UFC 2009 Undisputed [PS3]

UFC fans have had to wait more than five years for a legitimate recreation of their favorite animalistic activity. Now, they're being greeted with UFC 2009 Undisputed, the first in what hopes to be a long-running franchise built from the ground up by THQ and the development team at Yuke's Media Creations. Because we've had to wait so long before venturing back to the virtual octagon, there's a ton of pressure on this UFC game to accurately depict the complexities of the sport while still making it a blast to pummel your opponent's head into chunky gravy. Did they succeed? Keep reading to find out.

The first thing that will hit you when you sit down to play UFC 2009 Undisputed is the complexity of the control scheme. It's going to be daunting to everyone who picks up the controller at first, but THQ actually has done an admirable – though it's by no means perfect – job of mapping the intricacies of the fighting to a game controller. Accessible isn't a word that will ever be used to describe the mechanics, but that doesn't mean they don't suit UFC. There's also a tutorial and an in-depth training mode where you'll be able to hone your skills in the ring.

Standard strikes are easy enough with a combination of face and shoulder buttons being used for high and low kicks and punches as well as blocking. You'll see cool variations to almost every strike in the game depending on which fighting style you choose (everything you could want is represented here). Landing strikes is satisfying enough, but you won't hear the thunderous blows as in Fight Night Round 3. Of course, the standing striking of UFC isn't what differentiates it from other sports like kickboxing. Instead, it's the intricate and complex ground fighting and positioning – something that was surely a worry for the development team when they started making UFC 2009.

In theory, the ground game translates perfectly onto the right analog stick. Through a series of minor and major transitions you can naturally move to and reverse any of the ground positions that you'll see in a typical Pay-Per-View event. It's when that theory is applied in the game that things can get just a bit rocky. Every so often you'll feel like you've landed a transition or counter by luck. You'll try repeatedly to do a reversal or transition out of a position and it won't work. Then, as if by magic, your final attempt gets the desired result. It's not a huge annoyance, and when the ground game works it's great, the problem happens when things don't transpire the way you feel they should.

I do have a few serious gripes with the combat in UFC 2009 Undisputed. The first is submissions. While they're fun when playing against someone sitting next to you, they're almost worthless against the AI (artificial intelligence). In order to be successful you'll need to significantly drain the other fighter's stamina and then you'll have a better shot at making him submit, but there are no guarantees. Maybe it would have helped if there was some sort of meter that popped up as you furiously spin the right analog or mash the face buttons to show your progress. As it stands, it seems like building your fighter's submission offense is a waste of time unless you're planning on engaging in a ton of multiplayer matches.

My second issue with the fighting in UFC 2009 is that there's a definite lack of speed when you compare the game with actual UFC bouts. Because the gameplay looks and feels so much slower than actual UFC fights, we miss out on a lot of the animalistic actions and intensity that happen in the octagon. The result is a less organic and more mechanical fighting experience that doesn't recreate the real UFC as well as it could have had the framerate been pumped up. It's still fun as hell to get in the octagon and punish some dude's face, but if you're a diehard fan of the real thing, you're sure to notice the discrepancy.

Lastly, flash knockouts happen way too often. I understand that if you get caught with a punch at just the right angle when your weight is coming forward into the strike in the real UFC, you're going down, but you'll be knocking out guys left and right in Undisputed. You'll see plenty of direct strikes to the head during a typical match, but all of a sudden – without rhyme or reason – one will knock you or the other guy out. Sometimes it's in the first round, sometimes it's before you're bloodied, but after a handful of hours with UFC 2009 you'll see more flash knockouts than in any Pay-Per-View event of equal length.