UFC Undisputed 3 Review (Xbox 360, PS3)

By Alistair Charlton: Subscribe to Alistair's RSS feed

February 14, 2012 11:06 AM EST

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) has seen a huge surge in popularity in recent years, amassing a global fan base in the millions and being broadcast the world over; while there have been UFC games in the past, none has quite had so much to prove as UFC Undisputed 3 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

UFC is a complicated sport, which combines conventional boxing, kick boxing, a range of martial arts and wrestling together to produce matches that can just as easily be won with a right hook as with complicated floor work.

As such, UFC Undisputed 3 takes some getting to grips with - even for those familiar with the sport, as there are many, many control inputs to master - but, thankfully, there is a comprehensive tutorial.

Credit: GamesPress

Optional - but highly recommended by us - the tutorial starts the game and covers 17 of the most popular UFC moves, which are talked through and demonstrated before you are encouraged to have a go yourself.

If you chose to skip the tutorials then the game automatically flashes up hints and commands while playing; these commands suggest which button to press to pull off the perfect move; of course,

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Being almost completely new to UFC, we spent around an hour working through the various tutorials before creating our character and entering our first fight. As with most games like UFC Undisputed 3, your character can be as personal as you like; height, weight, eyes, hair, shape of head, and shape of facial features can all be adjusted.

UFC Undisputed 3 is absolutely packed with information for those new to the sport - from informative and well-produced interviews and footage from real-life fights to comprehensive stats of all the fighters.

Credit: GamesPress

Arenas and fight camps from around the world are accurately recreated and such a level of detail makes the game feel very official - it's the full UFC experience.

Once a fight is scheduled - you can pick from a handful of opponents and we found that choosing the shortest was usually a safe bet when starting out, as they have a shorter reach - you then get the chance to train.

Training ranges from weight lifting to sparring and can be completed manually or automatically.

Along with training to make your character faster and stronger, there are also a number of training camps to attend, where you can learn specific moves in both offence and defence; there's also a section where sponsorship deals with clothing companies can be signed.

Although the gameplay in UFC Undisputed 3 can be as tactical as the real thing, our first few matches were won by laying out punches to our opponent's head, with very little need for 'ground work'.

Credit: GamesPress

A feature that may shock those new to the sport is 'finish the fight', which lets you continue to punch and kick at your opponent - even if they are unconscious - until the referee stops the match.

Despite being newcomers to UFC and mixed martial arts in general, we were able to quickly progress through the game after several early wins; although it must be said that these wins were by knock out rather than the more complex submission moves.

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