Review for EA Sports UFC 3. Game for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 02/02/2018
In 2014 it came out EA Sports UFC, first house title Electronic Arts dedicated to the famous discipline of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Four years after the passage of the license from THQ to EA (and two years after the second chapter), the US company launches on the market EA Sports UFC 3, a title that aims to offer the best MMA experience from a videogame point of view.
The Notorius was
As you can also guess from the introduction that the game reserves after the start of the title, the beating heart of EA production is definitely the career mode, which will prompt the player to follow in the footsteps of the career of the "Notorious" Conor McGregor, in and out of the octagon. The career mode has been completely revised on the occasion of this new chapter: after the creation of the character, which takes place through a truly complete editor that allows you to customize it in every aspect, the player will begin to make his way towards success starting from the minor leagues up to get to the main events of the UFC-branded PPVs. From the beginning, however, UFC 3 makes it clear that to become the best it is not enough to KO your opponents but you have to manage many other factors: training, moves and popularity..
The training will be carried out in the four weeks before the match in the ring: you can decide how many weeks to train, how much to rest and how much time to dedicate to promoting the match. Furthermore, you can choose which structure to train in: you will go from the dilapidated suburban gym to the jujitsu school, all obviously based on your financial resources, since each structure will have a different cost. You will earn the necessary money by fighting, a bit like in reality. The choice between the various gyms must be well thought out every time, since the most expensive gyms are also the most profitable from the point of view of the quality of training; all while remembering that what you save today will come in handy in the future.
As for the moves, however, each fighter will start with a standard set linked to the fighting style initially chosen between brawler, balanced, ground fighting expert, and many others. The style can then (and must) be modified and expanded thanks to some specific workouts. Each gym, in fact, will allow the player to face different training partners, from which to learn new moves and skills. To do this, just complete a small challenge (score 20 punches, 10 low kicks, etc.) against the fighter of your choice.
The last factor to manage (but not least) will be popularity: by deciding to use part of your time before the match to promote your next match you will not only generate attention towards it, but this will allow you in case of victory of increase your followers, an essential tool for a fighter who aims to become the best ever. In addition, choosing a stronger or more famous opponent than you will allow you to increase your popularity exponentially.
Once you have reached the UFC and signed a contract with the federation, you will be able to enjoy all those small details inserted by EA Sports in this mode, which make the gaming experience truly fun and well structured. The management of rivalries, the weigh-in before the matches, the lively interviews, the billboards with your name, are many small details that help the player to further immerse themselves in a truly faithful simulation of what really happens in the organization of Dana White.
Lots of modes for one fun
In addition to the career mode, UFC 3 has much more to offer: the title EA offers in fact a plethora of well-assorted and different flavors. For offline game lovers we find: the match mode, which will allow you to play normal offline matches against the CPU or a friend; special matches called Knockout in which the winner is the one who KOs the opponent several times; get up and strike, where ground wrestling is prohibited; vice versa, in a duel of submissions, one wins only by making the opponent yield. Among the offline modes, the Tournament mode also stands out, which will allow you to face an elimination tournament that will end with the victory of a single fighter (interesting the possibility of excluding the fight on the ground in the stipulation of the tournament), and the custom events mode , which will give you the possibility to create a complete card of a UFC event, choosing the place, the matches and the stipulation rules, obviously to then take an active part in the fight. Also among the offline modes, worth mentioning is the very useful practice mode, which will allow you to train and become familiar with the mechanics of combat, as it also happens in the most classic of fighting games.
As for the online modes, however, in addition to quick encounters we find the mode ranking championships (similar to FIFA's Seasons mode), which consists of climbing up categories by fighting online against other players. Parallel to this climb, by winning a certain number of matches, you can earn the opportunity to face a champion, win the belt and subsequently defend the title against other opponents. Among the online modes we also find Live Events, which will allow you to try to guess the results of a UFC event that will soon be played in reality, with the opportunity to simulate those matches in game.
Finally, always among the online modes, it is impossible not to mention the UFC Ultimate Team: as well as its football counterpart, the UFC title of EA Sports (it was already introduced in the last chapter) embraces the system of packages and cards that has done so well in recent years. Ultimate Team will allow you to face online and offline matches with a team of 5 wrestlers of different weight categories. These fighters can be obtained through packages redeemable in the shop with the game currency, or with UFC points that can be purchased with real money. Each of these fighters will have a value: bronze, silver, and gold, based on their real-world popularity and game stats (so to speak, Conor McGregor is obviously a gold fighter). Furthermore, as for the players in FIFA Ultimate Team, the fighters will have contracts (always obtainable in packs) after which they will no longer be able to be deployed in the ring unless you use the appropriate object. Also within the Ultimate Team mode you will find a sort of FIFA-like Squad Building Challenge, called a set, which will give you the possibility to use unwanted objects in the packs to create new and more useful ones, thus avoiding them from remaining in your collection unused.
Along with the tutorial mode, consisting of video explanations (in English), and the section to create fighters, all these modes offer the user the opportunity to never get bored, being able to switch from more competitive modes such as the Ultimate Team to quieter modes such as the tournament.
Roster, graphics and technique
As for the roster of the game, we are faced with 269 playable wrestlers inclusive of all versions of Bruce Lee and some wrestlers who have different versions based on weight, divided into 10 categories (women's straw, women's bantamweight, fly, bantamweight, featherweight, light, welterweight, middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight). Graphically and at the level of characterization of moves, each fighter fully reflects his real counterpart. The technical sector of the game surpasses its predecessor, taking wrestler models to a higher level and incredibly detailed thanks to the power of Frostbite, and the incredible effectiveness of Real Player Motion Tech. The damage will not only be visible to the naked eye in an incredibly real way, but also from a gameplay point of view it will affect the progress of the match. Taking too many kicks on the same spot on the leg could even lead you to defeat in no time.
UFC 3 is difficult but not impossible to master: even newbies can easily approach the game. The punches are entrusted to square and triangle (x and y on Xbox One) and the kicks are entrusted to circle ex (a and b on Xbox); these can be used individually for quick combos, or together with the upper lats for powerful combos. To attack the body, however, you will have to press one of the basic keys together with the lower left dorsal. The parade will be divided into high parry and low parry, with the first assigned to the lower right dorsal and the second assigned to the simultaneous pressure of the two lower dorsals. The standing fight will therefore be based mainly on waiting for the right moment to chain a lethal combo, remembering however that every action will consume stamina, and receiving a low stamina blow will risk KOing you without you realizing it.
Different speech for the fight on the ground, which will have a greater role in UFC 3: both the command for the takedowns (L2 + right analog) and the management of the transitions on the ground (right analog) remain unchanged, what changes is the utility combat on the ground, a phase that in the previous chapters seemed realistic but often assumed a marginal role and was used only by the most experienced. The new stamina management will often force players to resort to a takedown, and subsequent transitions to escape pressure or difficulty situations during the fight.
Where its predecessors had hesitated, UFC 3 is exalted. Net of some uncertainty in matchmaking and some fighter who needs to be rebalanced, the title is graphically impressive (1080p and 60fps granite on PlayStation 4 Pro and 30 on Playstation 4 and Xbox One) and technically excellent. EA Sposrts' mixed martial arts simulation is an exercise in style and power. Supported by a satisfying career mode, and several side modes, UFC 3 is to date the best available MMA title.
► EA Sports UFC 3 is a fighting game developed and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 02/02/2018
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