Unlike other sports simulators from Electronic Arts, UFC games do not come out every year, and developers constantly bring a bunch of changes to them, as well as significantly improve old developments. More than two years have passed since the release of the previous part, the announcement of UFC 4 became as sudden as a snowfall in mid-July.
The publisher did not say anything about the game at all and just a couple of months before the release announced the continuation of the MMA simulator, blurring the eyes of gamers with a colorful teaser with the top fighters of the promotion in the foreground. In such situations, of course, it’s not worth hoping for something worthwhile, but, frankly, there was still hope …
The path to the top of Olympus
It’s worth starting your acquaintance with UFC 4 with the updated Career mode, which borrowed a lot of chips from the similar one from the latest FIFA games. Moreover, entering it after the first launch of the game is worth both those who learned about the UFC after the fight between Connor and Habib.
as well as ardent fans of the promotion and the entire series of games. In UFC 4, the controls and mechanics of the battle have been noticeably altered, so I don’t recommend immediately breaking into the multiplayer mode. In just a couple of seconds, you will fly off to the floor of the cage from the first opponent you come across, who has already managed to fight several fights (take the word of the one who was in the TOP 50 – UFC 2 and TOP 100 – UFC 3).
Career mode begins with the creation of a fighter. The editor remained the same and didn’t change much, while for unknown reasons they removed the opportunity to take a picture and add their face to the model of the future cage champion.
After you mold your fighter from the available assets, you need to select the characteristics, specify the name, determine the weight and height, and also choose the style. Currently available: boxing, kickboxing, jiu-jitsu, may Thai, wrestling and several mixed styles.
When you have a ready-made fighter in your hands, you can break into the “Career” in full. The plot here is pretty standard, as for such games. Being a nobody.
you need to long and hard raise from the very bottom to the top of the Olympus of mixed martial arts. Immediately you will fight somewhere behind the garages with some no-names, then more famous athletes will go, and in the final you will find a contract from UFC President Dana White, who will offer you to try yourself in the best MMA promotion in the world.
During the “Career” you need to choose your fights, train in the gym for several weeks, communicate with other athletes and fans on social networks. All this is diluted with simple cut-scenes, all sorts of dramatic moments with the coach, trash talk at press conferences before fights and other pleasant little things that help you not get bored.
“Career” turned out to be surprisingly interesting and, perhaps, it is she who will make you stay in UFC 4 for a while.
Virtual fights are not for everyone
For those who have never played the EA Sport UFC series and for some reason want to buy UFC 4 (if anything, you need to get rid of it as a full-fledged AAA project, although it definitely isn’t), I would like to explain the mechanics fight.
This is NOT a fighting game! This is a full-fledged mixed martial arts simulator with fighters from the most popular UFC promotion in the world. In fact, this means that you can forget about the level dynamics of Mortal Combat
and Street Fighter. There are no combinations of a dozen buttons, super blows, fatalities and other ways to beautifully destroy an opponent here.
Each fighter in the UFC fights in a specific style that is clearly in line with real-life sports. You have a stamina bar that you need to monitor regularly, as well as indicators of the health of certain body parts.
For example, if you start to miss in the beard, then the safety margin of your “bowler” will quickly run out, and in the end the opponent will knock you out. In addition, you can beat off the legs, arms and body. There are plenty of options to win in UFC 4, and I’m only talking about the types of knockouts, and you can also win by submission or points after three rounds of 5 minutes.
Starting with UFC 2, the developers hit realism. That is why these games are not for everyone. Here you need to constantly think with your head.
come up with tactics even before the start of the battle or adapt to the movements of the opponent on the go. Basically, you will have to play measuredly and spend several minutes in the block, only occasionally throwing punches when the opponent opens up. If you stupidly go ahead, then in a matter of seconds you will be knocked out and lose the fight.
As for the changes in the UFC 4 combat system, it has become noticeably simpler. Moreover, this applies to both ordinary blows and the stalls along with painful ones.
Spectacular spins and throws, which required the player to hold down 7-8 buttons at the same time, have disappeared. Combinations for strikes are built from a maximum of 4 buttons, and you can throw two at all. The times when you had to break your fingers in three places, trying to perform a spectacular move with your fighter, fortunately, are over.
Work in the stalls was also simplified and transferred to the left trigger instead of the right one, as in the previous parts. Now it will be easier for beginners to deal with wrestling.
and those who have been training their grappling skills in the UFC for 3 months will be able to relax a little. There is still a mini-game on submissions, but in UFC 4 it has finally become more intuitive and simpler. In general, all components of the combat system were simplified, but this did not make the game more arcade-like and only benefited it.
