Over the last year, mixed-martial arts has been often challenged by its critics who don’t believe it’s a sport but rather they believe it’s a circus or spectacle. Well the UFC and THQ have gone to extreme measures to make sure this highly refined sport of MMA is displayed beautifully in UFC 2009: Undisputed. With a certain degree of replay value that many may not have expected, newcomers who know nothing about the sport will find it comfortable to play through the extremely well done UFC 2009: Undisputed. 

What have UFC and THQ done to make sure that the sport of MMA is represented well? For starters, they made sure that the blood and cuts of a fighter isn’t over-the-top. You’ll see cuts and blood throughout your matches, but it’s not in an excessive amount to the point of Ninja Gaiden or Gears of War where the blood is thrown onto the camera/screen of the player. In between rounds, your cornermen will clean up your face and by the start of the next round, your fighter will look healthy enough to continue fighting – though he will show bruising. In addition, THQ isn’t allowing fights to be stopped by cuts. This may anger fans of the sport since the developers have basically been stating that UFC 2009 is “as real as it gets”, but you’ll learn to appreciate the exclusion of cut stoppages. The question has to be raised: would it truly be enjoyable to lose via cut stoppage online when you felt you could continue fighting? I’m positive THQ will address cut stoppages in the next installment, but for now, players should appreciate that there aren’t early stoppages due to cuts. 

As for capturing the technical side of MMA, UFC 2009: Undisputed does an exceptional job. All six of the fighting styles feel unique such as boxing’s fast-paced punches or judo’s game-changing throws. Players will have to learn to adapt to every fighter to try and exploit their weakness in the octagon. From kickboxing to wrestling, players will have a joyous time learning all of the signature moves for each style and incorporating them into your pre-fight gameplans. As expected, there are some areas that need to be improved on for the sequel, but that doesn’t detract from the overall package that THQ has provided for fans of the sport. Boxers could use some bobbing and weaving or any kind of head movement to assist in their style. Judo fighters need an animation, such as wrestling’s spearing double-leg takedowns, to help them tie up in a clinch since the majority of strikers are able to stop a judo fighter’s attempt to clinch. The other issue is that some of the low-key fighters who have similar fight styles, such as Kyle Bradley and Mark Bocek, all fight in the same manner in the octagon. This ultimately means that a few fighters are only a change of templates and stats. Still, THQ did a great job in assuring players that their favorite UFC fighters have their signature moves such as Rampage Jackson’s powerful slams and Georges St. Pierre’s axe kick. 

There are a few important MMA aspects missing from UFC 2009: Undisptued. First off, while it’s pertinent to the UFC and not many other organizations – UFC 2009 doesn’t incorporate any cage control attributes. What this means is that if you are a wrestler, don’t expect to push your competitor against the cage to assist in your takedowns. While the cage is there, fighters don’t interact with it within a fight. Another aspect missing from UFC 2009 are low blows and cheap shots, whether they are intentional or not. Low blows below the belts, shots to the back of the head, knees to the head while an opponent’s knee is on the ground, and much more aren’t implemented into the title. In all honesty, while these aspects were probably cut to promote a much more exciting MMA video game, but their addition would’ve helped create a more variant title. Lastly, the refs are basically ghosts running around in the ring that don’t interact with a fighter even if they are pounding their opponent to a bloody pulp. 

But don’t let what’s missing in UFC 2009: Undisputed – whether it’s a particular fighter or gameplay aspect – hold you back from enjoying the game. There are over 80 fighters in the game to choose from, so there are an endless amount of match-ups to recreate from UFC’s history. THQ even went a step further and added in Classic Fights mode where you are able to recreate classics such as Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar from The Ultimate Fighter Finale 1 or the not-so great BJ Penn vs. Joe Stevenson (in terms of a competitive match) from UFC 80. Each fight is accompanied with a video from Rachelle Leah introducing players to the fight and then it’s followed by old promos shot by the fighters for the fight building up to the epic battle. If you accomplish the same result as the fight, such as Rampage Jackson’s lightning fast knockout of Chuck Liddell at UFC 71, you’ll unlock a montage of clips from the fight itself. 

Outside of the Classic Fights mode, players are able to enjoy an Exhibition mode along with two Tutorial modes (a Guide mode to show you the basics and Training to practice moves), a thorough Career mode, and online multiplayer matches. Exhibition mode allows players to alter which weight division they want to fight in, the venue, the rounds and which ref they want in the ring with them. The Tutorial modes are recommended to players who don’t know too much about the sport of MMA since it’ll introduce them to characteristics such as a Muay Thai clinch, ground transitions, sprawling and much more. 

Career mode is a meaty game mode that should hold a player’s attention for at least 6-8 hours depending on how they want their career to play out. Players are only able to take a created fighter into Career mode and have him rise through the ranks to win a title and attempt to retire into the Hall of Fame. Along the way, they’ll be able to build up their fighter’s strength, speed or conditioning for the three basic core stats. For the individual fighter stats that determine their strengths and weaknesses, players are able to go into sparring and earn points to distribute in any of the 16 categories. There’s also the ability for players to build up their fighter through camp invites where they can learn the basics of their two fight styles they selected. Sadly, it doesn’t matter which camp you visit as all of them show you tricks that are already available to you. Once you earn enough points by visiting the camps, you’ll unlock a new level for your fight style to grant you new moves.  

Throughout the seven-year career you’ll move up and fight contenders to eventually grant you a title shot. Once you win the title, the game basically comes to a halting stop in entertainment value as you’ll be facing the same competition over and over again. Having faced BJ Penn six times, Kenny Florian five times, Sean Sherk four times and a few others multiple times as I defended my Lightweight title, UFC 2009: Undisputed wanes by the end of its career mode. By the time you’ve reached this point, you’ll want to hurry through the rest of the career to retire your fighter to take him online. 

The online multiplayer matches are standard to what you’ve seen in other fighting games. You’ll be competing in Ranked and Unranked matches with the ability to customize your searches or host your own matches. There are three online leaderboards to see how the competition is faring in the game, but outside of that, this basically breaks down the online options. The matches themselves did experience lag, but they did smooth out the more matches I competed in. Players won’t be able to pause in mid-game nor will they be able to have an option to turn off stamina bars for both competitors. After each match, players are able to accept a rematch or continue searching for a new match. In between this decision, they can view the stats of how many head kicks, punches, submissions and the like were performed in the match. 

So how does UFC 2009: Undisputed fare overall? It’s a remarkable first foray into the sport by THQ. Not only did they capture what MMA is all about in their first try, they were able to throw in game modes to keep players coming back for more. UFC 2009: Undisputed recommended to both fans and non-fans alike – it’ll have your head spinning with the insane amount of tactics you’ll have to implement into your strategy to earn a victory over your opposition.

Gameplay: 8.6
With a few exceptions, UFC 2009: Undisputed incorporates everything that a MMA fan could possibly dream of.

Graphics: 8.6
While a few fighters don’t look like their real-life counterparts, THQ did a fantastic job with the animations (there’s no clipping!) and fighter models.

Sound: 7.5
The soundtrack becomes redundant after 15 or so minutes to the point you’ll want to mute it. The commentary by Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg is great, but even then they’ll repeat their lines in the second match that you throw together between the same fighters.

Difficulty: Medium
It’s recommended that all newcomers go through the Tutorial modes to learn how to play.

Concept: 8.7
The craving for a new MMA game can finally subside for fans of the sport.

Multiplayer: 7.9
The options for online aren’t extravagant. Lag was apparent right from the get-go, but it shouldn’t be too big of a problem.

Overall: 8.5
MMA fans can finally rejoice as the five year drought of UFC games has come to an end. UFC 2009: Undisputed is a great start to a franchise as the foundation has been set and THQ can improve on what they have already set in place.