Preview: ‘UFC Undisputed 3’ allows players to live the MMA lifestyle

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SAN FRANCISCO - With the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) exploding into the mainstream thanks to its deal with Fox television, THQ has taken the additional development time allotted to “UFC Undisputed 3” to ensure that the game offers a deep and robust gameplay experience.

Neven Dravinski, the producer on the bestselling game franchise, said one of the focal points for the company’s new game, available Valentine’s Day, was to allow the broader audience to both understand and enjoy the skills involved in mixed martial arts (MMA).

“The first thing you see when you turn on the game is the option to choose between pro and amateur controls,” explained Dravinski. “We put in a new control scheme to get people into the game. Feedback from some fans was that the classic controls from the last game were too difficult. Players can switch between these two control schemes at any time with ‘UFC3.’”

Dravinski said that his development team took a different approach when developing this sequel. They did one to two focus tests a month from the very beginning of development with everyone from more casual fans to the hardcore UFC fans to the competitive fighting game guys.

“We understand that people play this game for different reasons and they like to play the game different ways,” said Dravinski. “‘UFC 3’ allows you to play how you want to play. There are way more advantages to using the pro controls, including less of a chance to be reversed during grappling, but amateur controls open the game up.”

Players can start the game with the more simple controls and then move up as they master the game. THQ has also introduced a Tutorial Hint System into the game. Dravinski recognizes that “UFC 3” is a nuanced, technical game. With the press of a button, players will learn every detail about MMA as they’re playing the game.

“We felt the best way to teach you how to play the game was within the game itself,” said Dravinski. “Any time you get a new transition it teaches you exactly what’s going on. Not only will this allow players to become better gamers, it will also educate fans about the strategies that go on within the sport itself.”

In other words, the game should help UFC find even more fans. UFC employs fighters across seven weight classes (heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight, featherweight, bantamweight) and multiple fighting styles (boxing, karate, muay thai, kickboxing, wrestling, judo, sambo, jiu-jitsu, and MMA). There’s a lot of depth packed into the sport, and into the game.

Another key focus for “UFC3” was in building up the career mode. Dravinski said the key was to keep the action moving and the fights coming. This year’s emphasis on Career Mode is the fights and getting players back into the action more quickly. Less management of stats are needed with a new automated point allocation system and the removal of Stat Decay. Also, with less time for training in between fights and more ways to train, the variety of the player’s training routine becomes imperative if he wants to be an all-around fighter.

Speaking of training, THQ has added 14 training minigames, including tires, and new sparring drills like “stick and move” to “UFC3.” These activities, which occur between fights, allow players to practice isolated sections of gameplay and get better at playing the game.

The create-a-fighter option, which has always been a strong point of THQ’s fighting games, as well as its WWE wrestling games, has also been expanded. There are screens upon screens of minute details, allowing those who want to spend the time to create any type of fighter than can imagine. When starting a career, players will be asked to choose their fighter’s background, which provides different starting stats and move sets. Additionally, fighters start out with much higher stats than previous iterations, allowing them to build well-rounded and complete fighters like never before.

Another important aspect of the UFC career is training camps and the camaraderie that develops amongst fighters. Dravinski said players can travel to and train at six different real world camps, including Greg Jackson’s, American Top Team and Wolfslair MMA Academy. They will also have the opportunity to join and represent a real world camp during their career, at which point the camp’s trainer will become the player’s trainer and corner him during his fights.

This year, players will compete in three organizations: World Fighting Alliance (WFA), UFC and PRIDE Tournaments. Players start in the WFA and must capture and defend the WFA title before moving to the UFC. From there, they can compete in and win PRIDE tournament championships, as well as the coveted UFC Championship.

Greg Jackson, who is one of the top UFC trainers and has worked with THQ on both “UFC: Ultimate Trainer” and now “UFC 3,” loves the fact that the now-defunct PRIDE Tournaments have made their way into the new game. The Japanese spectacles featured crowds of more than 60,000 spectators and included pyrotechnics and multifight challenges in which one fighter would take on multiple opponents during the course of one evening. But PRIDE is perhaps best known for its lack of rules and “anything goes” fighting style.

“PRIDE rules have a huge bearing on the way we planned for fights,” said Jackson. “The more tools you have, the happier I am. For me, it’s much better to not have rules. I like to have more tools in my toolbox. Certain positions become untenable very quickly without the UFC regulations.”

As players play through a career, they will have more opportunities to switch weight classes. They will compete in single one-off fights in a new division, switch after cleaning out a division, or, if they’re struggling in one division, switch divisions to try and turn things around.

In keeping with its educational tenant, “UFC Undisputed 3” offers real-life fight footage, backstage footage and exclusive interviews with some of today’s top UFC fighters throughout the career mode. Dravinski said the videos players will encounter during their careers mirror what real world fighters go through during their careers. For example, when a player has his first professional fight, he will hear fighters talk about what their first professional fight was like. Get a title shot, and the player will hear what was going through the minds of several fighters as they went into their title fights. With several variants of these types of videos, players will be able to unlock additional videos on multiple career playthroughs.

“UFC 3 Undisputed” will be available for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on Feb. 14.

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