EA Sports UFC 5 Review
gameinformer.comA target appears on your back when you’re a long-reigning champ. No longer the enigma you once were, contenders begin studying your body of work to figure out the path to ending your time at the top. The best way to fend off would-be challengers is to continually build and evolve. Developer EA Vancouver seems to understand this because while no legitimate contenders have emerged in the mixed-martial-arts genre, EA Sports UFC 5 retools several key areas to show the franchise isn’t resting on its laurels.
Like its predecessors, UFC 5 aptly captures the thrill of stepping into the Octagon. After thankfully truncated pomp and circumstance (gone are the grating pre-fight emotes from the last game), the fast-paced fistfighting had me on the edge of my seat until the final horn. I love that the licensed fighters are programmed to behave like their real-world counterparts, forcing you to solve a different puzzle with each new encounter. The action satisfies, particularly in striking battles, though the occasional glitched fighter, unnatural limb contortion, and awful camera swing break the immersion in frustrating ways.
Momentum is a key factor in the simplified grappling system, and longtime UFC players will need to retrain their brains to defend takedown attempts. Once on the ground, you choose the position or submission you want to pursue, and the game determines your success based on stamina, fighter attributes, and whether the defender acts properly. The resulting grappling exchanges can lead to awe-inspiring scrambles that are much more natural-looking than anything we've seen in the series before. On top of that, I do not miss the annoying submission minigames from the past UFC titles one bit.
Sticking to your game plan
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