker attempts were thrown--hopefully the game won't play like that and reward players who have patience. Hopefully there is a good submission system too

My biggest fear is it ends up like FNC did. All the whiny little kids online throw tantrums because they cant throw 200 punches a round without slowing down. That game essentially turned into rock em sock em robots last I played. There was no reward for patience or actually trying to box. You could throw 10 shots, pause for 2 seconds and repeat. I really hope theres big time penalties for playing like that and also draining your overall stamina since fights are only 3-5 rounds.

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