MP1st was invited by EA to check the game out behind closed doors where we got to see the gameplay improvements and changes made from the 2020 entry, talk to the devs and more. Read on for our initial impressions of the combat sim in our UFC 5 preview.
If you thought the last few iterations of EA Sports’ UFC games were toned down when it came to blood and body damage, especially compared to UFC 2, you probably weren’t alone. Lucky for us, it seems that the team at EA Sports has finally taken that feedback to heart, as the newest iteration in their fighter franchise, UFC 5, is going all out with the blood, promising significant improvements to earn that M rating.
With the team now moving over to the Frostbite engine for the first time in the UFC series, it means that they are now capable of delivering several significant improvements. One of those improvements is around blood and the damage system, which is seeing a massive overhaul with the release of UFC 5. Just how big of a change, you ask? Well, enough for UFC 5 to earn an M rating from the ESRB, and we got to see it firsthand behind a closed presentation. Trust us when we say this: expect buckets of blood to fill your screen in this year’s UFC game.
We were showcased a few of the different cuts and damages a fighter could take. However, the big visual change was undoubtedly the pools of blood that would drip from the fully covered faces of these fighters, down their bodies, and fly everywhere in the arena.
The team then went over several aspects of the blood and damage system, detailing that there are eight different regions for cuts, bruises, and swelling to take place, each having its level of progression that can be combined with one another for a whopping 64,000 different possibilities of facial damage that fighters can sustain. All this is to push the authenticity of a fight closer to real life.
But blood isn’t the only improvement in this year’s UFC, as players can expect more realistic face and body deformation with the new real impact system. A broken nose, bruising, swelling, and leg damage were some of the effects of this system that we saw, though don’t expect any career-ending injuries, as producer Nate Mcdonald tells us “Violence is not gratuitous for the sake of being gratuitous.”
What’s more, the damage done isn’t just a visual indicator, as it also plays into the fighter’s attributes, altering them drastically depending on the type of damage received. The commentators will cleverly make call-outs when a fighter has received significant damage to let players know without being too obvious. And because of this new system, there are now doctors onsite who can halt a fight for checks and even stop them entirely. Again, this year’s UFC is all about authenticity, though we’re hopeful this isn’t going to be a common way to end matches in the game.
To help showcase all this, EA has added a new replay feature dubbed “Cinematic KO Replays.” This will replay KOs (knockouts) in slow motion, focusing and enhancing the visuals and sound effects of a knockout, so you can witness some of the most brutal impacts ever seen in a UFC game. Nothing is held back in these replays, as you’ll see the horrific effects caused by impacts during a UFC fight. In the short replay clip, we saw bodies rippling, jaws snapping, heads bobbling, and blood pouring out. It truly left a lasting impression that left a smile on my face as a dash of nostalgia began to fill my thoughts from the good ole days of Fight Night Champion.
There were plenty of other new features shown, which we’ll go over in everything we learned about the UFC feature, but I really wanted to get out there and talk more about the blood and body damage improvements. I think this looks to be quite the yearly improvement UFC fans have been craving, especially with the engine change. I’m just hoping that the game manages to deliver, and luckily, we won’t have long to wait, as UFC 5 is launching on October 27 for the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.