The UFC series isn’t the typical fighting game when considered against the likes of Street Fighter, Tekken, etc, but it’s undoubtedly a fighting game that’s based around a real sport; a popular and growing sport. This is the big reason that EA wanted to go above and beyond with EA SPORTS UFC 5, as the game is only available on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S to take advantage of the best hardware on the market. The game also made the jump over to Frostbite, which has enabled a large jump in realism that the series has yet to see. This also includes how the game plays and the fight atmosphere, which is immaculate. UFC 5 shines from within the octagon, but lacks the proper training outside of it.
The Real Impact System introduces a new level of brutal realism that properly captivates the sport inside of the octagon. Authentic damage comes from deterioration on a fighter’s face from eight different regions. Cuts, swelling and bruising will be visible and the eventual gushing of blood pouring down the face can be witnessed. It doesn’t stop there as the more damage that’s taken to the region will cause more deformities. EA states there are 64,000 possible facial injury combinations, but the visible side of things are just one aspect. This also leads to fighter performance degradation. Cuts will lead to blurred vision, thus leading to a weakened defense to that specific side of the fighter. Broken noses, limps, reduced mobility and more all play a part of the Real Impact System, which allows for more strategy implemented into the fights.
Much like the real octagon, going for the weakness is key. Not only does this provide an upper hand, but it also plays into the rules. Referees can stop a match for realistic injuries or for the inability for a fighter to defend themselves. Everything that happens inside the octagon in a real fight is experienced in UFC 5, and that’s fantastic if you’re a fan of UFC. New animations show off ripple effects, and stamina dictates how well attacks are landed. If you’re low on stamina, you’ll be loathing on attacks while leaving yourself open. The fighting is a mental attrition, and new controls have been implemented with focusing on the face buttons with offering modifiers with the shoulder buttons on the controllers. It will take some time to learn the moves, but it isn’t overly difficult and it isn’t overly simple.
Movement does feel stiff, but it works in UFC 5. Fighters take damage on different part of their bodies and once they hit a low point, the game gives a blunt indicator for a brief moment that slows down action. This can affect the flow of the fight, but it’s rather enjoyable and I prefer having this in the game. It is easy to get lost in the combat and end up wondering what happened if someone goes down. This provides a stark warning to either finish it off or get out of the way as it adds anticipation to the moment.
Blocking is probably the most difficult aspect of the fighting. While being able to move the head is instantaneous, reaction needs to be quick depending on the move. Yes, you’re able to typically see someone load up a heavy move, but judging between high and low and the buttons needed to do it, will take a good bit of practice. Replays show off what the Real Impact System can do with included sound effects. There’s a filter that goes over these replays and it looks fantastic.
One half of MMA is the standing fights, the other are the ground fights. UFC 5 has introduced Seamless Submissions that will replace the minigames found in the previous game. This makes the process a bit quicker, while taking some adjusting to get this to work. Grapple Assist comes in big here to provide direction on what you want to do, but there is a time constraint sprinkled in. Hybrid and Legacy grappling is an option in the game, but this new way will allow quicker application for positioning and eventual submission. The new Submission Health Meter provides a better idea of how well the fighter is holding on. Fighters can also be punched during transitions, but it can be a lot to keep up with until one becomes familiar with the options that are provided for positioning and mounting. This does change, so it won’t be the same every time. Completing the actions are tied to the right stick, but the implementation as a whole is very good and not overly complicated. There’s no button mashing or anything extremely strange.
The other great aspect that completes the UFC experience in UFC 5 is the fight atmosphere. Many of the same arenas that are fought in are represented and the lighting is amazing. The game offers entrances for fights, along with alter egos from fighters. There’s such an abundant amount of fighters in the game, and Deluxe Edition owners got access to Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Bruce Lee and Pride FC legend Fedor Emelianenko. All the fighters have star ratings to give an idea of how well they are as compared to an overall number rating. New cameras, visual effects including blood and sweat that are rendered individually, and Bruce Buffer make UFC 5 exactly what’s seen on television represented properly in this game.
Once stepping outside of the octagon, UFC 5 begins to feel more like a first released sports title a on a new generation console. There isn’t a lot here to do, as the best way to describe who this game is aimed for are fans of UFC who like to play one-on-one before or during UFC fights. There are a ton of fighters here and the fighting and visuals are excellent, but for anything getting an individual experience, there really only is a Career Mode. The Career Mode allows players to create a fighter (and it isn’t superbly deep), choose their fighting style, start in a backyard and in gyms and work to get fight contracts. The idea is to improve the fighter, but any injuries endured will reduce those stats and those will require points to build this back up. In my time on the career, I had three concussions, which obviously isn’t good. Pre-match dynamics include using points to build hype for the fight, spar, spar with individual UFC fighters that will lend their moves, and watch tape. Watching tape simply reveals what that fighter’s tendencies are, and I’m unsure how well that transfers over to the actual fight. Eventually, you may take the fighter online and fight with the Online Career.
Outside of Career Mode, there’s a solid training mode, although starting the career does provide training on how to play the game and fight properly. Cards and tournaments can be created, which is perfect if you’re having people over for a fight night. The online mode doesn’t go to deep either, and the matches I had consisted of the people being good, but also intermittent pausing. The flow of the match is fine for about 80% of the time, but the occasional hiccup can come at the worst time. Input time for attacks was 1-for-1 and worked well until the hiccups came. Hopefully this can be something alleviated with time, but there’s no input lag on attacks, which is important. Playing online is playable with the occasional headache.
The Career Mode does offer a narrative with cutscenes with a trainer. The voice acting is solid enough, but this is par for the course with other narrative modes in sports games. Bruce Buffer may have personally recorded his introduction, but it could also have been pulled from a match as it’s perfect in execution. One thing that is weird is that the soundtrack, while a good playlist that fits the game, seems to drown out everything else in the game. There is commentary that happens pre-match during the entrances, but they are drowned out by the entrance music. The audio mixing seemed to be overlooked on this and the settings can be changed.
Visually, one could argue that UFC 5 is the best-looking game to run on the Frostbite Engine to date. FC 24 looked fantastic and obviously one can date back to Battlefield, but the details on the player models and the environments are unrivaled here. The animations are smooth and detailed, although occasionally the rag doll physics when a player goes down can look off. The bodies are extremely detailed as are player faces, and adding the Real Impact System results plus the blood and sweat results in a visual leap that hasn’t been seen since Fight Night Round 3 nearly twenty years ago. It’s ridiculous how realistic the player models look in the game, and I feel the lighting and the reflections play a large role in this.
Closing Comments:
Everything that happens inside the octagon in EA SPORTS UFC 5 is the best adaptation of the UFC that has been seen in a video game form to date. The game is violently beautiful, playing quick and tight with adding new ways to improve the gameplay of the series. There are a ton of UFC fighters to choose from so players can set the stage in the biggest arenas in the sport to mirror what’s being shown on television. The amount of detail that has been implemented into UFC 5 uplifts the realism to unseen levels in the series. The fight atmosphere does everything right as playing with friends and creating cards and tournaments will keep things going for hours. Outside of a straightforward Career Mode and an 0nline mode that has occasional hiccups with connectivity, however, there isn’t much to do for a single-player experience. One can train and spar and focus on playing online or taking their created player online with a few different match options, but that’s about it. The focus is the fighting, as it should be, and this is where UFC 5 brings home the gold. If there is one UFC game to get, this would be it.
EA Sports UFC 5
The official UFC franchise, EA’s UFC 5 adapts the mixed martial arts sport to video game form. The title is available solely on current-gen consoles.
