I’m going to see what I can do to write a review for this new game.  I would like to do reviews of all new games I get.  Bear in mind I’m playing the Xbox 360 version, but differences between the PS3 and 360 version are only noticeable if you have them side to side.

** Graphics: ** Let’s get this out of the way, it looks AMAZING. The animations, the sweat flying off when you connect, the fireworks during entrances, the blood, EVERYTHING looks good… except maybe some people in the crowd. They have like 10 different people they just copy and paste 200x in the crowd. It’s made off the Fight Night Round 4 engine, so everything has physics. You see the muscles clench and retract, you see them jiggle when you hit them, ect. Now I’m gonna play the ultimate man-card and say how awesome the blood is. In UFC (I’m going to compare the two alot) you gash them open and every now and then when you hit them the blood with get on your shoulder or on the mat. In EA, you gash them open, the blood flows, and smears. In one fight I was Fedor and fought Yoshida. I cut him like Miguel Torres or Joe Stevenson bad, and blood was all over, smearing on my legs, and arms and all and it actually looked like smears, not strawberry jelly just sitting on them. The only problem with the graphics is little knit picky things. The fighters have no emotion. When you’re on top bashing their face in going for the tko there is no look of “oh crap oh crap oh crap”. Just kind of “you’re punching me in the face” And when the fights are being announced the announcer doesn’t blink, face muscles aren’t working, its kinda blah and hard to look at. Final Graphics grade: A-

** Controls: **

  • Stand-up)* Veterans of Fight Night will feel right at home here. It uses “Total Strike Control” for striking. You punch and kick with the right stick and I will use a clock to explain it. To throw a simple jab or straight (depending on your stance you can change with the press of a button) you flick the stick to 10 or 2 o’clock. You can throw a hook by going to 3 or 9 o’clock and doing a quarter turn up to 12. Uppercuts or 5 or 7 then turn up to 12. Kicks are the same but [on xbox] you have to hold the left trigger to switch from punching to kicking. You can also attack the body or legs by holding RB. Landing continuous shots to the body will make their stamina go down, and once their stamina is gone you will start chipping away at the body, once the body is gone they will be knocked down and you can go for the TKO. This also works for the head, only you don’t have to worry about taking the stamina down, but keep in mind it will go down a lot faster if they don’t have stamina. Flash knockouts do occur, and not at the “every single fight” rate of UFC. I’ve had several fights go to decision.

  • Ground/Clinch)* I know many people who quit playing Undisputed because of how “complicated” the ground game was (alright its a little complicated), but that is not the case for EA. All of the grappling is done with a series of pressing A (X) to pass, and B (circle) to parry the pass. To initiate the takedown you press A and if the other fighter times it right and presses B, they’ll stuff the takedown, sprawl, or if time PERFECTLY, counter with a knee that takes about half of your head power away and you’ll be rocked pretty good. But if the take down is successful, you usually end up in half-guard. You can strike them from top or bottom, it will lower stamina, and you can try to pass to a more/less dominant position, pending whether you’re on top or bottom. However if they try passing and you block it by pressing B, their stamina will go down and you can try to improve your position then, there is usually a split second where you can. The B button is a helpful tool, but every time you press it your stamina goes down, so you can’t just be pressing it the whole time. I’ve only seen fights on the ground ended in 2 ways: KO from the mount or submission. You initiate a sub by pressing X (Square), you can parry it by pressing B, but if not a mini-game will commence. If you are attempting a choke sub, a circle will pop up on screen and you have to find the “sweet spot” with the right stick. The more you’re in the sweet the the bigger/smaller it gets, when it gets smaller, the person is getting choked, bigger and the person is getting out. If you initiate an arm/leg sub, you manage you stamina by pressing bursts x to lock it in, or B to break free. If you expand all of your stamina, the other person will have about 2 seconds of open season, and will usually lock it in or break free, so you have to use it wisely. If the person breaks free from either sub, and you have the “chain submissions” ability, if you press A just as they get out you’ll go into a different submission, say armbar/omoplata to triangle choke. Only thing is the stamina goes back to full after a chain for both fighters, so that’s my only real problem with it. The last thing about the ground game is “Major transitions” and “reversals”. Major transition are bigger transition. If you do a normal pass you go from half guard to side control. But a major transition, you’ll go from half guard, to mount. Reversals are done by parrying Major Transitions. You can also stand up from anytime by pressing Y (triangle) but it also can be parried.

*-All of these controls are the same for the clinch game too Final Control grade: B

** Presentation:** The presentation is one of the best, if not the best, parts or the game. It’s pretty spot on. Before fights, both fighters have their entrances, usually accompanied with fireworks. There are all the sponsors you see at different events (Showtime, Rockstar). But you can also change the venue, and it actually looks like a different place you fight in, not just a name on the. You can choose how to fight: Strikeforce rules [3/5 5 min rounds, no elbows/knees/kicks allowed on the ground], Unified rules [3/5 5 min rounds, ground elbows allowed], Japanese Rules [2 Rounds, 1 10 min 1 5 min, ground knees and kicks allowed] or Vale Tudo rules [1 20 min round, everything is allowed]. You can also decide if you want to fight in a hexagon cage, a circular cage, or a ring (not in Strikeforce rules though). Announcers and refs will differ pending on your rules. You will not have the Strikeforce “Bruce Buffer” if you decide to fight Vale Tudo. And you won’t have Big John reffing if you’re doing Japanese rules. Final Presentation Grade: A

** Career:** Career mode is a whole different animal in this game. You start off by creating your own fighter. You can change his appearance, fight style, ect. You start off as an amateur at Bas Rutten’s gym. You do 4 fights teaching you how to play, such as striking, ground, clinch, sub. Then you move up to professional. You start off getting to pick between 2 different fight leagues, they’re like C-Level leagues. You fight there until you win the title, then you move up to a B-Level league, win the title, then move up to an A-Level league (Strikeforce or Mystic). The career ends after 40 fights. You have 8 weeks to train for every fight. You can do little mini-games to train such as, “Start standing and get to full mount in 60 sec” and that will work on your ground game or “Do the punch combo on the right of the screen in 15 sec” for stand-up. After several fights you can choose to go to other gyms and train in different disciplines and learn their techniques. Such as the Muay Thai “Flying Knee”, or the Judo “Climbing Armbar” (