Gaming Target - Xbox: UFC: Tapout

Written by Ryan Smotherman on December 05, 2001

First Impressions: Maybe the initials should be OFC, for Organized Fight Club.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, is an organization that really needs no introduction. Known for its no-holds barred, barbaric, one-on-one competition to be the greatest fighter in the world. Many people find it hard to watch just because of the sheer brutality that it conveys. Fans of UFC no doubt picked up the amazingly precise game, with the same moniker, on Sega's Dreamcast. Developed by Anchor (now working on WWF: Raw), UFC's first foray into the videogame world was nothing short of a huge success, and deservingly so. Never has a sport been so accurately converted over into the videogame world, at least not in its first attempt. It was the sort of game you either loved or hated. Matches could last anywhere between five seconds, and for skilled players, five minutes. With your goal basically being to either beat your opponent into submission with a barrage of kicks and punches, or make them УtapoutФ with a deadly submission move.

The game's first sequel is finally coming, and though Crave has assigned a different developer to it, it's shaping up to be more of what the fans want Ц the most intense, violent game around.

I can imagine that it could be quite difficult to make Tapout drastically different from the original, you can't really change the basic premise Ц set two of the greatest fighters in the world into an octagonal cage and let them go at it till one is victor. Dream Factory (The Bouncer, Ehrgeiz, and Tobal) is, however, doing their best to make the title worth a purchase even if you have played the original to death. While Tapout is UFC at its core, many tweaks will be implemented to make the game even better than the original, not to mention, even more accurate to the sport. Though Dream Factory is keeping mum on the details, as of this date they are scarce at best.

Even though they are keeping quite on the gameplay enhancements, they couldn't wait to let everyone know the superstars that will be making an appearance. This includes over 25 real-life fighters, consisting of such favorites as Tito Ortiz, Mark Coleman, and Frank Shamrock. Additionally, it's recently been announced that the game will feature exclusive characters that will not be seen in the PS2's soon to be released UFC: Throwdown. These fighters include Matt Hughes, Andre Roberts, Ron Waterman, and Tim Lajcik. Take that PS2!

Utilizing the power of the Xbox, the fighters will also be much more true to life. With much more convincing player models that will reflect each characters real-life counterpart to the tee. Everyone remembers the blood that would spew from the characters as they were beaten down, and not only will this return with Tapout, but another bodily fluid will present itself, sweat. Yes, the players will actually sweat. This has got to be a first.

Since the game only features two characters brawling at once, this has left a lot of the Xbox's power unused. So, instead of just wasting this, Dream Factory has created a crowd consisting of all 3-D models. Not only is this just amazing, but it should be quite impressive and will go along way into making the game even more realistic.

Dream Factory is also looking to make sure this won't be a game you just pick up and play a few times. Tapout is set to include many modes of play and features. While most of your time will probably be spent with the tried and true Versus mode, the single player experience should be quite enjoyable as well, with a much enhanced career mode, a training mode, and new to the game, an 8 or 16-player tournament. And don't you dare forget the now standard create-a-player feature, which will most certainly be superior to the somewhat lacking one found in the original.