EA's first UFC used almost a turn-based mechanic where if one fighter initiates a movement when engaged with the other, the other fighter had nothing he or she could do aside from defending that move. Those playing the more traditional bouts can expect marked improvements to the ground and grapple games. By nature of taking the multidimensional sport of mixed martial arts and simplifying it down to its most basic facet, the mode doesn't seem like it has the most depth, but I don't know if the excitement of a close match in Knockout mode will ever fully go away. While that may not sound like a big deal, the thrill of being down to your last health segment only to execute a successful parry to climb back into the fight and land a successful counter attack brought me to my feet on multiple occasions. To add an extra twist to the health-bar formula, fighters in Knockout mode can earn back health segments by performing a successful parry.
Like a traditional fighting game, you can adjust these Knockout matches to crown the winner based on one round or the "best of" multiple rounds. The first fighter to lose all health goes down hard and loses that round. Once you're in the match, successful body and significant head strikes remove one segment of health from the victim (jabs and leg kicks aren't included due to their ease of connection).
Individual stats don't matter as much as it's all based on a fighting-game-style health bar, which can be handicapped prior to entering the match. In this slugfest, players take their fighters into the Octagon with the sole purpose of taking out their opponent's health.
The team realizes that many players view the striking of the UFC series as its most enjoyable aspect, so for UFC 2 they added the all-new Knockout mode. Some new animations and improved knockout physics made my time operating in the stand-up game more satisfying, but it largely felt the same and my skills learned from the first game were transferable.
The striking of EA's first UFC was great, and that appears to have remained mostly intact. We recently got our hands on the sequel to get a good idea of how UFC 2 looks to improve over its predecessor. In addition to a repetitive career mode structure, the ground and grapple mechanics were difficult to understand and the game lacked overall depth in the modes it offered.
There are so many former Fight Night players who will never be completely satisfied with anything other than a boxing game, but this is a great opportunity to get their interest.EA Sports UFC was a strong first effort when it released in 2014, but EA Sports' debut as the holder of the UFC license was far from perfect. You are going to add these amazing modes, please don't tell me you are going to keep this exclusive to offline.
I really do hope this is not going to be locked behind offline only. That tournament mode would make for an amazing online mode too. If the striking is really going to be that good then it would be a complete waste to keep it to offline only. These are most likely not going to be online, are they? Can't these be added to Quick Match as a search condition filter?Įverywhere people are going to be making their striking only matches/tournaments, and having this as a filter under Quick Match/Play a Friend, would be awesome. Then we're getting a tournament mode which sounds awesome and is just like the Pride tournament mode I've always been hoping for. So we're getting a Stand 'n Bang mode, which I assume is going to be a striking only mode, but without the silly conditions Knockout Mode has. EA Sports UFC 3 will also offer a tournament mode where the combatants must fight through multiple rounds to victory, with fatigue and injury accruing through each bout. For more on Knockout Mode and the last game, see Polygon’s review. EA is also touting two multiplayer modes “designed for fast, fun fights.” They are “Stand & Bang,” and a “Submission Showdown” to go along with the Knockout Mode introduced in 2016’s EA Sports UFC 2.