EA Sports UFC has always featured a pretty solid presentation package as part of the price of entry with the franchise. The newest edition of EA Sports UFC certainly attempts to up the ante a bit with incremental improvements with the graphics and audio.
The animations are generally good too, and I’ll write a bit on them while trying to avoid talking too much gameplay.
In case you are wondering that’s Matt Llewellyn’s job…
Graphics
We’ve reached the point of the current console generation where graphical improvements are going to be more incremental than revolutionary.
The graphics and lighting are what I’d call standard for the generation at this point. There’s good lighting effects and the skin doesn’t look too terrible (though the plasticy sheen does still exist). Also, the blood/sweat effects are a nice small touch that aren’t too terribly overdone.
I also personally like the damage modeling with bruises/swollen eyes, and all the bells and whistles there. But this is all hardly anything new.
The fighter likenesses are indeed improved, but you obviously have some likenesses that are way better than others. EA really went the extra mile on several to capture all of the small details on some of the fighters.
Broadcast graphics are displayed well too, and tend to be timely. UFC 3 doesn’t require a vast array of overlays since the broadcasts themselves don’t really feature that, which makes mimicking a broadcast a little easier. But when called for, you get some good authenticity to the broadcast graphics that work well.
Overall, the look of the game is certainly on the positive end for sports games. Nothing about this title revolutionizes things, but nothing is truly terrible either. I’m not sure you should expect anything more out of a iterative sports title at this point in the generational life cycle either.
Audio
Let’s just start with the KO Mode commentary from Snoop Dogg. How you feel about that will largely depend on how you feel about Snoop Dogg himself — though it is apparent Snoop Dogg didn’t record a ton of lines as you get repeats pretty quickly into playing the mode.
The standard audio crew of Joe Rogan and Jon Anik are both still solid. Of course you end up with repeated lines, but the commentary is usually on point and when the fight gets exciting you get Rogan’s typical on-point emphasis of those moments.
Crowds also come alive at the right time and really add to the experience. If anything, I really wish the crowd reactions from a game like UFC could be better translated into other sports titles as I do think it adds a bit of excitement when the action heats up.
One last note is the soundtrack definitely is full-on UFC. The game has earned its T rating for a reason though, so keep that in mind if you are worried about coarse language, especially when it comes to music. It’s not over the top, but this isn’t a Madden type of experience.
Overall, the audio experience with EA Sports UFC is pretty good for what we’ve had in sports games. The audio adds to the experience overall and rarely takes anything away from the action. Mission accomplished in that regard.
Animations
Again, I’m going to let Matt talk about gameplay and how animations work within that framework.
What I want to talk about are all the other things that add up to the whole experience. Fighter intros are well done, and unlike earlier versions of the series, facial expressions tend to be a bit better done.
The celebration animations are also well done — both the taunts in the Octagon as well as the winning celebrations.
In a game like this, the little things surrounding the gameplay really add up to make the experience more authentic. For too long, sports games have kinda shrugged their shoulders at this stuff, but EA Sports UFC 3 does a good job making the whole package look authentic in that regard.
Final Thoughts
Overall, EA Sports UFC 3 offers a good audiovisual experience. The game looks good for a sports game, which it should given the low number of player characters on screen. The audio too is well done and the overall package is polished.
You’ll get a hiccup or two that’ll certainly be patched, and I wished there was more variety in the commentary at times, but you’ll find a good looking game with a well done audio package upon firing up EA Sports UFC 3.
