That’s a very basic approach to fighting in the UFC games, and with it, the new transition grappling system really does shine. I seem to remember things going that way in EA Sports UFC 3, as the game starts you out in the lowest of three competitive tiers and gives you ample time to build your fighter into someone who can handle the big time.Īfter getting worked over, even by my sparring partners, in the game’s introduction to the fighting basics, I found my tried-and-true ground-and-pound game gaining traction in my fighter’s first few bouts. Maybe I’m supposed to get my ass beaten badly (in a parking lot, no less) in the onboarding scenarios during the game’s single-player career. The new grappling/transition system UFC 4 implements is definitely simpler, but there’s still a lack of feedback, leaving me wondering at times if I’m purposefully leaning on my left stick, or just spamming an input in desperation to advance or break free from a hold. This connective tissue of mixed martial arts is critical to the sport, but over three different video game series, spanning more than a decade, it has been inscrutable to my only casually interested mind. I confess some frustration with the career mode of UFC 4, despite EA Vancouver’s third attempt at refining the grappling, along with the transitions to stronger positions or to submission holds.
#EA SPORTS UFC 2 CREATE A FIGHTER SERIES#
But when the game’s release cycle is longer than a year, what happens to the folks in between? I mean the apostates, who may have the last game in the series but may have not played it in a year, which describes my situation with EA Sports UFC 4. Yearly sports titles try to straddle a line separating accessibility for newcomers and familiarity for lifers.