EA Sports UFC 3 Preview - More strategic, but not more fun

lyra.roberge (56)in #gaming • 7 years ago (edited)

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At the beginning of next year, another new part of the EA Sports UFC franchise will be in stores. It is only the third UFC game from EA, a rather early franchise. Also a franchise that does not return every year. This is in contrast to the other sports games from EA, where we see new versions almost every year. Once Fight Night was a bit the underdog in terms of sports games from EA, but this franchise has long been a thing of the past and UFC has become the new underdog for that matter. EA's first MMA game, without the UFC license, did not convince. The first game with UFC license was slightly better, but still lacking in many areas. Then part two came and we started to gain confidence in the way that EA took with the franchise. Does EA continue the positive trend in part three?

Control is quite different

Do you think you can enter the game with the knowledge of how UFC 2 played? Then you are wrong. The first UFC game had a control that did not make us very happy, something that was dealt with in part two. So the groundwork went much better and controlled the game extremely smoothly, although the irritating input was still present, but then it was easy to live with. UFC 3 is taking a step back for the time being. The input lag is still there, but that does not stop there. The control is difficult to master, but that is not so much the player. This is mainly due to the fact that it no longer feels intuitive.

Where in the previous game you could defend high with R1 and low with R2, that is very illogical in this game. High defending is now done with R2 and low is now R2 and L2 at the same time. If you have played a lot of UFC 2, then it takes a lot of getting used to and even after that it still does not feel natural. R1 is now used as a special strike activation and that is anything but logical. It should have been kept at R1 and R2 as block and L2 for special lows and L1 for special highs. That would be in line with the previous part and feel more logical. As far as the groundwork is concerned, we see improvement: it is easier to defend yourself, submissions are actually logical and you can also choose to make a mini-game.

Graphically the same

As far as the looks are concerned, the game has little progress compared to the previous part, but it is not that bad. When you start UFC 3, you initially think for a moment that you are just playing the second part. The audience is, however, 'more' in the picture, here it seems especially the lighting is adjusted and the arena seems sharper. Characters also know a bit more detail, but the biggest change is mainly technical. Animations are more true-to-nature and although the games have always looked good, this only adds to realism. For example, we see the athletes stumble, more realistic fall down and get up, and people anticipate better injuries.

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Plays slower, more strategic, but not more fun

EA Sports UFC 3 introduces a much slower gameplay within the franchise, because where UFC 2 was pretty fast-paced and perhaps in some areas arcade, this new part does it differently. People focus more on realism and simulation, instead of fighting hard. The stamina is also less in balance, but it is logical that one still tinkers with that, We did notice that the stamina was replenished too quickly, making it easier to handle a very aggressive way of playing without getting really tired. That is of course not what the UFC is, so the brake may be a bit more set up here, just like UFC 2.

That the gameplay is slower, that is mainly due to the movements. Characters move even in slow motion with some moves, but some do not. This has a reason, because it has slowed down powerful moves and made the less powerful very fast. Because of this, a fight sometimes feels out of balance, because small knocks go very quickly, but that one powerful takes a few seconds to land. Presumably this was done to give the opponent time to defend, but a powerful knee does not necessarily have to be slow, the same goes for a kick. If you see McGregor in a real game, you just have to blink or he has landed two. We can not see this in the game, so there is still a right balance to be found.

Really much more fun these changes did not make the game play during the game. You notice online that many people still have to get used to the control and that a low-block is mainly forgotten, because of that control. Furthermore, many people still opt for those fast bumps that are soon spammed, purely because they are made too fast. Furthermore, it is very noticeable that they do not yet know exactly which foundation the UFC games need to have to build on. After all, with UFC 3, rigorous decisions are made that will not benefit the game for the time being. You notice that the developer is still looking for balance, control and experience in some areas.

Microtransactions?

For those who are concerned about microtransactions, yes they are present. Judging by the other EA games, this is most likely a somewhat unbalanced system. It is and remains EA and a sports game, but luckily you can bypass this by not playing Ultimate Team. That is the only mode in which microtransactions are processed. However, you can play online, without having to go to Ultimate Team. There is an online mode with the default schedule and when you play it, you will not suffer from boosters or other uninvities. Do you play Ultimate Team? Then you undoubtedly have people with a character that costs €500, - that shows you all corners of the octagon.

Preliminary conclusion

We wonder to what extent UFC 3 will be able to build on the early success of the second part. The current design in terms of gameplay, control and pace is not the right one yet. Although we have had a good time with the beta of UFC 3, we hope very much that the franchise will grow up quickly. After all, the sport deserves just as complex and stable games as their counterparts in basketball and football, but according to the beta there is still a lot of work to be done. However, there is still time to go and perhaps they will be able to smooth out everything with the information from the beta.