fighting

Sometimes I wonder if THQ cares about making video games anymore. Its been a long time since they did UFC on playstation 1 and not much has changed. The worst part is the control. While the buttons react alot better then in past fighting games, the button scheme is a mess. This is the same problem they have had with the Smackdown series. Its difficult to remember what direction to push a button when your moving 360 degrees around the ring. I wish they had tried something with the controls like the wrestling games they made for Nintendo 64.
On the upside you get alot of popular fighters to choose from including Sakuraba, Ken Shamrock, Gary Goodridge and Royce Gracie. The graphics are good, but a bit too cartoonish. There is a grand-pre(tournament) mode included to make things more fun. Also included is a create a fighter mode that is pretty good. What I dont understand is how you can only create a 6"4 fighter, but there is a 6"11 fighter in the game. The camera angle is a pretty nice overhead view!

heres my ratings 1(worst) to 5(best)
Sound 3.5(no announcers during the fights)
Graphics 4(they are clean but a bit cartoonish)
Fun Factor 3.5(these fights can be more frustrating then fun)
Replay value 3(you have to be a real PFC fan to keep this)
Controls 3(the reaction is improved, but still frustrating and
non involving)

THINGS THEY NEED TO IMPROVE ON THE NEXT Pride FC
1.)they need to add cuts and bruises to fighters as the fights progress...
2.)The controls need improvement. Submissions should wear you down a bit before you submit so quickly. Reversals happen way too much.
3.)A better create a fighter mode. Its so dissapointing not being able to create a guy bigger then 6"4.

This blows UFC Tapout out of the water. For the reviewer who complained about the AI being inconsistent its because the creators made the fighters the way they are: good fighters are good and bad fighters are weak. If you're not a fan of MMA (mixed martial arts) you should know that most of the moves that the fighters do are moves they actually do in the ring. So if a fighter is huge puncher he can knock you out with one clean punch regardless of your health or stamina, or you can be submitted regardless of your health or stamina. They went out of their way to make this as realistic as possible.

The feature that takes the cake on this game though is the "Create a Fighter" mode; its unreal and the best I have seen for any fighting game. There are a ton of faces and physical characteristics to choose from (most of the are faces of other fighters that didn't make the game) and a ton of moves to choose from. You can choose a unique move for every position available, it can be a little labor intensive if you want it to be. You can also choose your entrance music, the stance of your fighter, the way he walks when called by the ring announcer, the way he walks to the ring, and the way he celebrates after winning. You can see all of this in "Grand Prix" mode (tournament). If you like fighting type games this is one of the best.

This is a good game but unfortunately there are some huge faults that you will notice right away. the first is the gameplay and plain and simple, it sucks. heres the way to win, just keep doing a submission. the striking system is also a bit faulty because you can knock someone out if you are on your back. it doesnt work that way in real life if someone is mounted on you. the create a fighter is fun but there are a lack of options for what you can wear, and practically everything that the real fighters wear, you can not. there is also no season mode, just single and grand prix. not much to it. i was pretty disappointed by it, but its amusing for parties and a ton of fun to do a grand prix with random characters so you can have the craziest matches and just watch it. at this price though, i would recomend it, or you can just wait for UFC sudden impact, which will hopefully be much better than this.