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Preview: EA Sports UFC

The EA Sports IGNITE Lab was a very cool little section of E3. In a room full of some hands-on (but mostly hands-off) demos, I was shown the future of EA Sports. You’ve read about NBA Live 14, which was a hands-on tech demo of sorts. EA Sports UFC was entirely hands-off, but it was one of the most impressive demos I saw all E3.

After crowding around the EA Sports UFC area of the IGNITE Lab, journalists were given a short presentation demonstrating the direction EA is hoping to take the UFC franchise in. First and foremost, as this new entry in the series is appearing on next-gen consoles, the graphics are phenomenal. Even at this early, pre-alpha stage it’s clear that a huge amount of work has gone into graphical fidelity.

The presenter proceeded to dive into a litany of buzzwords and catchphrases for the new tech powering EA Sports UFC, but I was simply too astounded by what I was seeing to feel snarky. MMAi, Real-time Exertion, Full Body Deformation and Real Damage are all frighteningly similar to those impressive sounding trademarks we hear every time new hardware is on the horizon. It would be easy to dismiss them as such, but seeing UFC in motion, it’s hard to deny that the new tech is nothing but impressive.

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The presenter showed the room 5 different pictures of fighters faces. One was from EA Sports UFC, while the rest were photos of real fighters. He asked us to choose which the fake one was. While some clever people in the group chose correctly, I honestly had no idea. They all looked real to me. Scarily real. Seeing the fights in action alongside video of previous games in the UFC series also showed just how far the tech had come. In previous games, the fighters looked like muscular Ken dolls. Their faces didn’t move all that much and neither did their muscles.

In EA Sports UFC the “Real-time exertion” shows just how hard each fighter is pushing themselves. They grimace in pain, contort their face in desperation and run a gamut of emotion as they’re fighting. It never quite enters uncanny valley territory either which is a pleasant surprise, considering how realistic the faces are. Similarly impressive are the way the fighters move and in turn their muscles flex and move under their skin. EA have worked incredibly hard to make the fighters in this game seem like real people rather than video game characters. It makes the fights all the more natural and instantly creates a connection between player and avatar.

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Finally, we were shown some gameplay footage — pre-alpha mind you — demonstrating the “Real Damage” tech. This is what sets EA Sports UFC apart from previous titles. In earlier games your fighter would take damage upon contact, would get cut, bleed etc, but it always looked cosmetic and not nearly real enough. With Full Body Deformation and IGNITE EA are kicking it up a notch. Damage to the fighters’ faces and bodies is not pre-programmed and even a single punch or kick is enough — as it is in real life — UFC to cause some serious hurt. Cuts, bruises and contusions occur more naturally and truly add a whole new dimension to the fighting.

While I didn’t get any hands on time, I’m hoping that EA have some more to show us of EA Sports UFC very soon. If they can deliver on everything they’re promising, EA Sports UFC is going to be phenomenal.


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DeltaPhoenix08