Gaming Target - GameCube: UFC: Throwdown

Written by Kyle Williams on June 27, 2002

Final Glimpse: "Everybody was Kung-Fu fighting!"

OK, So Ultimate Fighting Championship isn't "Kung-Fu Fighting." In reality, the UFC is made up of some of the meanest and toughest hombres that come from every imaginable fighting discipline. This is the ultimate pinnacle of mixed martial arts tournaments. Sure, most states won't hold their events, but in just a few short weeks you will be able to go for the championship on your GameCube.

UFC: Throwdown isn't going to be your typical console fighting game. Since this title is based on the real-life fighters and events that make up the UFC, you can expect that the gameplay is going to be a lot more down to earth than either VF4 or Tekken 4. UFC: Throwdown is going to feature 28 UFC combatants, each one modeled (in both visual and fighting styles) after their real-world counterparts. You are going to be able to take any of these fighters, or one that you create yourself, into any of three different arenas, ranging from the training room to a sold out arena.

Throwdown is receiving a couple of major overhauls from previous UFC titles. The create-a-fighter mode is being greatly expanded including a wider variety of hair, face, wardrobe, and skin colors to choose from. Take your newly created fighter into the career mode and you will be able to train your fighter (as well as fight with him) as you tackle the road to the championship. To help make this a more group friendly title, the tournament mode is also receiving an upgrade. Standard tournaments will be available for either 8 or 16 players and the round robin tournament will be scalable between 6, 8, or 10 combatants.

Hopefully, the gameplay of previous UFC titles is maintained for Throwdown. Dreamcast iterations of this series really came out of nowhere to become some of the deepest, realistic, and addictive fighting games to ever surface. The grappling system that was generated in UFC: Tapout was simply astounding and helped force players to employ strategy over button pounding in their bouts. The groundwork has been laid for this to be a breakthrough GameCube title when it releases in July.