The most realistic fight returns to the Octagon at the hands of Electronic Arts, offering with UFC 4 a solvent proposal for fans but little content.
Since Fight Night Champion was launched back in 2011, the fight in Electronic Arts comes from the hand of MMA, or mixed martial arts, and specifically from the UFC federation, the most popular in the world. Once in the hands of THQ, since 2014 the Canadian giant has been in charge of giving us the possibility of enjoying this sport with more and more fans of our consoles, as well as being able to do so at the wee hours of the morning on television. With a release cadence every two years, EA can take the time to implement multiple improvements from one release to another or even eliminate those aspects that do not work, even if that is a double-edged sword that entails subtracting content. Great inside the Octagon, regular outside of it – that’s EA Sports UFC 4.
Technical and strategic combat
As anyone who has never approached a title in this franchise can deduce – those who have already know it well – UFC 4 is far from being a fighting video game as we are used to, with all that that implies. The first of the consequences is that the control of the fighters, whatever their style, is extremely demanding, with a considerable amount of button combinations -use all of them, also the triggers- and the inclusion of mini-games for some situations , although obviously we cannot do combos of more than 3 or 4 hits as much. There are different fighting techniques – which we will talk about later – but it must be made clear that those based on blows – such as boxing or kickboxing, for example – are easier to master than those that focus on grips.
As is usual in the genre –be they arcade or simulation, as in this case-, the action buttons are assigned to kicks and punches, being able to apply variations –of strength, height, etc… – by means of the triggers, and even there , everything is relatively simple. The tricky thing comes when it comes to grips and closures, as well as in ground movements, where the possibilities are so many and slightly convoluted, that it will be almost inevitable to get involved at the beginning: you have to spend a lot of time to master these techniques, already that to make matters worse, it is one of the playable aspects in which the studio in charge has affected when increasing its possibilities.
One of these novelties is what they have seen fit to call Real Player Motion, or in other words, animations and movements according to the situation of the contest and the capabilities of the fighters, offering a fluidity and credibility beyond any doubt, with transitions very natural. Also the situations of Ground & Pound, or hitting an opponent on the ground, have been reinforced, with more possibilities for the attacker, but also for the fighter who has to defend himself, giving him more tools to get out of such an unfavorable situation.
That said, the options once we are on the ground locked in the fight are, as we know, three: the aforementioned Ground & Pound, Get up, if we are not very knowledgeable in this section, or Submit, which is resolved through a curious minigame for both attacker and defender. As an attacker, we must match our strength with that of the defender by pressing both rear triggers, something that is not easy since there are not only three positions -left, right and center-, but there are also other intermediate positions that will depend on the pressure we exert. over the buttons. While, on the part of the defender, we must do exactly the opposite, avoid that coincidence in a different interface we change a crescent for a complete sphere – and that this time it is handled, in a much more intuitive way, with the right stick.
In the case of a simulator, it goes without saying that it is not at all easy to be able to deliver resounding blows to the opponent, although it also depends on the level of the AI, little more than a normal or lower level punching bag. Therefore, it is fully satisfactory to be able to give one that is practically the one that solves the combat, since the usual animation that shows our opponent groggy, the screen turns into a red tone that makes it clear that we can finalize the fight. That being said, we obviously recommend playing it on a difficulty level above Normal, as it is not a huge challenge otherwise.
The rise to the elite, the core of UFC 4
Once again, and leaving an Ultimate Team out of the list of modes that did not make much sense in this genre, we find that the star mode is Career, the one already well known by all virtual sports fans in which we progress until we take our alter ego to the top. Incidentally, it is probably this sport – like almost all individual ones – where this type of content makes the most sense, although unfortunately it is not the most careful in UFC 4. We explain ourselves.
We believe that the narrative section of Career Mode in any video game has to have a certain weight, because otherwise, it would be better to do without it. So far, only in a few installments of NBA 2K or Madden NFL have we been able to enjoy plots that are really worth enjoying, but they always sin of being too conventional or correct, moving away from movies that have managed to capture darker aspects of the sport , as they can be He Got Game or A Sunday Anyone, for continuing to compare with basketball and football. With the fight, in this case the UFC, EA has a great opportunity to do it – there are no great MMA movies, but there are boxing movies, for example – but it is wasted and in what way.
The beginning of this Career Mode is, how could it be otherwise, the creation -complete, yes-, of our character, being able to edit from the usual physical aspects to his fighting style, being this Boxing or Kickboxing -recommended for newbies in the franchise-, or Lucha Libre, more suitable for experts, in addition to other intermediates and more balanced. It should be based on this chosen style as we improve our fighter with the skill points obtained, although we always have two options: specialize in the chosen style, or become a more versatile fighter.
We go back to talking about the narrative part, and it is that after a first fight that ends in defeat, coach Davis appears, who sees some potential in us, and from there the plot – non-existent – dissolves faster even than a sugar, being reduced to a few monologues by our discoverer and an appearance by Dana White, president of the UFC. Fortunately this, which is only an introduction to what is the bulk of the mode, does not last more than a few minutes, and immediately we take control of our character with total freedom of decision.
We can create rivalries thanks to our verbiage on social networks, establish training or video sessions -simulated- to know more details of our next opponent, assign points to improve skills or learn new movements … Really, and although there are few options, we notice which are nothing but the essential ones, and the period between fight and fight is sometimes repetitive and tedious, with not much management capacity, no matter how much this is compensated in the combats, well developed and challenging if, as we said before, we have chosen a challenging level of difficulty.
Outside of this Career Mode, and in the absence of millions of players joining the online battles, the number and variety of modes is not something remarkable, unfortunately, we find ourselves with very conventional modalities. Of course, it is clear that a discipline like this does not give much more unless you want to shoehorn, as in the case of its predecessor, the Ultimate Team mode. The solution? Working precisely in that Career Mode to make it more complete and deep, because it is really what is missed.
CONCLUSION
Fans of this discipline have a new essential installment in UFC 4, given that it is not an annual cadence franchise. Playable it does not give rise to problems, and it is that it presents a control and game system as is necessary in a simulator: very complex and that demands a lot from the player so that he can master it. Everything that happens in the Octagon shines with its own light, although unfortunately the same cannot be said about what happens outside of it, with a shortage of game modes and a main one, Carrera, where greater depth is missed. The new generation is presented as a new opportunity for a franchise that, like many others, needs new hardware to renew itself.
THE BEST
- Very good level of simulation, really demanding
- The improvements introduced in everything related to the soil: submissions, ground & pound …
- Although continuous, graphically solvent, with good models of the fighters and very fluid animations
- Some of the new settings, very original and provide variety
WORST
- General content shortage
- Career Mode is lacking in depth
- You have to play at high difficulty levels for the AI to be a challenge
Okay
It meets the expectations of what a good game is, has quality and does not present serious flaws, although it is missing elements that could have taken it to higher levels.
