EA Sports UFC 5 Review - A Yearly Release That's Not a Yearly Release

[Steve_OS]

When it comes to UFC, I come at it with more of a "novice" approach as...

Written By: Kevin Groves

Click here to view the article.

[Raiseup]

This review really captures my feelings towards the game. While it is an upgrade on UFC5, it's by no means a 3 year upgrade.

Compare it to the jump between WWE 2k20 and 2k22 and it's poor. That said, I'll pick it up when it reaches the sales section or, even better, on EA play.

[CHAPEdawg45]

This game should be looked at as the biggest sports gaming disappointment of the year. Now, that's not to say it doesn't do things well, the striking has always been decent, but it's completely un unique to fighters on the roster. Everybody fights the same outside of like handful of fighters with a tweak to a punching animation. And the AI? Forget about it. If I see Khabib throw another spinning elbow I may lose it. The ground game is STALE. It is, it's still bad and not fun IMO. No new fighters at all. This game was more of a graphics update with a new damage system than anything. Really a big letdown and not worth $70 at all. Discount, sure. Full price, no.

[gbmbjj]

Quote: Originally Posted by CHAPEdawg45

This game should be looked at as the biggest sports gaming disappointment of the year. Now, that's not to say it doesn't do things well, the striking has always been decent, but it's completely un unique to fighters on the roster. Everybody fights the same outside of like handful of fighters with a tweak to a punching animation. And the AI? Forget about it. If I see Khabib throw another spinning elbow I may lose it. The ground game is STALE. It is, it's still bad and not fun IMO. No new fighters at all. This game was more of a graphics update with a new damage system than anything. Really a big letdown and not worth $70 at all. Discount, sure. Full price, no.

I agree with mostly everything you said...

but the ground game is stale??

Whhhaaa??? I've had some absolutely amazing battles on the ground so far; both online and offline.

I think the ground upgrades is what makes this installment great.

Just my 2 cents.

[Freakywwe]

Fair review. I'm going to highlight what is standing out to me:

"Back to the standing game, and it’s very much hit or miss. At times, the power shots feel like they have much more power, which can result in some pretty realistic knockdowns, but there’s something about the way fighters can get off faster strikes and combos while moving that doesn’t sit right with me. You couple that with punch tracking that seems a tad overpowered with shots like overhand punches, and you can see some quick stoppages."

This hits the nail right on the head. The ease of which someone can throw a 10 punch combo in this game is unreal, with no stamina loss. IT really needs to be looked at as it's the only thing in the standup game that is truly bringing it down right now

*The Stamina Issues*

Agreed, there needs to be a significant buff on stamina tax on spam combos and elbows. As it stands, you can get in the pocket with someone and drop 10-15 elbows in a row without seeing virtually any stamina lost. Couple that with the cuts and stoppages, it's being abused and needs nerving

*Cuts And Stoppages*

So, I was actually quite happy with this feature during the trial. Felt like doctors were being called in at a good rate and fights were only being stopped in extreme circumstances. However, since the update last week, I'm seeing them at an alarming rate, and even seeing fights called when there's virtually no damage on the fighter.. I felt like something was tweaked here, but I can't find any information on what he patch changed...

*Presentation Elements Removed*

this one just hurts, especially considering everything prior to the fighter introductions looks so damn good. the walkouts are the best we've ever had, we lost the pat down but that was to be expected with only one ref in the game when the animation has always used an unused ref as the one who patted down the fighters, but to remove the intros and face offs... Just why? They've already justified it in saying that most people skip entrances which, fair enough, but there was already a solution for those people... The X button to skip, which was inexplicabily changed to a "Hold X to Skip", thus making it even longer for those people who wants to skip to get into the fight... Just a very weird decision, but not one that was unexpected since EA has been removing presentation elements from all their games over the past couple of years (Looking at you, NHL and FIFA...)



So yeah, I'm enjoying the game but there are some key fixes they need to make to balance everything out in my opinion

[Therebelyell626]

“A yearly release that’s not a yearly release”. Couldn’t have said it better myself.

I can’t believe this is all we got after 3 years of development. Made me realize that there may not be money actually being put into this game. Basically I think this is the best effort they will ever put into an MMA game.

[CHAPEdawg45]

Quote: Originally Posted by gbmbjj

I agree with mostly everything you said... but the ground game is stale?? Whhhaaa??? I've had some absolutely amazing battles on the ground so far; both online and offline. I think the ground upgrades is what makes this installment great. Just my 2 cents.

Yeah, and if people like it they like it. I don't want to yuck anyone's yum, but for me, it is a very stale approach to grappling. It haven't liked it since the first game tho. I hate to pine for the days of UFC UD 3's grappling because it's gone and it's never coming back, but they nailed the grappling aspect of MMA better than anyone has to date. If there was a way to meld EA UFC's striking with UFC UD 3's grappling, we would have the perfect MMA game. But I think the shortcomings of Frostbite don't make it possible. It's a bad game engine that fails all their other titles too.

[kingsofthevalley]

“ but there’s something about the way fighters can get off faster strikes and combos while moving that doesn’t sit right with me”

This ties back into the drum 🥁 I’ve been beating that everyone appears to be ignoring. The character movement is extremely bad and lacks any semblance of correct physics in the leg movement. For “pugilist” games that represent boxing, MMA, etc, the correct movement is a REQUIREMENT for aesthetics, immersion, and proper contact, there’s no way around it. Just offering assistance to help put his finger on what’s not “sitting right” with him. The characters move like some type of stick figure marionettes instead of humans.