UFC: Sudden Impact

System: Playstation 2

Genre: Fighting

Cost: $19.99

Score: 1 our of 5 stars

The sport of ultimate fighting is exciting, fast-paced, gory and intense. The latest game depicting the sport, however, is none of those things.

Ultimate Fighting Championship, which is no newcomer to the video game scene, recently released its latest title, UFC: Sudden Impact, and did so with little fanfare. Given the quality of the game, though, this lack of flourish is unsurprising.

On the surface, the game looks promising. An opening montage of video clips from real UFC fights leads gamers into the main menu screen, where they can choose from one of the six game modes: arcade mode, championship road, tournament mode, versus mode, story mode and training mode.

As far as gamers are concerned, there might as well only be two modes. With the lone exception of the story mode, the other modes seem to blend together. Each is essentially the same, with only tiny variations.

In the arcade mode, players fight successions of bouts to their little hearts’ desire, with the computer randomly selecting opponents. Championship mode and tournament mode are series of six and four bouts, respectively, with the only difference between the two being the fact that championship mode only allows matches between fighters of the same weight class. Versus mode offers the option for players to choose their own opponents, but otherwise is just like arcade mode. Training mode simply allows fighters to try out their moves against an idle computer opponent.

Story mode, though, is the most disappointing. After creating a wrestler, the computer formulates a plotline for the development of the fighter. A manager approaches the wrestler after being told of his street fighting prowess and offers to train him to become an ultimate fighter. The manager makes arrangements for the character to train in a number of different gyms in order to learn different styles and gain attributes.

The mode has a great deal of potential for gamers, but with PlayStation 2’s slow load times and a lack of creativity, it falls flat on its face. Players wait as the game loads training tasks that simply require a single punch be landed on an opponent, and when the tasks finally sound interesting, the computer will simulate them without giving gamers the option of playing.

The fighting itself isn’t horrible, and neither are the graphics, but the game provides nothing that other wrestling and fighting games haven’t already done on weaker systems.

This latest version comes up surprisingly short considering the number of previous incarnations of the idea. It simply lacks the punch it needs to compete in today’s gaming world.

Published on April 26, 2004 at 12:00 pm