Apparently Word Press decided to eat my UFC 2009 Undisputed writeup. Well, let's try this again, then.
UFC 2009 Undisputed had an almost unsurmountable hill to climb to be a good game. All mixed martial arts games have been wretched. MMA is too unpredictable to squeeze into a video game where specific button equate to specific movements. It also doesn't help that his the first game being developed by Yuke's Co.
So the fact that Undisputed is not only playable, but very much enjoyable, stands to reason that this could be one of the more enjoyable games of the year.
What makes mixed martial arts appealing is that it combines so many different fighting styles, from wrestling and jujitsu to kick boxing and muay thai. Undisputed successfully blends all those styles.
In Undisputed, there are three basic gameplay modes: Exhibition, career and classic fights.
The exhibition mode is a great way to surf through the 80-plus-deep roster. You can play as current stars Brock Lesnar, Georges St. Pierre and Lyoto Machida or former UFC greats like Tito Ortiz, Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski.
A good idea when picking a fighter is to pick based on how well you know the game. Don't feel like messing around with the tutorial? Pick a fighter like Chuck Liddell who you can easily button mash with and knock your opponent out. Go through the tutorial and have things down? Try a more ground-based fighter like B.J. Penn.
The controls can be a little complicated to get down quickly. The four face buttons are used for left and right kicks and punches. The two left trigger buttons are used to throw your kicks and punches high or low. The right trigger buttons are used to block high or low. Easy enough.
Where the game takes the next step is in the right thumbstick. You use the right thumbstick to go into a muay thai clinch, shoot in or to perform a submission. You also use it to get off the ground when you're locked up.
What makes Undisputed so fun is the predictability of it. At any moment, you could get knocked out or submitted if you don't keep your guard up.
In career mode, you make your own fighter in one of the five UFC weight divisions. You go through a career training and sparring all leading up to a fight. The career mode is a little too straightforward in that you can just choose to get stronger, faster or build more endurance. It's somewhat unlike the Fight Night series where you actually have to perform to get better.
But the sparring makes up for it. There you get a couple minutes to knock around some jobber. You can also specifically train your area of fighting expertise (mine were wrestling and kick boxing). Eventually, if you're good enough, you work your way through a division and get a shot at a title.
There are some issues in career mode, like you and other fighters not aging as the calendar progresses, but overall it's fun.
There also a mode where you have to recreate classic UFC fights all the way down to the end. It's kind of neat, but limited in its replayability.
The rest of UFC 2009 Undisputed is not, however. That's what makes this a must-buy.
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