No more floating hands. When you take someone down in EA UFC, you actually grab them, and the collision between two human bodies is obvious. The transitions and the way the bodies react to the impact is truly, truly next gen. If anyone follows me on Twitter, you know I've been begging for next gen gameplay, and not just graphics -- this is next gen gameplay. This is two bodies reacting to each other, not just two characters on screen with the same simple set of actions and reactions ready to trigger the next canned animation.
The footwork: No more ice skating! It was the big complaint of EA MMA, and UFC 3 did a good job of trying to fix it, but with the Ignite engine, every step is planted firmly on the mat. Weight is thrown behind the punches, and the fight is more realistic because of it. As Duke, the EA UFC PR dude told us, imagine throwing teep kicks and distance creating strikes that are actually there simply to keep another fighter at bay. I can't begin to tell you how impressive the footwork alone is.
The cage is fully animated and bends and reacts to every situation.
The blood and facial damage... My GOD the blood and facial damage. They showed a set of five or so fighters post-fight and beat up as hell next to each other, and I'm being 100% honest when I say this: The only reason I could tell a certain fighter picture was not real because I know this certain fighter has never been beat up to the degree he was shown here. So in other words, the damage is simply unbelievably amazing. Picture perfect. You can almost push in the blood and fluid gathering underneath a fighter's eye, it looked so real. Brian explained that the damage is now 3D in nature, and is no longer treated like a hitbox, where a little cut opens, and then opens more, and you see the same blood or damage over and over. This is some serious stuff. Small bumps, hematomas, swelling of the face, black eyes and cuts are all picture perfect and look so, so real. Even at this pre alpha stage. Imagine the best possible damage effects in a fighting game ever. That's what you have here. And the coolest thing, as Brian said, it's all random, like a real fight. If you get taken down in the first 20 seconds and take a sharp elbow to the head, 1 strike can be the difference between you and a pool of blood.
The AI is much smarter apparently, with it reacting in real time to the challenges you present it. No longer will a wrestler simply spam takedowns. It's a dogfight now. And your opponent thinks.
OK, the real time body deformation. We were shown a picture of a fighter in a body triangle as someone worked in a rear naked choke on their back. Then we were shown this in EA MMA and it's 'floaty-ness' was obvious. Then we saw it in EA UFC. Alright, so the stomach of the dude who is getting body triangled, is getting pushed in. His neck veins are bulging and he's straining to get free. All of this is happening in real time, and their bodies are reacting accordingly. This is extremely hard to explain as far as how impressive it was, but trust me; it's really impressive.
Submissions are HUD free right now, and it's gotten way more realistic. It seemed to me that EA MMA and UFC 3 would probably be the high watermark for submission systems, then EA UFC goes and blows those out of the water with something so intricate and simple, it was a true derp moment. As Brian explained, one doesn't simply press a button and attempt a submission, it's worked for. You inch your way into the submission. So take that real time deformation that I wrote about above into account here: as you are sinking in a rear naked choke for example, your opponent's face is going to turn red, as he stuggles to breath. He's going to eventually turn purple as he gasps for air, and I cannot stress this enough: It looks incredible.