Actual audio clips (cntd)

Unfortunately when recording lines for a video game this emotion is lost. Reading lines off of a piece of paper is a completely different skill set from verbalizing what you really feel. So, instead of having Rogan and Goldberg act, they played hundreds of ours of gameplay and had them commentate it as if it were a live match. Add in actual audio clips from real fights they have done and the result may be some of the best commentary in a sports title to date. Only time will tell if there has been enough recorded to stop commentary from growing stale after a few weeks, but as of now color me excited.

Pride Fighting Championship

One of the biggest addition to the franchise is a completely separate mixed martial arts fighting league. Today most people consider MMA and UFC to be interchangeable terms, however the UFC, or Ultimate Fighting Championship, is only one organization that puts on Mixed Martial Arts fights. Before UFC’s rise to popularity, the go-to league for MMA fighting was the now-defunct Tokyo-based Pride Fighting Championship (PFC). While similar to UFC in many aspect, PFC had some key differences that should separate it from UFC fights.

For starters, PFC has a largely different roster. A number of fighters that fought in PFC eventually made their way over to the UFC, but the addition of a second league means that Undisputed 3’s roster is well over 100 unique fighters (including Alistair Overeem, only available with pre-orders). Once in the ring a few clear differences present themselves as well. For one, the UFC’s octagon cage style ring is replaced with a square roped ring like one would see in boxing. PFC announcers Bass Rutten and Stephen Quadros take over announcing duty, and the rules allow more violence, meaning that things like kicking the head of a downed opponent and pile-driving someone neck-first into the ground are not only allowed but encouraged. All in all, with its separate roster, arenas, rules, and announcers, the addition of PFC means that Undisputed 3 is basically two games in one, which sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

Single player

In the first two Undisputed titles I was a bit underwhelmed by the single-player campaign. Granted my focus was always on playing with friends in quick matches or via Xbox Live, but I always wanted the option to fall back on some quality single-player when in the mood. Luckily it looks as though Undisputed 3 will remedy the situation, adding a beefed up career mode to its bevy of options. This time around players have the choice to either create their own fighter from scratch, or two take an existing fighter and re-write their rise to fame. You’ll have to start out on the bottom of the totem pole in the World Fighting Alliance, but do well enough there and you’ll have the opportunity to move up to the big leagues where you will fight through all of the highs and lows that legends are made of.

If you do plan on working your career mode fighter through the ranks and to the top, you are going to have to work for it, and Undisputed 3 gives you plenty of ways to do so. The main way that you’ll earn experience and stat points for your fighter is through training exercises. Training has been beefed up to include 14 different drills and sparring exercises, and doing the right combination of the all is key to keeping your fighter on top. Another cool training-related feature is the addition of real-world fighting academies that your fighter can frequent and train with. While there you can spar with the real fighters that attend that gym, beef up your stats, learn new moves, as well as get trainers that will be on the sideline of your fights. The last training aspect is something called a game plan. Anyone who’s competed in a competitive sport knows that you always go in with a game plan, or a particular strategy that you hope to implement. Before entering a fight you can select a particular are to focus on as your game plan, such as striking, grappling, ground and pound, etc., and after doing a short sparring session for that area you can receive a temporary stat boost for the upcoming bout.

A ton of potential

Long story short, UFC Undisputed 3 looks like it is shaping up to be a great games for both series veterans and newcomers alike. New modes like Pride Fighting, tweaks like ramped up audio, and revved-up features like a deep career mode hold a ton of potential, but we’ll have to wait until February 14th to see if it can truly deliver the knockout blow.