Game: UFC Undisputed 2010

Platform: PSP

Publisher: THQ

Developer: Yuke’s

ESRB: T

Genre: Wrestling

Players: 1

What's Hot: Core game from home console versions carries over nicely to the PSP

What's Not: Incredibly long load times ruin everything

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Review by: James Fudge

UFC Undisputed 2010 is a cash-in and no matter how decent the core gameplay is (and it is good), it is evident from the title screen that this game in its present form does not belong on the PSP. It is also obvious that developer Yuke’s shoehorned the home console game onto the PSP and hoped that apologist fans would give it a free pass. No doubt, they will.

“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain,” I imagine them telling PSP owners. “The game plays just like the PS3 game.” What no one will talk about is the elephant in the room--the ridiculous load times. Most of the home console game has been jammed into the PSP – the fighters (Brock Lesnar, Rampage Jackson, Matt Hughes, Andrei Arlovski, etc.), the moves (and fighting styles), the game modes, a robust create a character mode, and even the ability to install the game to your memory to shave off a little bit of the game’s overbearing load issues.

The controls are remapped (as best as they can be) to work with the PSP’s limited number of buttons. The left and right should buttons are used to modify the face button to give your fighter 12 different offensive moves, while the stick is used in conjunction with the shoulder buttons for various defensive and offensive moves (clinching, takedowns, and so on).

The modes are all there too – Title, Title Defense, Tournament, Ultimate Fights, and Career - along with a fairly deep training mode that teaches player the intricacies of striking, grappling, submitting, etc. Even the create-a-character mode is incredibly deep and robust, offering almost all of the same fighting techniques found in the PS3 game.

The play-by-play commentary gets cut from the game, but other aspects such as ring entrances, dramatic camera sweeps and Bruce Buffer’s trademark pronouncements remain. The visual damage popularized in the home games is hard to see in the PSP version, and the animation is considerably scaled back, but the game looks spiffy nonetheless.

Sadly, everything that is right with this PSP game is buried beneath technical issues that ruin the overall game experience. I emphasize these load times because they are in every facet of the game, save the actual fights. Right from the title screen the pain begins and continues to pulse throughout like an infected wound. 20 to 30 seconds at a time, the game loads, and loads, and loads. Early PSP developers had trouble with technical problems like this, but eventually learned the intricacies of the system and found ways to optimize. They did this because PSP owners absolutely loath long waits. Many games were rejected because of this solitary fact. It has been five years since the launch of the PSP in North America, multiple updates have been released, and most developers have learned hard lessons on how to optimize their games.

It's a frustrating game because of the technical issues. The core game remains as solid as ever but unless you have the patience to wait for the game to load at every turn it's a very tough sell. As a result I can’t fully recommend it but I do encourage those UFC fans that want an authentic mixed martial arts experience to buy UFC Undisputed 2010 for Xbox 360 or PS3.

James Fudge is a regular contributor to GameShark and writes for the ECA publications Game Politics and Game Culture .

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