After two years of posing, the least we can say is that UFC 4 returns more motivated than ever. During a private digital presentation, due to the coronavirus crisis, EA's new title was delivered to us for almost an hour, Nate McDonalds and Brian Hayes, respectively producer and creative director at EA Sports, present to comment their precious project. Up front, UFC 4 promises to be an authentic experience, rooted more in the sporting competition for which it is renowned. For this 2020 vintage, EA says it has extensively reviewed its gameplay, so as to make it more accessible and above all… more visceral. This requires a modernization of the gameplay on many points: first of all, whether for the direct strike with lightened controls or the clinch system, which now allows a much better approach to the fighters. For the occasion, the camera has been revised with a higher positioning, clearer, and more visible for the players, allowing another vision of grappling: the animations have also been reworked with an entire motion capture system; Within the combat, new mini-games have emerged to facilitate sub-missions and, above all, to facilitate their counter-attack. A very good way to make the gameplay more flexible for newcomers, especially for fights that previously lacked accessibility.
With a formula perhaps a little more accessible, more complete, more instinctive, the EA Sports game promises to be a certain reference of Mixed Martial Arts - unsurprisingly, in itself - which may well improve the experience.
Precisely for grappling, the central element of the fight allowing you to really take the advantage on sinuous holds, the system has also been lightened by more possibilities with the left stick allowing you to get up, submit, go to the ground with more instinct. Of course, we still have to test these mechanical controllers in hand but, as they stand, the cogs were presented to us in a rather relevant way. In terms of pure and hard knockouts, their highlighting has also been revised with clearer, more impactful and, all in all, a little more striking highlights. In general, UFC 4 does not revolutionize much: it focuses on perfecting a formula that was already working very well with, again, more attention for a stronger, more intense experience.
HUMILIATE IN STYLE
UFC 4 will also emphasize personalization, and this in a much more pronounced way than before: creating your own fighter will be essential… and with many options. Apart from the rather traditional physical parameters, the title will offer the possibility of customizing its hero, the central figure of the Career mode, with many wacky cosmetic items ranging from pure Halloween costumes to custom-made tattoos: many clothes will also be unlocked, all without affecting the performance of the fighters and being, therefore, only cosmetic. If there is player customization, it is because the latter will be at the center of Career mode, widely acclaimed by the developers: here, we will evolve our fighter with the sweat of our brow, in particularly immersive clubs with the possibility of working on this or that element with many specific exercises. Our colt will notably be able to start with the WFA - the World Fighting Alliance - to hope to land a contract in the UFC: however, this opportunity will be left to the goodwill of the players who, if they wish, will be able to remain online as an amateur.
This “solo campaign” will obviously not be the only one on the program; UFC 4 will focus on local and online multiplayer, including Blitz Battles: 64-player tournaments alternating between several game modes for an efficiency that we are told… intense. The "Quic fight" will also be part of the game for immediate and decisive matches. And because UFC 4 likes to put forward a perhaps more relaxed atmosphere, new rather colorful environments will be offered: we think in particular of The Backyard, literally a miserable octagon in an amateur garden or The Kumite, an arena homage to the martial arts films of the 80s/90s, good old Jean-Claude Van-Damme (and the sound effects that go with it!) being the spiritual figurehead. As said before, it's hard to blame UFC 4 for anything except, in the end, a fairly low risk-taking: and at the same time, why blame it? With a formula perhaps a little more accessible, more complete, more instinctive, the EA Sports game promises to be a certain reference of Mixed Martial Arts - unsurprisingly, in itself - which may well improve the experience. Isn't that the main thing?
