

This arena has an 80’s synthwave soundtrack along with over-the-top fighting movie sound effects, and a Shao Khan rip-off voice-over. This was a particular favorite arena of mine due to my affinity for the film. This is accompanied by a Kumite arena, akin to the 1988 martial arts movie ‘ Bloodsport’. Paying homage to the likes to Kimbo Slice and Jorge Masvidal’s background, EA Sports has added a backyard arena level. Once again, this just feels unnatural compared to the gates game, which felt more apt for what was actually happening on the screen. The more the blue and red bars overlap, the more chance of a submission. However, in UFC 4 they have changed to a cat and mouse type of mini-game where you have to avoid the other player’s colored bar with yours for as long as possible. Before, we had the submission gates game, which wasn’t the best. The submission mini-games have been completely changed. The legacy controls were kept in and also a hybrid option of new and old is another option. Now there are fewer options on the grappling hud, which means your fighter feels more restricted. Again, another change that feels a lot less natural.ĮA Sports also tried fixing the frustrating ground game controls by simplifying them. To initiate a Thai clinch, it is now R1+Square, whereas before it was L2 and Up on the right analog stick. This seems like such an unnatural choice of button in comparison to the way it was before. Takedowns are no longer initiated by using L2 and one of the analog sticks. EA Sports have changed a few controls since the last iteration. Yes, you do see sweat and blood particles fly in the air due to the impact, but the character faces are so stiff in comparison. Ten years later, on a further generation of consoles in UFC 4? Not so much. In ‘ Fight Night‘, you would see the character’s faces ripple their jaws cracking in great slow-motion detail.
#Ea sports ufc 4 reviews series#
They react in a rubbery, janky way which looks really unnatural.ĮA Sports have advertised a “new” feature of action-packed replays (basically what the ‘ Fight Night‘ series did) but even these are not as good as those boxing games. Animations are clunky when two character models clash together. You can then visibly land a flying knee and it doesn’t even register as a strike. At times you’ll punch thin air, but do damage to the opponent. The striking remains fluid, but once again the hit detection is erratic. The gameplay itself is almost identical to UFC 3.

If anything, they have actually become worse. Sadly, in EA Sports UFC 4, the previous issues still exist. In my review for ‘ EA Sports UFC 3‘, I was critical of various issues such as the hit detection and the overall controls, but the improved Career Mode and additional new game modes received praise.
