With the recent announcement that UFC Undisputed would be returning with a new iteration in 2010, I thought I would share my thoughts on how UFC cannot only improve on the 2009 version, but best EA Sports MMA as well.
Expanded Rosters - It is rumored that EA Sports MMA will not only include Strikeforce and its fighters but also smaller promotions and their fighters as well. THQ will need to combat this by expanding the Undisputed roster. 2009 saw 16-17 fighters per weight class including the downloadable characters Efrain Escudero and Ryan Bader. Since UFC's website lists roughly 25 fighters in their heavyweight division to over 40 in some of the others, there is certainly room for expansion.
While we don't want to see the level of detail decrease, adding fighters like Lil Nog, Jones Jones, Matt Hamill, Luiz Cane, Carlos Condit, Paul Daley, Dan Hardy, and others is imperative. I would personally like to see a heavyweight roster of 20 fighters and the other weight classes with 25-30. This would not only give a lot more variety but would also deeply enrich the career mode.
Additionally, there needs to be a monthly roster update like Madden and the other sports games do. I told everyone when this game first released it was going to be the next Madden. Let's make sure it is by giving us updated ratings on fighters who may have won or lost that month and showed an improved skill set or deteriorating game. Also, when a fighter that is not in the game does something noteworthy to merit inclusion, put him in the next update. Madden did it when Favre returned, let's see it in Undisputed.
Enhanced Career Mode - For most hardcore gamers, career mode is where most of their time is spent. As such, the career mode should be the most in depth and detailed aspect of the game. While enjoyable to a point, 2009's career mode left a lot to be desired.
While I enjoyed the fight offers and moving up the ranks, the fighter progression and training was limited. I like the idea of having camps but expand it to include all of the fighters within that camp. Allow the ability to train twice per day, every day with the ability to grapple or spar with any fighter in that camp. However, keep the ability to bring in a sparring parter who mimics your opponents skill set if a fighter at that camp isn't comparable.
Each grappling or sparring session should slowly improve your skills in the areas most utilized during training. You should also be able to do things like cardio, weight training, circuit training and specific drills for building speed, power, balance and agility. You should also have to watch your fighters fatigue level and morale as to not overtrain.
Additionally, your fighter's appearance should potentially change as you train, kind of like your character did in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. This could also impact your weight class. Say you are doing a lot of weight training and power training but are slacking on cardio. Your fighter may appear bigger but appear less defined like Lesnar. However, if you are a cardio machine but incorporate weights as well, you could be ripped like GSP. Gains in strength and muscle could lead you to a higher weight class such as GSP suggested could be in the cards for him due to the muscle he has added. Conversely, if you do a lot of sparring and cardio with little or no weight training you may see your fighter get slightly smaller and find that you are having difficulty maintaining your current weight and be a better fit at a lower weight class, a la Diego Sanchez.
Incorporating injuries, whether in training or in a fight, should be incorporated as well as the time off for them. The athletic commissions should hand out suspensions after fights and you should be at risk for broken noses, fractured orbital bones, broken hands, separated shoulders and joint injuries with mandatory time off from contact (which you could use to do cardio or weight train). Also, all of these should be possible in training as well. Obviously, we do not want to see our fighter constantly injured but if we occasionally have to miss a fight or adjust our training to compensate for an injury, it will just make it that much more realistic.
The expanded roster would give you a lot more variety as you progressed your fighter as well. Not only would you have more options for fights as you move up, you would have a broader base of styles to fight against once you reach elite or champion status. However, fighters need to age or it becomes redundant. If I am a middleweight fighter and have taken three years to get a title shot, I shouldn't still be fighting Anderson Silva or Dan Henderson (who probably shouldn't be in the game anyway). Having generic fighters that populate the lower levels (after a few years) as the real UFC fighters move up or retire and who eventually interpolate the Top 10 would add a great deal of replay value.
There also needs to be more of a focus on presentation. From Buffer announcing your actual name to to Rogan and Goldberg commenting on your winning or losing streak to your progression to your camp. There needs to be an out-of-cage experience too, be it UFC Magazine or UFC.com, Sherdog or MMA Live. Something that talks about the happenings in the UFC and eventually, as you progress and get noticed, you.
Alas, the most notable omission is The Ultimate Fighter. Whether by a "Superstar" type mode in addition to career mode or as a part of career mode, TUF needs to be included. Ideally, a full on six week "camp" with training and all of the tournament fights leading up to the Ultimate Finale need to be included. You should be able to select to either win your way into the UFC through TUF (which even if you don't win the tournament you could get a reprieve by winning in the TUF finale a la Kimbo) which would guarantee you a nine-fight, three-year (only first year guaranteed) contract. Or, you could elect to go the more "traditional" way with possibly a three-fight contract and just try to fight your way up through the ranks with lower pay and less exposure.
The drawback for selecting the TUF route would be if you don't win the show and lose your Ultimate Finale fight you would have to spend quite a bit of time training and fighting "regional" generic fights to rebuild your rep and possibly earn another shot in the UFC. However, if you start out in the UFC and lose two or three of your fights you could still earn your way back into the UFC through the next season of TUF. However, if you don't that win the show or your Ultimate Finale fight, your fighter retires. I cannot think of a better way to replicate what a real fighter has to go through and if you don't want your fighter to retire you can just just start a new career mode with your saved created fighter and try again.
Fight Mechanics - This is probably the biggest area in need of improvement. Simply, the knockout is too prevalent and the ground game is too redundant.
Almost everyone I know plays as a kickboxer/BJJ specialist because of the easy high kick knockouts and submission/escape ability on the ground. Obviously, high kicks can be deadly bot not every one that is unblocked connects cleanly or even reaches the head. Many are glancing blows or hit shoulder and some even make the kicker slip and fall to the mat. I don't think it is realistic to make head movement manual but, depending on fighter ratings, head movement and body lean should be incorporated to lessen the likelihood of clean strikes and subsequently knockouts, especially to elite fighters.
On the ground, it basically comes down to who can rotate the stick the fastest. I have played guys who, once they get to the ground, can almost immediately transition to mount and quickly ground-and-pound or submit you, with similarly skilled fighters. There needs to be a much larger focus on fighter skills and expanded movements and animations on the ground. Fatigue (and stamina) should play a larger role as well, especially later in fights. It is much too easy for these players to sub similarly skilled fighters in the third round when, in reality, there would likely be little progress made by the two resulting in a standup. This could be combated by slower animations leaving more time to react and, in effect, stall so the fight gets back to the feet.
Improved Scoring - The scoring system is simply atrocious. It is predicated off of who has more stamina at the end of the round instead of who did more during that round. If I leave it all out on the table in the third round with several takedowns, sub attempts and ground-and-pound while my opponent employed a more defensive, lay-and-pray strategy, I shouldn't lose the round because I exerted more energy.
I think a hidden point system where takedowns, strikes, sub attempts, transitions and reversals are weighted and applied to award a round would be better fit. Of course, there should be some variety based on the judge so each category would be weighted differently for each judge. This would give variety in winning rounds and sometimes fights but would eliminate the loss by the fighter who clearly dominated the fight but lost a unanimous decision because he was more fatigued after every round.
Fighter Customization - There are a ton of ways to create the facial look of a fighter but it is a painstaking process. Once you spend that inordinate amount of time on his face, you are left with relatively few options pertaining to the rest of his body. Being able to scan a picture and upload it as the face of your fighter is the best option. After that, if you want more of a generic fighter, there would be numerous default faces (that can be used on the fictitious characters in career mode) that you can choose and then alter as you like.
There needs to be more options as far as body types, tattoos and accessories go as well. If you want a Big Country belly or your fighter to look like "fat" Mir, you should be able to. Also, you should be able to create your fighter with a well built, muscular upper body and smallish legs or powerful, thick legs and a more average upper body if you so desire.
Tattoos are a huge area of opportunity as well. There are literally thousands of tattoos in the UFC and most of them should be available to add to your fighter. Not every tattoo is unique like Lesnar's sword or Thiago's sleeve so those more generic tattoos should be available. However, if you want Thiago's sleeve or Lesnar's sword on your shoulder or leg or neck, why shouldn't you be able to?
An increase in actual companies (i.e. sponsors) would not only bring in revenue for THQ but add to the realism of fighter creation. If I did "want to be a fighter" I may want to train in Jaco shorts, fight in Bad Boy shorts and walkout in an Affliction or Silver Star shirt. I should be able to do that in game as well.
Additionally, I should be able to create the banner behind my fighter at introduction. If I want to give props to my camp, my sponsors, God, my parents, whoever, I should be able to. That could also play into your sponsorships and income.
Basically, THQ needs to borrow from EA's slogan of "Its in the game". The UFC is the largest promotion, with the best fighters, the largest sponsor base and most recognizable personalities. When we sit down to play, we should feel like we're our favorite fighter and are experiencing what they do in there everyday lives from an MMA level.
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