UFC Undisputed 3 - Game Review

A fat bloke from Birmingham with ginger dreadlocks and a scorpion tattoo on his right nipple walks into the ring, faced with Anderson Silva, the brutal middleweight champion from Brazil. They fight it out and to the surprise of everyone, they seem quite even at the end of the first round. But in the second round, Anderson Silva is slammed to the floor. The fat Brummie sits up and tries to punch a whole through Silva's nose, forcing the referee to stop the fight. Welcome to the bizarre world of UFC Undisputed 3.

UFC Undisputed 3 is, unsurprisingly, the third installment in Yukes' UFC series, based on the real Ultimate Fighting Championship. Fighting games are not entirely uncommon but those based on a 'real' sport (not Wrestling) are restricted to boxing and UFC, which explains the success.

The guy from the anecdote was my created fighter, whom I ran through the career mode with. Unfortunately, he isn't a real fighter, but he did eventually manage to win a UFC title with my expert guidance. I decided to specialise in stand-up fighting, though there are many different styles as there are lots of different fighting styles in the game. My gameplan was to KO my opponent as quickly as possible and for the most part, it worked. I had to adapt my style as I got better, both me and my fighter by increasing my skills in ground and clinch fighting. The career and create-a-fighter mode allowed me to be a flexible fighter and evolve, which was fun and realistic.

I know very little about UFC outside of the game, but I enjoyed the game massively and never felt alienated or confused about the sport whilst playing the game, which is a criticism often aimed at games like Madden. This is a massive plus as it allowed me to play a game outside of my comfort zone and enjoy it without knowing it inside out. Even if you don't know anything and have never seen a fight in your life, you can quite easily enjoy it.

The gameplay itself can appear quite complex at first (there are a lot of tutorials) but it is deceptively simple. Punches and kicks use the face buttons, guards and modifiers are mapped to the shoulder and trigger buttons and all clinches, transitions and throws use the right stick. Most fights start with a lot of stand up fighting, but Muay Thai fighters and other fighters of the same ilk will try to grab and take opposition fighters to the floor and either beat them or make them tap out with a submission. If you didn't understand a whole lot of that, don't worry, you will if you play the game.

My one real gripe is the length of the game. The career mode is really short - I blitzed through it in about 3/4 days, and whilst there is other modes, this is the bread-and-butter mode. I thoroughly enjoyed the game, but it really didn't last that long. I will continue to play and try out some more modes and I also think that my experience was limited as I could not play multiplayer, so that could easily extend the length of the game.

UFC Undisputed 3 is an incredibly fun game for anyone, not just enthusiasts. I highly recommend trying the game out and seeing if you enjoy beating up digital people more than is probably psychologically healthy, like it would appear I do.

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