EA Sports UFC 2

Zero-Cool

It's up for preorder on PSN now. I'm going to get it digitally as I don't trust my local shops to be open Paddy's day or Postman to deliver that day. Also, digital should unlock the night before so it's gonna be an all nighter.

Tempted to get the special edition for the Ultimate Team packs and Tyson.

Zero-Cool

Game Director Brizzo just confirmed Joe Duffy is in the game and has a special Over Hand Right card you can unlock for your Ultimate Team.

Whole 2 hour stream is archived and can be watched below.

http://www.twitch.tv/easportsufc/v/38035028

Zero-Cool

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Tempted to get the special edition for the Ultimate Team packs and Tyson.

Standard edition gets you Bas, Sakuraba and Iron Mike. The special edtion gets you those plus Hangover Mike and 30 Premium Ultimate Team packs (worth $60) over 15 weeks, so 2 a week. 80 Euro is way too steep for that so I pre-ordered the standard edition.

Zero-Cool

Last post of the night, I promise. I think Conor might have pissed off the devs in some way as his face looks off compared to the other fighters and he is listed unnder the BASIC pack :pac:

SureYWouldntYa

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Standard edition gets you Bas, Sakuraba and Iron Mike. The special edtion gets you those plus Hangover Mike and 30 Premium Ultimate Team packs (worth $60) over 15 weeks, so 2 a week. 80 Euro is way too steep for that so I pre-ordered the standard edition.

Did you quote yourself and tell yourself not to get the special edition ? :pac:

Mr Blobby

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Standard edition gets you Bas, Sakuraba and Iron Mike. The special edtion gets you those plus Hangover Mike and 30 Premium Ultimate Team packs (worth $60) over 15 weeks, so 2 a week. 80 Euro is way too steep for that so I pre-ordered the standard edition.

SureYWouldntYa wrote: »

Did you quote yourself and tell yourself not to get the special edition ? :pac:

Ah jesus!
Poor lad must be delirious from hunting all this UFC news for us :pac:

Zero-Cool

SureYWouldntYa wrote: »

Did you quote yourself and tell yourself not to get the special edition ? :pac:

I wanted to get the special edition but had to talk myself out of it :pac:

markcahill1985

If you pre ordered the digital version is it likely to allow you to pre download? I have crappy 4mb broadband and want to play on release, may order physical copy if I can only download on the release day.

Zero-Cool

markcahill1985 wrote: »

If you pre ordered the digital version is it likely to allow you to pre download? I have crappy 4mb broadband and want to play on release, may order physical copy if I can only download on the release day.

The majority of digital preorders can be downloaded 2 days before release and unlock on midnight of release but Euro PSN can be a bit unreliable and uninformative if it doesn't become available for download until it unlocks at midnight.

My preorder says Released - 15th March, Available 17th March

So sounds like it will be ready for download 2 days early but no guarantee.

markcahill1985

Zero-Cool wrote: »

The majority of digital preorders can be downloaded 2 days before release and unlock on midnight of release but Euro PSN can be a bit unreliable and uninformative if it doesn't become available for download until it unlocks at midnight.

My preorder says Released - 15th March, Available 17th March

So sounds like it will be ready for download 2 days early but no guarantee.

Cheers man, think ill take a punt on the digital, cant wait for this now.

Zero-Cool

markcahill1985 wrote: »

Cheers man, think ill take a punt on the digital, cant wait for this now.

Well they won't take the money from your account until 4 days before release so if there's any reports of not being able to download early, you can always cancel the pre-order anyway.

Also, Beta Codes are being sent out 7pm our time today, for anyone who tried to sign up with a US account.

Axwell

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Last post of the night, I promise. I think Conor might have pissed off the devs in some way as his face looks off compared to the other fighters and he is listed unnder the BASIC pack :pac:

Just in relation to the cards if its anything like UT on Fifa then the face on the front of the packs changes each time you view the store. There are a set number of faces they use and when you go in each time a different one is on the pack, it has no reflection of who you will get in the pack its just a way to brand it.

Zero-Cool

Lads.....the beta is a whole other ball game...

Just had my 1st online fight, I was Wonderboy against Nick Diaz. The standup was a war, great combos being thrown on both sides, he took me down and the scrambles were just class, feel like a proper fight for position on the ground, easy to use and very effective, 100 miles from the 1st game. Back to the feet and a spinning back kick rag dolled Nick with some vicious gnp elbows to finish off.

We're gonna have some epic fights on here when it's released.

Can't get Ultimate Team to work, server issues but made this handsome fella. Mr. Tapper Nap, Jiu-Jitsu expert from Donegal.

"Once you see the chicken, it's already too late"

Mr Blobby

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Lads.....the beta is a whole other ball game...

Just had my 1st online fight, I was Wonderboy against Nick Diaz. The standup was a war, great combos being thrown on both sides, he took me down and the scrambles were just class, feel like a proper fight for position on the ground, easy to use and very effective, 100 miles from the 1st game. Back to the feet and a spinning back kick rag dolled Nick with some vicious gnp elbows to finish off.

We're gonna have some epic fights on here when it's released.

Can't get Ultimate Team to work, server issues but made this handsome fella. Mr. Tapper Nap, Jiu-Jitsu expert from Donegal.

"Once you see the chicken, it's already too late

You heard it here lads!
Everyone to Zero's gaf for a 12hr session :v

Sounds class though.

martyos121

What are the walkouts like? Any licensed tracks in there, does Lawler have "Hold On I'm Coming" for example? I highly doubt any of them are true to life (only Anderson Silva had his song in the EA UFC 1) but I just thought I'd ask.

Zero-Cool

There's only 4 or 5 tracks in the beta and I haven't heard of any of them before. I haven't seen walkouts at all, either not in it or people are skipping. Music section greyed out in options.

Gunnar definitely missed the day they were scanning faces, looks like a caf. Also his standup is 89 and ground is 86 :eek:, hopefully these stats aren't final. Alves and Woodley are beasts. Haven't faced a Robbie or Rory once, everyone is keeping it mixed and and I haven't felt disadvantaged over stats yet (as it should be)

stephenl15

Not jealous of Zero at all :P

Axwell

So whats the general consensus from those who have been playing the beta?

Same look as the first one but lots of improvements elsewhere or is it just a few tweaks on the first one? Obviously limited access in terms of game modes and all but generally whats the first impressions?

Zero-Cool

I spent a lot of time on it over the weekend, got Ultimate Team working but it's finnicky so just made 1 character in LW. Only 4 divisions in UT (HW, MW, LW & WBW) Kinda sucks but I can see why they did it to concentrate players to have a bigger pool of matchups with UT Online. The single player UT is class as well though, it downlaods other peoples created fighters with their fight AI. Collecting card packs is quite addictive unlocking new moves, especially fighters signature moves.

Knocking people out handy enough until I got to fight for the belt. That and defending it have been 5 round wars but if I felt like I was losing a decision, I'd lock in a sub and tap them handy enough. Rear naked choke transitioned half way through to arm bar gets them every time!

The KO physics are just unreal. A few times now, I jumped up like I had just seen a vicious KO on TV, very life like. Some funny ones where the guy gets lifted of the ground with an uppercut, looks class. KO's with straight jabs are a nice welcome as well

The sub system is the same as last time, slightly less in your face compared to the last one. Some love sub moves and the transitions are a nice welcome. Jiu Jitsu focused guys will be hard to stop on the ground as the amount of moves they have over regular fighters is ridiculous (as should be).

Wrestlers have special takedowns like double leg to full mount. I unlocked it fot my UT character but was never able to pull it off. Quite hard even getting a regular takedown though, Lots more to do with time and 'Grapple Advangtage/Disadvantage' explained by a dev in a link I posted previously, must have another look as it shows when the best/worst time to try a move is.

The ground game is class, lots of scrambles back and forth and looks/is easy if you want to just try transitions like guard to half to mount but there are a serious number of advanced transitions and reversals (if you're guy has good jitsu/ground skills). Mount is dangerous but I never felt stuck there like the last game. This time it's harder to keep a guy down using the 'Transition Deny'. In the last game, you just held the stick in the direction your opponent was moving in. In this, you hold block and move the stick as well but you can't hold it. If you try it too early, the joypad starts vibrating mad and you get locked out of trying the denial. So the guy on the bottom can fake one way and quickly try another way. It's way more cat & mouse now which is class.

Striking is more of the same, some are a bit slow (ground and pound is very slow but devs already said they will be tweaking it). Body shots wreck your stamina and leg kick tko's are a real threat so there's way more incentive to mix up the strikes

Blocking is a lot harder as there a seperate buttons for high and low block. Makes it a lot better than just holding 1 block button but a lot harder defending combo's

I haven't used the clinch system much but it looks like a lot more variety this year as well. I've read reports of the clinch system being broken and able to spam attacks but I haven't seen it.

The damage system has been improved. Every 5 round fight i've been in, the both of us have been completely bust up, bruised ribs, purple legs, blood all over the mat, lovely stuff.

For modes, quick match online is standard affair, you can see who the other guy is picking, i just hope that carries over to ranked.

Ultimate Team is a great addition especially as your fighter gets tired between fights so you should change to one of your other fighters but I only made one and was able to fight 14 in a row using Fitness cards to regain stamina. Having both online and offline seperate UT modes is good as well. Offline can be used to test your moveset and the difficulty (whatever it's set at) is handy enough but you'll want to know exactly what you can do in what position going online. In both modes, you have to win 3 fights in a row to fight for the belt and then you defend it. If you lose a title defense, you go back to prospect and have to work your way back. The 4 divisions is a bit lacking but there are some cards that are weight specific and you can sell the card back to the server if you don't need/want it. No auction house (at least not in the beta anyway).

Tutorial is awful, like as if half the mvoes are missing and didn't learn much. Had to google to find out how to do other moves I knew were in the game which means the tutorial didn't do it's job. Defense is 'staying away from your opponent for 30 seconds. No lessons on parry or dodging, bit strange, hopefully it gets fleshed out in full game.

KO mode sounds like a laugh but I think it's only offline only.

Career Mode.....nothing is known about it but it will be my go to mode so hopefully they make big changes from the 1st game as that was boring AF.

CAF System is actually pretty good. A lot more body types and the hair physics are class in the game. The tattoo system is the best improvment. You can take a design, place it ANYWEHRE, rotate, flip, resize, etc. There isn't a huge amount of tattoo options so hopefully they add some more but Tyson face tattoos look class.

The beta is open til Thursday so it's all I'll be playing til then, going to concentrate more online and see how other people are fighting.

As is, it's MILES and MILES better than the first. Still not perfect but I don't think an MMA game ever will be. The devs said the improvements they have made since the beta build are already significant and they are on standby to implement fixes based on feedback as soon as the beta finishes as they have 6 weeks to tweak it. Sounds like they are putting a lot of work in to make it as good as can be.

Edit: Gas KO I found on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9GRhXIXuco

martyos121

Brilliant post Zero, now I'm twice as jealous and excited for the game to come out.

That KO is unreal, I'll be creating Ryu in UT to try and accurately replicate that! :pac:

Zero-Cool

martyos121 wrote: »

Brilliant post Zero, now I'm twice as jealous and excited for the game to come out.

That KO is unreal, I'll be creating Ryu in UT to try and accurately replicate that! :pac:

I'd gladly have ye around my gaf lads but bizarrely there's no local 2 player. I guess they want to force people to use the servers to test them out so understandable but I'm mad to play someone locally as the practice mode is fairly tame.

Another thing I hope it changes is the fighters stance in CAF. You pick a fighting style that contains your base stats but also gives you a certain stance. Karate is a brilliant stance but you might not want the stats. Would be good if stance was seperate. You can assign another fighters personality as well for entrance and celebration. Conor is the exact same, doing the making it rain motion.

I also wish the ref interacted more seperating the fighters during a TKO or sub but they are the usual, just standing back. Must be hard to program into the game.

Pac1Man

Zero-Cool wrote: »

I spent a lot of time on it over the weekend...

Great post.

Did you win/lose many fights by decision or was it a KO-fest?

Zero-Cool

Pac1Man wrote: »

Great post.

Did you win/lose many fights by decision or was it a KO-fest?

Online quick match always ended in KO's but the fellas I fought were swinging for the fences. Low stamina plus not blocking = quick KO.

UT Offline, all the fights ended in KO or Sub in 1st or 2nd round but when I got to Division 2 and won/defended the belt, it always went to 5 rounds. I got 3 decision wins, 2 of them were very dodgy and could have gone either way. After that, I would just sub them in the 5th round to avoid the decision. AI isn't great at defending subs.

Pudsy33

You can do local multilayer in practice mode AFAIK

Zero-Cool

Pudsy33 wrote: »

You can do local multilayer in practice mode AFAIK

Ah never even thought of that, must try it later. I just took what EA said about there not being any local multiplayer in the beta.

Mikeyt086

Managed to secure a code to this today, really looking forward to giving it a bash!

Zero-Cool

You're right Pudsey, Practice has 2 player local. In that case, i completely retract my previous invite :pac:

You on ps4 or xbox mikey?

Zero-Cool

Found a double KO. New physics in full effect

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-tWdGOR0ws

Pac1Man

Zero-Cool wrote: »

Found a double KO. New physics in full effect

[JoeRoganVoice] Wow! [/JoeRoganVoice]

Getting more hyped for this the more I see it in action. Commentary sounds fantastic too along with the 'oooh' sound coming from the crowd during the replay.

I know it won't be perfect but our imagination can fill in the blanks where needed! I got a lot of experience doing that while playing the old football games on PS1.

Mikeyt086

Zero-Cool wrote: »

You're right Pudsey, Practice has 2 player local. In that case, i completely retract my previous invite :pac:

You on ps4 or xbox mikey?

I'm on Xbox.

Initial impressions are good, I'm happier with the grappling system, and Ultimate Team does seem like a fun mode.

I'll be doing a more in depth review in the coming days.