UFC 2009 Undisputed Preview

The graphics are amazing, and incredibly realistic.

As we all know, it's gameplay that makes a game great, not fancy graphics, and fans would be forgiven for thinking that the game might struggle given that Yuke's past credits include the annual WWE games. But, from what we've seen, UFC 2009's combat is perhaps the most interesting thing about the game.

The fighting is context sensitive and you're always in control of your fighter, no matter what sequence has been initiated or what button has been pushed. Tim demonstrates this by grappling his opponent in a Muay Thai type clutch - picture Bruce's grapple move from Tekken. From there he throws knees and pulls his opponent around the ring. But the grapple doesn't make your opponent helpless. He'll be using his arms and hands to try and get out of the hold as well as punching at every opportunity.

Out of a hold, punches and attacks will automatically change depending on the relative positions of the two fighters. From a medium distance you'll throw out a jab, but move in closer and that jab becomes an elbow or a forearm.

As any MMA aficionado will tell you, the ground game is all important, and it's no different in UFC 2009. There are four different positions you can assume on the canvas. Tim's opponent is in the guard position while he is on top bashing the crap out of him with a flurry of punches to the head and ribs. You have to be careful when you're doing this though - his opponent is a jujitsu specialist and, if Tim gets too cocky he can go in for an arm bar and try and break his arm. Lovely.

Expect pain. Lots of pain.

As the fight continues we start to notice nice graphical subtleties that impress. Bruising begins to appear, as well as cuts and a healthy amount of blood. There are no health bars visible on the HUD. Tim says players will know how the fighters are doing by the way they look. At the beginning of a fight their hands will be held up high, ready for blocking and punching. As they start to fatigue their hands will lower and their breathing will become heavier. As they take more hits the cuts and bruises act as visual clues to their well being. "You should be able to tell by looking at your character how close he is to being knocked out or how close he is to being submitted," Tim says.

Each fighter will have an accurate representation of his real life strength and weaknesses. A jujitsu practitioner will, for example, have an arsenal full of submissions that they'll be able to trigger at any time. But they might not have the strength to last standing up. Boxers, however, will want to keep the fight on their feet in the hope that they'll be able to use the kind of knock out power jujitsu fighters simply don't have.

It's an interesting combat set-up that, while hard to judge without getting some serious hands-on, looks like it could have the kind of depth that beat-em-up fans will enjoy as well as the kind of brutality straight up UFC fans are after. It doesn't look hugely spectacular, but then MMA isn't always spectacular to watch, especially when the match gets bogged down in ground work. Death-defying moves isn't what this game is about. It's about providing a realistic virtual representation of the UFC. In this respect, it looks like Yuke's has done an admirable job.

"In a lot of the other fighting games it's all stand up," says Tim. "If you think of a boxing game all you can do is throw a jab, throw an uppercut. Big deal after a while. Here you can throw knees, elbows, forearms, fists, kicks, go to choke people out, submissions, arm bars, leg bars, ankle locks. We've combined six different elements of mixed martial arts into one fighting game."