Preview by: Mitch Dyer

Fight Night has always made you feel like a badass boxer, and Def Jam defines “barroom brawl.” Meanwhile, adaptations of the Ultimate Fighting Championship never felt like more than a bunch of mediocre fighting games. Ground combat wasn’t nearly as fun as the rock-‘em sock-‘em fisticuffs, which in itself felt like re-skinned wrestling. The brutality of bone-crushing kicks and red-faced tapouts wasn’t ever realized.

UFC 2009 Undisputed is on the fast track to changing that.

To really nail the feel of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC 2009 Undisputed is reliant on its core fighting styles: striking and grappling, both of which have unique aspects that vary depending on the fighter. That mix makes for unpredictable fights that seamlessly switch between the standing strikes and on-the-ground wrestling at a moment’s notice. One minute you could be pummeling an opponent with a flurry of body punches and head kicks, and before you can blink you’ll find yourself pinned to the ground in a submission hold. In order to make transitioning between the brutal brawling and the slower, much more technical ground game, developer Yukes needed to ensure that the styles were comparatively entertaining.

Going toe to toe with another dude and using your fists and feet to transform his face into fleshy mashed potatoes is inherently fun, but in the case of UFC 2009, the level of brutality behind the blows is stomach-churning. Fierce kicks and rock-solid punches see the fighters reacting realistically – with a painful grimace contorting their face. The meaty thud is enough to make you cringe if the gnarly gash on the fighter’s face doesn’t.

Fighters bruise and bleed in a believable way. Even more convincing is seeing Tito Ortiz’s swollen eyebrow burst open in a slow-motion replay. Akin to Tekken or Virtua Fighter, those inflicted blows tied to the controllers face buttons, and various uses of them string together concussive kick/punch combos. Simple enough. But the dauntingly lengthy list of varied attacks is made more frightening by modifiers, which allow you to work the body, mix up the angle of your attack or put power behind your punch. Or, if you want to risk taking a serious blow in exchange for a satisfyingly violent reward, quickly stepping at your opponent with a flick of the right stick puts even more mustard into your assault. If the timing is right, a heavy hit to your opponents head could send them limply flying to the floor. These “flash knockouts” aren’t limited to you though; a poorly timed step (or protection neglection) could see you instantly flattened by the AI fighters as well.