With the looming launch of EA Sports UFC in mere weeks, we sit down with EA Sports UFC Creative Director Brian Hayes and ask him a few simple questions in regards to this highly anticipated game.
I know the question on everyone’s mind is “When can we expect to see the Demo?”
The demo will go live Tuesday, June 3.
How many base martial arts disciplines can you choose from and will we see the more obscure disciplines like Sambo or catch wrestling etc?
Those two in particular are not there. There are 10 base styles in our Create Fighter feature.
How is the grappling when compared to Undisputed or EA Sports MMA. Submissions seemed not to have any real defense. Has anything been tweaked or changed or totally revamped? Tell us about the grappling man… we must know!
Technically-speaking, everything has been revamped since this is the first UFC game this development team has created and its the first one developed exclusively for next-gen consoles. In particular, the submission system is completely new and unlike anything before it. There is an onscreen HUD, but a great deal more strategy involved. You can learn more about our submission system in our recent developer video below
What about the striking aspect, have you taken any nuggets from the excellent Fight Night series and applied it to the striking game in EA UFC?
Definitely some nuggets. A concept we carried over from Fight Night is the idea that skilled defense creates offensive opportunity. In other words, its always better to make your opponent miss and make them pay, than it is to just stand toe to toe and swing for the fences.
Will there be broken bones in the game and how do injuries like cuts etc. affect the fight as it plays out?
There are no broken bones. Injuries primarily take the form of temporary impacts on your fighter’s ability/performance as a result of taking damage. Fighters can get wobbled by head shots, body shots and leg attacks; which each have different effects on gameplay. Cuts and blood are primarily there for visual effect and to let you know you’re taking a beating.
Are we able to create our own walkout sequences with music etc?
You can select which song your created fighter walks out to, but there is no walkout animation editor.
Is Steven Segal in the game….?
No, he is not.
How is CAF different from the Undisputed series, will there be training mini-games again and camps etc?
There are training games. Also, you can have camp visits from several different UFC stars. They come to your gym and train with you. Also, its the first UFC game to feature The Ultimate Fighter as part of the experience.
CAF is where I spent most of my time in the Undisputed game, what sort of info can you give us on how that will all play out online. Will there be CAF we can take online and perhaps run an RPG style fight team system where players can create camps and teach each other moves to take into fights against opponents. In essence an online CAF mode like the Be a Pro mode in FIFA soccer for instance?
We don’t have a mode like that but we do have some cool online modes inspired by some other things games like FIFA have. Online Championships is a lot like FIFA’s Online Seasons, with a UFC twist.
Being so close to release, is there a feature you had to leave out of the game for this release that you would like to see in a future iteration?
As a game developer there are always a thousand things that you have to leave out if you want to have a chance of ever releasing a game.
Any chance to see open weight, or open gender, fights?
No
Oh and last but not least Ben Heggie wants to know where his keys are….?
Dude… I don’t know where mine are!