EA UFC 6 is available in early access and it drops globally on June 19. I won’t bury the lede here. The game is phenomenal.
I played nearly 3,000 hours of EA UFC 5. That’s a real number. I played the smoke out of the last version. So I’m far from a rookie and I’ve covered combat sports for nearly 20 years. I take this seriously. I love combat sports and video games, so this title is my jam on multiple fronts.
After spending four days giving it a spin, here’s the good, the decent, the bad and the bottom line. Let’s talk video games.
Key Facts At A Glance
The Good
Fighting
From a pure stand-up fighting standpoint, this is the premier combat sports experience. There has never been a better video game combat sports fighting experience.
The fighters feel so unique. It’s their movement, striking, measurements, everything. This was put together masterfully. It feels like EA UFC 5, but like something different too.
Flow State is great conceptually. I don’t love the visual overly cinematic visual, but it has real substance as a mechanic. The fact that there are so many Flow State boosts that connect to real fighter strengths makes it work.
I’m getting a little more used to the visuals, but I’ll never love them. Crushing KOs or systematic dismantling your opponent are equally rewarding. This game feels really good and is a blast to play.
Progression System
The Gym feels alive in a way that is more compelling than the game’s previous progression system. There is more that could be done with this concept, but this is moving in the right direction.
The Legacy
While it feels a little too short, this story is gritty and expansive in the same way Champion Mode was for Fight Night Champion. Chris Carter’s journey is compelling and it makes you feel connected the character, just like we were connected to Andre Bishop back in the day.
Visuals
The arenas and animations are stunning. The fighters look more like themselves from a disposition standpoint. It feels like you’re watching that fighter in the Octagon. While facial damage isn’t represented as vividly as it was in EA UFC 5, it’s not enough to detract from how beautifully violent the game is in the Octagon.
Live Service
I’m excited about the upcoming expansions coming to the game. I have my fingers crossed for an all-boxing mode. The gameplay, specifically the stand-up, is begging for it and it’ll instantly be the best boxing experience in current video games. The Fight Night Champion expansion would sell a gazillion more copies of the game. Fingers crossed.
The Decent
Career Mode
Mostly the same as EA UFC 5, but there are more decisions which opens up the experience. I’d like to see a bit more struggle during your rise or perhaps the ability to choose the type of career you want to start.
Are you a rising DWCS prospect, a major free-agent signing or a guy/girl who took the fight on short notice and got an unexpected shot to make an impression?
Hall of Legends
These environments are beautiful, but I can’t help but wonder about the resources that were dumped into this project. I wonder if the value to the user will match the work it took to add. We haven’t seen the next phase of this, but if future halls are still going to consist of 2-3 fights and video packages I can see a lot of users bypassing this.
Grappling
EA didn’t change much, then again, I’m not sure they needed to. That’s why I’m not flagging this as bad. It would be nice to see another wrinkle. As of now, winning on the ground comes down to mastering masking transitions, managing stamina and your fighter’s ground prowess. Feels like there should be another component.
READ MORE about EA UFC 6:
The Bad
Glitches
There are some wonky animations and glitches. However, it’s still very early and I feel confident that’ll be cleaned up soon.
Limited Real-World Connectivity
Obviously, we didn’t get Ultimate Team, which is fine, but I am feeling a little disconnected from real-life UFC events. Yes, the Fight Week predictions and challenges are still there, but there’s nothing in place for a user to, say, watch an event, see a great performance and to have some representation of that performance pushed to the game. I wish there was something more that ran parallel to real-life UFC events.
The Bottom Line
EA UFC 6 is even better than I expected. After logging nearly 3,000 hours on EA UFC 5, I expect to put in similar time on the new version. This is a masterful combat sports game with the only thing keeping it from perfection being polish that could come over time and something that connects more to current events in the real-life product.
SCORE: 9.25 out of 10
- Preview Code provided by EA Sports
- Reviewed: PS5 version
