UFC 2009...wait this is a new game?

 I'm a huge UFC fan, so when I heard THQ was developing a title based on the sport, I was pretty excited. I enjoyed several of their WWE games, so I was confident they could make a competent MMA game. Having only the terrible PS2 UFC games to base expectations on, I wasn't very optimistic. Enter UFC 2009 Undisputed. THQ knocked it out of the park. Detailed, yet easily controllable combat mixed with a generous roster made the game very hard for me to put down. With the minimally iterative UFC Undisputed 2010, THQ just gives us more of the same.  
 

The solid gameplay is still there. The stand-up and ground game controls are by no means easy, but once they're learned, you really feel like you're scoring takedowns and sinking in submissions. The flash knockout also offer a great suspense factor that's absent in other sports fighting games like the FIght Night series or the TNA/WWE wrestling titles. Small changes, like the ability to select your venue and the referee, make for a more customizable experience. The new fighters are great the I spent hours making my own fighter look as ridiculous as possible. There are, however, two main flaws to UFC Undisputed 2010. The first is the career mode. There are people that want to get a group of friends together and play pass the controller in exhibition mode and there are people that want to customize ever detail of their fighter, train with specific camps, wear just the right sponsored gear and follow a strict workout regiment of sparring, cardio, etc. Then there are people like me who want to create a character and take him to the top, without all the tacked on career nonsense. I know games like Madden and FIFA let you automate many of the, shall we say boring parts of their career modes, so why hasn't UFC? After making a character, you spend fifteen minutes on a menu screen choosing light, medium or heavy workouts, sparring, managing a calendar and checking emails, only fight for five minutes then do it all over again. I really hope they streamline at least SOME of the career mode in 2011. The other major flaw this game has is its similarities to UFC 2009. It's essentially the same game with some very tiny improvements. I think with the surprise success of the first game THQ felt the need to rush out another one, but much like Left 4 Dead 2, many gamers are left wondering why? I never understood annual sports games. DLC character packs or new modes a la Super Street FIghter IV's tournament DLC would have been more than enough to hold fans over until 2011 when fans would want a new game. 
 
If you didn't pick up UFC 2009 I definitely recommend picking this up. If you're like me and dropped $60 on 2009, you may feel slightly cheated by how little has changed.