EA Sports UFC 5, developed by EA Vancouver and published by EA Sports, stands as the latest installment in the mixed martial arts fighting video game series. Following its predecessors, UFC 5 is a fighting game grounded in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The game was officially announced in September 2023 and launched on October 27, 2023, for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series S.
With each iteration, the franchise strives to capture the intensity, technique, and drama inherent in MMA. Let's delve into the various aspects of UFC 5, examining its improvements, features, and overall gaming experience.
Visual and Technical Enhancements
Generally speaking, UFC 5 shows various improvements both in terms of graphics and gameplay. One of the most significant changes in UFC 5 is the transition to the Frostbite engine, marking the first time the series has moved away from the Ignite engine. Technically speaking the game is excellent, with an incredible level of attention to detail that makes the title truly pleasant to look at. The blood, the sweat, the blow effects and the animations are truly impactful. This transition has brought about noticeable enhancements in animations and the links connecting them.
UFC 5’s main selling point was its graphics and reworked controls/cut system. Solid presentation captures the atmosphere of UFC. Fighters look good with decent animations and details.
Key improvements include:
Read also: History of Wrestling Games
- Realistic Damage System: UFC 5 features a revamped damage system, realistically rendering blood, sweat, and a multitude of facial damage combinations during combat.
- Visual Fidelity: The game boasts an incredible level of detail, making it visually appealing with impactful effects for blood, sweat, and blows.
Gameplay Mechanics
The gameplay is smooth and the combat system quite solid, albeit with its difficulties. UFC 5 is a very good fighting game with a lot of depth to it, and will provide plenty of entertainment for UFC fans. The new damage system makes adjusting your strategy mid-fight more involved with plenty of risk-versus-reward decisions, making both offline and online modes all the more enjoyable and replayable. However, it just doesn’t feel like enough, especially three years after the last game, especially in Career Mode, character customization and so on.
Combat and delivering some damage to your opponent is very satisfying, especially when you get a combination rolling. Improvements in AI balance and submissions have been noted. However, some hits may not register as expected, and the ground and pound aspect can feel underwhelming.
- Authentic Damage: Cuts, bruising, and swelling accumulate based on inflicted and sustained damage, with over 64,000 possible facial damage combinations realistically affecting character attributes.
- Doctor's Checks: Referees can pause the action to allow ringside doctors to inspect significant injuries, such as a broken nose or swollen eye, influencing the fight's outcome.
- Seamless Submissions: A revamped grappling system offers faster animations and eliminates mini-games, providing a smoother and more authentic ground game.
- New Strikes and Reactions: All-new animations for ground and pound elbows, spinning attacks, and various punches, kicks, knees, and elbows enhance the striking experience.
A gritty and tough combat game that is both fun and rewarding. UFC 5 will keep you coming back until you are the champ.
Career Mode
The game features a career mode, which sees the return of Coach Davis introduced in UFC 4. The goal of the player is to become the "G.O.A.T" (which stands for "greatest of all time"). Career Mode is made even better with quality of life improvements. Combat is mostly on point with improved submissions and balanced AI.
Career Mode can get monotonous with its lack of additional activities. The career mode feels quite basic though and a bit more depth to it would have been welcome. First off, the career mode of the game is very lackluster. Boring, one-dimensional characters, awful character models, and a character creator almost as dull as the cutscenes. It's still nice to fight your favorite UFC fighters, but isn't fun after the second playthrough.
Read also: David Benavidez: Boxing Star
Game Modes and Live Service
Updates include fresh Fight Week content, features, and challenges that are updated monthly around real-world UFC events. UFC Live A completely revamped live service schedule builds exciting challenges to the game based on real world PPV fight weeks.
Online career mode Online Career includes skill-based matchmaking, division progression and title chases across four divisions. Players can compete with a different created fighter in each division, allowing players to showcase multiple character customizations and vanity Items.
Fighter Updates and Alter Egos
Just in time for the championship showdown, EA SPORTS UFC 5 is dropping another DLC update, delivering a mix of breakout prospects, former champions, and rising stars. EA Sports UFC 5 Gets Massive Update Schedule, Over 30 Fighters Being Added.
Ranking EVERY UFC 5 Alter Ego
Celebrate 20 years of the Ultimate Fighter with an all-new themed Alter Ego drop in UFC 5, highlighting some of the best fighters in Ultimate Fighter-and UFC-history.
Recent fighter additions and alter egos include:
- Mauricio Ruffy: A rising force in the lightweight division known for his dangerous striking and highlight-reel knockouts.
- Dan Severn’s Alter Ego: Recreates Severn’s dominant performance at UFC 5, where he won three fights in one night.
- Tito Ortiz’s UFC 25 Alter Ego: Highlights Ortiz’s dominant victory over Wanderlei Silva for the UFC light heavyweight championship.
- Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson’s Alter Ego: Showcases Johnson’s elite speed, footwork, and grappling skills from his UFC 186 title defense against Kyoji Horiguchi.
- Quinton “Rampage” Jackson’s UFC 186 Alter Ego: Allows players to experience Jackson’s explosive power and knockout reputation.
Each alter ego should have a genuine identity: movement patterns, signature combos, AI behavior, unique intros, taunts, etc. Prime Anderson and Late-Career Anderson shouldn’t just have different speeds… they should FEEL like different fighters. Even if subtly to reflect their actual “ego” at the time.
Community Feedback and Improvements
While this post is a bit long and detailed, I hope this (as well as some of my previous posts and feedback) can make it to the hard working team behind the next installment of EA Sports UFC for us fans. Thank you Devs.
Some key details may have been left out here. I appreciate everyone working hard on UFC 6 and genuinely hope these ideas help push the game forward. UFC 4 and 5 felt like they took steps away from what made UFC 3 great.
A selection of suggested improvements include:
- In-Depth Tutorials: Dedicated tutorials for striking, grappling, clinch, transitions, denials, submissions, and a robust practice mode.
- Meaningful Fighter Perks: Perks that significantly change playstyle and impact the opponent, similar to the system in UFC 3.
- Organic Strike Animations: Variation in every punch or kick, influenced by fatigue, angle, and rhythm.
- Reworked Head Movement Mechanics: A more dynamic and natural sway system with momentum-based movement.
- Improved Clinch Mechanics: More realistic clinch entries based on timing and range, with the clinch being as dominant as the ground game.
- Customizable HUD Settings: The ability to turn off or edit any part of the HUD in any game mode.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I didn’t mind EA Sports UFC 5. It’s essentially an improved version of the fourth game with some intriguing new systems and mechanics, even if some (like doctor stoppage) could be better. The visuals are good, even if the presentation lacks in some key areas, and the gameplay feels fun, especially if you can get into the new submissions system.
EA Sports UFC 5 is the only game in town when it comes to the MMA genre, so it can be tough for fans of the series to ignore it, especially for those who are into the online ranked mode. But stagnation can be the death of a franchise. The overhauled graphics and new cut system are enough of an upgrade to satisfy some fans, but if you’re someone who enjoys the single-player modes, you’ll have pretty much the same experience by playing UFC 4 or even UFC 3 instead. It's better than UFC 4 and headed in the right direction.