I have a love/hate relationship when it comes to sports games – I absolutely love to hate them and say that I don’t understand why there needs to be a new iteration of the same sports every year… So it is with a GREAT surprise then that I have become massively hooked on UFC 4 in the past week.
I remember I saw the previous iterations of the UFC series and always thought to myself – but I have Tekken and Street Fighter – why on earth would I want to play a game that is rooted in reality when I can literally throw flaming fireballs at my opponent but, oh boy, do I feel like I have been missing out on this series.
Firstly let me kick off with the campaign mode of the game – which I am obsessed with at the moment. There is something incredibly satisfying about seeing my fighter ascend the ranks of the lower divisions of the WFA before I finally impressed Dana and got my first UFC contract, all the while I am managing my fighters Social Media account – calling out fighters or trying to make as many friends as possible who will teach me their wiley ways.
This enjoyment for me has been coupled with the fact that no less than FOUR of the Respawning staff have joined in on the fun and we have decided to stream our Career mode progress into the hall of fame and see who can get there first!
You can see the first 3 episodes at the following links with my personal episode going live just after I finish writing this article!
Shameless promotion aside though, the combat in UFC 4 is also incredibly satisfying and whilst the other guys have been kicking or punching their way to victory – I have gotten really into trying to improve my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu game so that I can dive on the guys and just choke them out with each of our online fights. (Streams coming soon!)
That being said though, there is still nothing more satisfying than pulling off a perfectly executed roundhouse kick to the head and knocking someone out!
I know there has been a lot of hardcore fans whinging about some of the features being more accessible than previous iterations of the franchise but this is really what got me into it more – the fact I have been able to pick this game up and actually play it (badly mind) without having to learn 7000 different martial arts moves in real life has been really appealing to me and is something I have genuinely adore with the game.
So far the biggest surprise for UFC 4 for me has been the fact that I came onto it hot off of the heels of the Avengers game and within 3 fights I realised how much more fun I have been having with the game and how with Avengers I was just going through the motions to get through the story before being bored to death with the atrocious endgame.
So there we have it – I have become absolutely obsessed with UFC 4 and despite all the whining and whinging from the series “hardcore fans” UFC 4 is a contender for my game of the year fighting championship.
See you in the octagon.