EA Sports UFC 5 Review - A Yearly Release That's Not a Yearly Release

When it comes to UFC, I come at it with more of a “novice” approach as boxing games are my bread and butter. That said, it’s not the first time I’ve booted up a UFC game or anything like that, and it’s always interesting to see what EA is doing in this realm considering they have not made a new boxing game in many years.

With that in mind, I’ve been playing UFC 5 since around the time early release began, and so it’s time to dive in to what I like and don’t like about this version.

What I Like

Modes Galore

One of the best things about recent EA offerings are the plethora of game modes available to play and UFC 5 is nothing to sneeze at with the following modes:

• Career Mode (Online & Offline)
• Fight Week
• Alter Egos
• Fight Now
• Online Mode
• etc.

If there’s one mode that I find myself spending serious amounts of time in it’s Fight Week. Returning from UFC 4, Fight Week aligns with real-life UFC bouts, whether upcoming or in the past in the form of daily and weekly challenges. Much like other sports games, several gamers get enjoyment out of recreating upcoming matchups to help build hype and accumulate some XP.

What I’m On The Fence About

Gameplay

No matter what series we’re talking about, EA has struggled of late when it comes to gameplay for its AAA games on release. More often than not games are littered with bugs, with the gameplay balance leaning heavily towards arcade/casual players. Well, for UFC 5 it’s a bit of a mixed bag because at times the gameplay can be very rewarding and intuitive, but in order to break it down let’s look at the different aspects of fighting — while you’re standing and the ground game.

Stand & Bang

First and foremost, kudos to EA for toning down the overpowered spinning backhands that made UFC 4 almost unbearable at times. Defending them is much easier as they’re far more predictable due to requiring a different input selection, meaning that they don’t come off as clean as before and is evidenced by the lack of players abusing this fight tactic online. The AI will still give it a go every now and then, but overall you have to give EA its props in this area.

Back to the standing game, and it’s very much hit or miss. At times, the power shots feel like they have much more power, which can result in some pretty realistic knockdowns, but there’s something about the way fighters can get off faster strikes and combos while moving that doesn’t sit right with me. You couple that with punch tracking that seems a tad overpowered with shots like overhand punches, and you can see some quick stoppages.

Ground Game

I can’t help but think about the following from OS’s UFC 4 review in regards to the ground/submission game:

On the ground, EA sought to make the experience much more accessible than before. Transitions to the nearest possible submission, ground and pound or stand up are mapped to the left stick. This will result in the fighter automatically making the necessary transitions on the mat. While the player will still need to be defensively aware, there’s no doubt that the new system will increase the frequency and comfort factor of ground fighting, especially for beginners. Eventually, however, you may feel a need for more control and nuance and can revert back to the UFC 3 legacy ground controls from the menu.

https://www.operationsports.com/ea-sports-ufc-4-review-a-contender-but-not-a-champion-yet/

While this seems like a rather straightforward system, the mechanics can make for some interesting moments. Now that you’ve got a separate bar for Submission Defense, you have choices at your disposal (get off the mat to attempt a submission or go down and try to maneuver your way into a better position). There’s a bit of risk versus reward here as less advantageous positions will logically offer less effective submissions. In other words, if you’re faced with a choice of going for an easier submission from a less advantageous spot at the risk of not making much of a dent in your opponent’s Submission Defense health, you might just essentially be wasting stamina.

The counter (no pun intended) of being in top mount or maximum back control should help unlock the more lethal submissions, but you will more often than not need to work your way through other positions before even attempting these high-level submissions. So, In essence, the key to submissions is finding a way to drain the Submission Defense health bar in order for you to either submit your opponent or not be put into submission by your opponent. With the issues currently plaguing the game due to stamina (more on this in a bit), there’s some tweaking that needs to be done in order to create some balanced gameplay.

Cuts And Stoppages

There’s nothing more frustrating to a fighter than being stopped by the doctor or corner. Fighters in the moment want to let their skills decide the fight, but in these times we must protect the fighters from themselves when possible. This is one area that EA got right with UFC 5 and as of right now the balance seems to be pretty good, if not perfect. Not only is facial damage much more realistic, both in terms of visuals and practicality (a big shot opening up a cut/gash), but the fact that it’s not happening too frequently is a good thing. In fact, I’d go as far to say as I’ve received more fight-stopping cut damage in the camps leading up to the fights than the actual fighters.

What I Don’t Like

Stamina Issues

Simply put, stamina needs some serious tweaking. In its current state, it’s far too easy to spam strikes with no fear of losing significant stamina. The problems the lack of stamina punishment causes online are tenfold. Instead of calculated contests, fights can quickly turn into nonstop pressure fighting as you and your opponent can fight without regard to losing stamina. In a normal fight, this tactic would make you more susceptible to strikes because you would be winded. What makes this design decision strange is that UFC 4 had a patch relatively late in its cycle that specifically targeted stamina across several gameplay areas (submissions, takedowns, and so on).

Lack Of New Active Fighters

The lack of new fighters signed to UFC 5 is something we all knew prior to release, but it still hits like an Anderson Silva punch. Unfortunately, this seems to be somewhat of a sticky subject with UFC CEO Dana White as you can tell by his reaction here:

What Mr. White doesn’t seem to understand is that you don’t need to remove fighters to add new ones, especially since there is a whole “Create Fighter” mode available, and while there are already some great guides out on how to create missing fighters, it doesn’t excuse EA from freshening up the roster. If the amount of time between releases from UFC 4 to UFC 5 (roughly 3 years) goes that way again here from 5 to 6, maybe we’ll get some sizable roster updates moving forward, but this is EA we’re dealing with so who knows.

If you’re looking for the full list of fighters available you can check it out here:

Lack Of Signature Animations

Credit to EA for doing a great job with fighter likenesses. Everything from signature tattoos to their fighting gear is well done, but unfortunately once the fight starts there’s a feeling that the fighters feel eerily similar in their striking and movement. Nowhere was this seen more than with the added bonus fighters, Muhammed Ali and Mike Tyson. As a huge boxing fan, I was excited by the prospect of using Mike Tyson but was quickly let down by the generic way he moved. His trademark “peekaboo” style is nowhere to be found nor are there other trademark styles that could bring some much needed variety to the game.

Presentation Elements Removed

I don’t even feel the need to really add much here since it’s rather straight forward. Removing presentation touches without replacing them with something new just feels out of step with what you should be doing in 2023.

Bottom Line

With UFC not being a yearly release like Madden or NHL, I would expect a little bit more polish by now. Sure there a plethora of modes that I briefly touched upon earlier, but there doesn’t seem to be any freshness to the game. Simply put, everything seems a bit…familiar. That might not be a bad thing for those who put in serious hours with UFC 4, but if you’re looking for innovation, UFC 5 misses the mark in that regard.