#Ea sports ufc 4 genres series#

This means that even if you manage to successfully escape, you’ll find yourself at a major disadvantage for the rest of the fight. Stamina is the main resource in UFC 4’s fighting system, and if you drain it too quickly, as you’re apt to do in a grapple, your max stamina is reduced for the rest of the match. And even if you do escape, you find yourself at a serious disadvantage. And since transitions and escape attempts put a pretty significant drain on your stamina, it only takes a couple of failures to find yourself caught in an inescapable loop. You can do everything right to try to escape, filling up the bar to stand up, but if your opponent has a higher Wrestling stat, they will still somehow manage to knock you back down.Įscape can be nigh on impossible. That little statistic is seemingly the only real factor in grappling. And God help you if your opponent has a higher Wrestling stat than you do. The rhythm of transitions and escape is clunky and hard to get down. They’re far too powerful (and easy) to perform, and far too devastating to be a victim of.

The game’s meta is dominated by wrestling, specifically submissions. Unfortunately, the game’s biggest issues also come in the Octagon. 'Stamina is the main resource in UFC 4’s fighting system, and if you drain it too quickly, as you’re apt to do in a grapple, your max stamina is reduced for the rest of the match.' Clinching is easier to enter and escape, and your options for offense and defense during clinches have been improved. They’re still far from perfect, mind you, but they’re a definite step in the right direction. Transitions in wrestling on the ground are a lot smoother and easier to manage than in previous games. Meanwhile, improvements to wrestling and grappling keep the flow moving pretty well. The fight mechanics are fairly straightforward, and the AI provides a decent challenge. Combat is fluid, and hits feel visceral and exciting. Once you enter the Octagon and the fight begins, you get to the real meat of the game. Or they can be invested in upgrading and learning new moves, or in perks that grant you passive bonuses during matches. Points can be invested in your various attributes, such as stamina, hit range and power, blocking and so on. Like the rest of the game, the skill system is nothing that hasn’t been done before, but it’s done well and it works. It keeps you fit, which effects your performance in the match, and grants you points that are used to improve your skills. Ideally, you’ll find a balance of all three, but hitting the gym is vital. You can research your opponent to learn about his fighting style, make social media posts to promote your fight, or take to the gym to keep yourself fit. There’s a reasonable amount you can do here. Once you reach that point, you spend a set number of points for each week on training, fight promotion, research and other things. After you accept a challenge, you determine how close to the match your training camp starts. It’s simplistic, but it’s a nice touch nonetheless. The simple social media aspect allows you to respond to fans and other fighters, building friendships or rivalries based on your responses. You take this custom character through the career, where you manage your training, persona, and social media. I was able to create some pretty wacky characters in it. Making your character is pretty straightforward, and the creator is deep enough to mess around with. It’s no revolution, but it works well and is fun to play through. The career mode is the crux of the game, and for the most part it’s a solid experience. 'Combat is fluid, and hits feel visceral and exciting.'

#Ea sports ufc 4 genres series#

It’s here that you’re taught the mechanics of the fighting system through a series of small fights and training sessions.

The early stages of the career mode take your character through a brief run in amateur fighting. It does so through the career mode, which is started immediately when you first open the game. The game also does a good job of easing players into the fighting mechanics.

Combos are simple to learn, and the system is flexible enough to reward experimentation. Punches and kicks connect well, and carry a hefty weight to them. It doesn’t seem like much at first, but there are some welcome changes here. The game doesn’t shake up its formula too much, instead opting for incremental changes and measured improvements. The core of any UFC game is obviously the fighting system, and it’s here that UFC 4 shines. Did the developers put their extra time to good use, or is UFC 4 more of the same? The answer is a little bit of both, but UFC 4 still manages to offer a good time. While most of their titles see annual releases, EA Sports UFC 4 is the first release in over two years, and with that kind of time comes heightened expectations.

The UFC franchise has been something of an oddity among EA’s sports games.