UFC: Sudden Impact (Sony PlayStation 2, 2004)

I recently purchased UFC: Sudden Impact and found it to be quite irritating... AT FIRST. Having never played it, learning the different moves of the fighters, the special moves, the escapes, the different mount positions, and the different moves that were available while in each position, not to mention, all the counter-moves and escapes you could perform... well you can just imagine, there is just so much to learn about this game, that you almost need to take a class for it.

I found it frustrating and wanted to throw the PS2 controller frequently after being submitted time after time after time within 20 seconds. I gave up on the game a couple of times, telling myself that it was a waste of money, that it needs to be easier to play and not so easy to get submitted or KO'd. But I constantly found myself coming back to play it again after a day or so.

TRAINING MODE!? Why is the training mode NOT listed at the top of the screen? It took me about a week or so of getting KO'd and submitted before I realized there was a training mode. And not a moment too soon, either. I was getting tired of constantly having to push pause, check the book on how to do a certain move or counter-move, only to have it not work and have to start a new fight again. In training mode, I found my peace. There, you can choose the fighter you wish to train/practice with. The cool thing, in my case... your sparring partner doesn't fight back! No more KO's or submissions on me! Only offense! This was great. Winning was like stealing candy from a baby. Eventually you get tired of abusing someone who doesn't fight back and you begin to hone your skills. After FINALLY learning some of the offensive moves and feeling pretty comfortable with them, I tried entering the Octagon again with Big John and my new opponent, the first victim of my barrage of punches, kicks, and submissions. I FELT UNSTOPPABLE!

I think it only took me about 5 fights to continually get my moves countered, and for me to end up being submitted or beaten to a pulp before I realized, "Crap! This guys hits back!" So back to training mode I went. You can adjust your training partner to fight back in a variety of ways. I definitely needed him to hit me, or try to hit me so that I could learn my counters and defense. It only took a day or so of training for me to have limited defense which is where the addiction started taking over. I realized, "This game sure is a lot funner when I don't get beat every match within 30 seconds."

Another point about the training mode is that you find your weakness during your matches, you then go to Trainin Mode, and you modify your opponents. For example, say that you know that once you get mounted while on your back and you know that the fights only seconds away from you being beaten. You just go to Training, modify your opponent to train from Top Mount Position, check your Moves List (which can easily found by pushing the start button- no more searching through the book) and go from there. Got your opponent on top of you in butterfly guard? Set up your training to defend and counter.

Don't just come into this game and think that whoever pushes their buttons the fastest is going to win. It's a lot more in depth than that. Anybody who likes the versatility of numerous game options, and things to learn, which has a big payoff... this is definitely the game for you!

For all you others who just want a quick game...move along.

Ultimate Fighting Championship: Sudden Impact is a hit-and-miss game. It has many good aspects, as well as many not so good.

Graphics. The best way to describe the graphics in Sudden Impact (SI) is boring. There is not a lot of detail in the facial or body features, though the backgrounds (the UFC cage) seems to look pretty good.

Roster. This game has a wide variety of fighters, roughly 40. It has your big name stars like Chuck Liddel, Matt Hughes, Tim Silvia, Ken Shamrock, and Tito Ortiz. And when you start Story Mode you get your own character, but I'll get into this later.

Gameplay. The actual fights in SI may look fun at first, but after 10, they get very boring and repetitive. This is solely a button mashing game, even to the point, where you're just pushing random buttons. The 4 main buttons are all different attacks. But there's not enough variety as to what you can do. You can punch the person, kick the person, or take him down. That's about it.

Story Mode. First you start off creating your fighter. There is a good selection of faces, but after that the only way to alter his appearance is to change his trunks or give him tatoos. When you start the story mode, it looks like it's gonna be good. You are a street fighter, hoping to become a professional. You're recruited by a UFC trainer. The Story Mode is 3 years. Each year you choose a to join a different dojo to improve your skills and learn new stuff. 3 years sounds like a long time. But it's not. The challenges you do from month to month are very short, repeat many, many times, and are not that exciting. In the course of the story mode, you can only play a maximum of 9 fights. When the 3 years are over, your fighter is now a UFC fighter, and you can use him in the other modes.

Road To The Title. With the exception of story mode, this is a big mode of play. You choose a fighter from a weight class and you must fight several fighters in order to win a championship title. You can even use your created fighter in this mode. Story Mode kind of leads into this mode. Road to the Title mode is the mode that helps you unlock other fighters.

Overall, UFC: Sudden Impact is not a great game. It's hardly even a good game. If you don't like UFC, ignore this game. If you do like UFC, rent it first to see if you like it.

I've played many ps2 games in the past few years, and this ranks at the bottom. I love watching the UFC and thought this would be a neat filler between UFC, and TUF series, but I played it two nights and never will again. The graphics are decent, and the players look real. But the moves are worthless. If you play 2 player, either person wins in a couple of seconds, depending on who shoots in first, EVERY TIME. The story mode is laughable. I was use to the Tony Hawk or Streets of LA/NY story modes, but this is so horrible its funny. For example, in story mode, you must train to get points, to increase your abilities. Makes sense, right? However, the first training i completed, i had to punch someone 3 times. Ok, then kick someone 3 times. The game takes forever to load, and then the 3 punches, then back to the story screen. The moves are not laid out for you, so if you dont look them up online, you will fail the story mode. Lastly, there is a tournament in story mode. It tells you you are going to fight someone. Then, your fighter appears on the screen, and it appears that he is dancing (i believe its supposed to represent the fight); then the display at the bottom tells you if you won the tournament or not; HOW CAN YOU WIN A TOURNAMENT WITHOUT FIGHTING??!! I love the idea for this game, and maybe tapout is much better. Bottom line, I only paid 15 dollars for it, yet i feel ripped of. C'mon, Zuffa, put some money into your gaming division and give us something real. People that buy a UFC pay per view nearly monthly deserve better.

UFC fans...... OMG!! This is a great game! If you liked Throwdown then you will love Sudden Impact! This game has 16 secret hidden fighters that you can unlock and unleash! In create a player you can choose from 15 different fighting disiplines with a great variety of moves. With the 3 years of training it allows you to choose a different discipline each year to add different moves. So you can have a boxer /muai thai / karate fighter or what ever you like. Better yet study 3 years of one discipline to master it!

5 modes to play in includeing all new enhanced story mode. It is deffinately time for another UFC game to come out as this one came out in 2004. But it has a lot of greats like Ken Shamrock, Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, Matt Hughes, Gary Goodridge, Murilo Bustamante, Victor Belfort, Pedro Rizzo, Guy Mezger, Mark Coleman, Jens Pulver, BJ Penn, Tim Silvia, Robbie Lawler and tons more!!

A total of 35 fighters are at your finger tips!

A great one to have! Loading sucks compared to Pride but hey loading always sucks!

I love this game! I am a big UFC fan, and this game let's you be a part of it! The graphics are great, and the players are true to their character. It's just an all around awesome game!