EA Sports UFC 3 Review: Gameplay Videos, Features and Impressions

It's fitting EA Sports UFC 3 features one Conor McGregor on the cover. 

Like its cover star, the third effort between these two companies is the perfect blend of different strengths, quickly creating one can't-miss package for anyone from the most hardcore UFC fan to the players who just want to pick up the game and have some fun. 

A descriptor like "momentum" might be the best way to explain UFC 3. It's the third in a series snowballing into something special, and the new systems in place make each trip into the Octagon a risk-reward affair where the outcome of a match can change with one correct move—just like the real thing. 

Here's the verdict on the latest offering in a series with plenty of upside. 

Gameplay

Fluid is the first word that comes to mind when stepping into the virtual Octagon with UFC 3. 

The first two iterations of the game felt robotic at times. Yet here we are, with the new Real Player Motion Tech not even close to being a fancy buzzword and nothing else. 

This new tech allows for a fun surface-level experience and a deeper dive right into simulation territory. There is a layer of depth here players will appreciate. Head-bobbing with the right stick to create new angles is key to an engagement. So too is exploiting an area via the stunned system—if an opponent is limping on a bad leg, players can get an angle and stage a full-on assault on the damaged area, bringing them to the ground and going for the finish. 

The stand-up game is, in a word, unmatched. Striking feels incredible, with the newfound fluidity playing a major role. Characters on screen rarely do something unexpected, and attentive players can truly exploit habits and mistakes by opponents. And it's brutal—blood and sweat go flying, even landing on the person inflicting the damage, eyes swell, commentators speculate about broken orbital bones, etc. 

Perhaps the biggest problem with the stand-up game in UFC 3 is the expectations it places on the ground game. There, UFC 3 stumbles a bit. Visually everything is realistic and smooth, but the mechanics of it, from holding the right stick in a certain direction to playing a guessing game while trying to break a submission hold, isn't much different than before. 

Other than this small gaffe, UFC 3 plays like a dream, albeit one in spectacularly brutal fashion. 

Graphics and Presentation

The brutality of the gameplay is only enhanced by an incredible-looking game, 4K or otherwise. 

Everything catches the eye in UFC, from the ripples of muscle in motion to the realistic reactions and faithfully recreated arenas peppered with good-looking crowds. The player models themselves don't all look perfect, but this offering still manages to create arguably the most visually impressive sports game on the market. 

The presentation is the bow atop the gift here. Jon Anik crushes it at the commentary table, and the reactions to happenings in the Octagon add to the effect like a real broadcast does. Post-match calls mimic the real thing well, as do the initial walks to the bout itself. 

Also included in the presentation package are things like "UFC Minute," a brief video clip with a host that plays during the career mode and enhances the journey. Things like social media, ranging from GIFs of fights and sparring to otherwise, add atop a strong out-of-Octagon effort to bring it all together and match the modern environment. 

For a sport with plenty going on outside of fights themselves, UFC 3 has managed to begin capturing the whole landscape well, which the team at EA Sports is free to do based on how great the in-Octagon experience puts players in the driver's seat of a pay-per-view. 

G.O.A.T. Career Mode

There's a lot to like about UFC 3's stab at a story mode to accommodate players' demands for a deep story-driven experience. 

Rather than simply suiting up and fighting, G.O.A.T. Career Mode tasks players with managerial decisions every step of the way from the beginning of a created player's career. 

Players create a character, male or female, and away they go. It's a rush trying to gain the attention of Dana White and ink new contracts. Rivalries with up-and-comers right on up to UFC superstars act as bosses in a ladder system of sorts—win four fights and the final on the run is against the rival, who you've been talking trash with on social media the whole time. 

Social media and fan interaction is a big part of the equation here. How players respond to questions from the media and during public jawing sessions on social media will influence how many fans a created fighter has around the world. More fans mean more money in hyped fights. 

Gaining fans isn't so simple, though. Players only have a certain amount of points to put toward actions in the weeks leading up to a fight. After signing a fight contract with an opponent, players have a certain number of weeks to prepare. They pick a gym for a pre-fight camp, and the weekly points have to go toward building conditioning, learning moves, sparring or fight promotion. 

There's depth to each. Every gym has a different monetary buy-in and offers different skills for players to earn. Building up a character's conditioning via drills adds points to attributes. Fight promotion has a created character live-streaming games on Twitch, meeting up with fans, joining a pre-fight media call or even handing out fliers to the current gym, which gives the player a discount toward the next camp. 

The majority of these options besides the one-minute sparring sessions—which offer valuable insight into the next opponent—are menu-based interactions before a fight. But that's not a bad thing, not when the strategy behind each decision has serious consequences on the fight itself. 

Customization and presentation are huge talking points here. Almost everything about a fighter can be tweaked, from nickname to tattoos to fighting stance and even entrance song. The freedom to master a certain style at a preferred gym offers a feeling of strong replayability. And the presentation is a huge bonus, especially out of the Octagon—tweets directed at a player pepper loading screens, and big moments get captured in GIF form on social media. Choose to promote the fight and a player will even send out a GIF of a big moment from the sparring session.

UFC Minute and the involvement from White, including videos shot to chronicle a character's journey, all add a nice touch and leave a player wanting to keep progressing. 

Ultimate Team and More

Ultimate Team returns once again, tasking players with assembling a strong crop of fighters ready to take on the Octagon. 

As always, opening card packs is a rewarding experience, and having the freedom to kit out a stable of fighters with cards giving them certain attacks is a nice touch. Players can earn new packs via solo challenges and single-player championships, or they can take their team online via Ultimate Championships. 

There, against other carefully crafted teams, is where the fun resides in this mode. This mimics the campaign slightly in that a certain number of bouts will earn a team a placement, which you'll attempt to improve upon. While there are only so many UFC fighters to collect given the nature of the sport, interesting chemistry boosts for having certain fighters in your lineup make things more interesting than they should be, though one has to wonder how these team-wide boosts will affect the game's otherwise well-balanced experience. 

As far as general online play goes, the name of the game is customization. While popular standard features such as Knockout Mode return, it's the ability to set up a custom game with tweaked settings in areas like stamina, damage and health recovery that put control in a player's hand and stand out. 

Conclusion 

Like the winner of a championship bout, it's clear years of attentive detail went into the base foundation before creating a precise performance with all the moves and decisions necessary to create a winner. 

Sports games have long struggled to find a proper balance between appealing to the masses and rewarding and keeping the hardcore fans engaged. Not so here with UFC 3—casual fans can hop in and have fun in various modes while partaking in what they see on a pay-per-view, and hardcore fans willing to invest the time will find a simulation experience that accurately reflects their skill. 

There aren't many modes in UFC 3 given the sport itself, but it's easy to become lost in the surprisingly deep combat system here where attentive and skillful players will rise to the top. It's even easier to get lost in career mode while balancing various aspects of a fighter's life as opposed to only those moments when the steel door slams shut. 

UFC 3 isn't perfect, but it isn't a typical annual release of a sporting game either. The foundation created here is an enjoyable experience and one capable of holding fans over in the long run while the developers build atop it.