EA Sports UFC 3

 Xbox One
User Score
5.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 72 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 72
  2. Mixed: 18 out of 72
  3. Negative: 28 out of 72
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  1. Tkolive
    Jan 30, 2018
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Gameplay - has improved vastly Striking is much better, Stamina management much better, Damage system much better. Ground game remains the same with a few minor tweaks with quicker gates etc.. 8/10 for gameplay**

    Ultimate Team - No longer able to create a fighter and take online the way you would want without opening packs to find the correct match that suits your play style... microtransactions need i say more UT-4/10**

    Career Mode - Completley flawed and falsely advertised all the critic reviews baffle me giving this mode a good score.

    There is no presss conferences or weigh ins just a couple second cut scences, the rival system is completly flawed you are locked in with your rival every contract so say if you get a contender contract (Goals - 5 fights, break into top 15) you can lose your first four fights of that contract but will still end up fighting the 15th ranked guy on your last fight if you win this youll progress next contract top contender (5 fights - break into top 5) as stated above you can lose all four fights of that contract but youll still end up fighting the number 5 guy on the last fight if you win that last fight youll progress to champion contract, you get the jist! Makes no sense and makes 90% of career mode fights pointless yes youll lose longetivty if you lose but you shouldnt be fighting the 15th or 5th ranked guy after a 4 fight losing streak
    ...

    Its all far too scripted rivals are also locked in to the same weight divisions - Travis Browne for top 15 HW - Overeem Top 5 HW etc.. So there is no replay abilty unless you obviously start career with a different weight class but even still only 5 fights really matter in your career and thats the rival fights making the mode pretty much pointless there is no climbing up or down the rankings rather a very linear story with you must beat the "rival"/boss fights to progress to next stage..

    Champions in each division also stay the same throughout so you will have a 45 year old connor mcgregor to fight on your lightweight career or a 55 year old micheal bisping in middleweight (yet to be updated to Robert Whitaker)

    The mode was advertised as deep and immersive but lacks in all those departments...

    Yeah training varied gyms are nice but there all 30 second - 1 minute activities.

    Yeah in game social media is cool but tweeting the same thing over with no real meaning is pretty boring.

    Overall very disappointing Career Mode 2/10**

    Roster - Missing alot of key fighters - Mike Perry, Colby Covington, Josh Emmnett to name a few but still a good amount in game plus DLC will fix this Roster - 7/10**

    Overall - For a game that has been 6 years in the making with 2 year devolopment gaps unlike other sports titles they have still lacked to make one deep, immersive career mode for offline players, adding snoop dogg to knockout mode is fun but its a gimmic and how much of the budget was spent getting him in when basic fundamentals like grappling and a good career are broken? The false advertising of press conferences and weigh ins is a trick one that i hope many looking for a good sports fighting career mode dont fall for. There seems to be an awful lot of copy and paste of models from UFC 1 (6 years ago) same refs, same ring girls, presentation, tale of the tapes, fighter models.

    Unfortunatley a triple A Game with Triple A price but the gameplay is the only thing vastly improved suppose we will have to wait another two years, unless you like Ultimate Team and mico transactions.

    Overal 5/10***    … Expand
  2. SuperkenGaming
    Feb 6, 2018
    6
    UFC 3
    I appreciate its attempts, but its just not fun.
    UFC is a pretty bare bones game.. theres a microtransaction filled card based ultimate team mode, a fight mode both local and online, a career mode, and a create a fighter option. Career mode is one of the better career modes in a sports game, there are rivalries, and time management as youre putting your character through different    UFC 3
    I appreciate its attempts, but its just not fun.
    UFC is a pretty bare bones game.. theres a microtransaction filled card based ultimate team mode, a fight mode both local and online, a career mode, and a create a fighter option.
    Career mode is one of the better career modes in a sports game, there are rivalries, and time management as youre putting your character through different camps to learn different moves and earn perks throughout for fighting career on your path to be the greates of all time. Aka the goat as the kids would say.. There are cutscenes here and there but longshot from madden has changed the game in terms of campaign and career modes…
    so if there isn’t a real story, get this garbage out of here.
    Just kidding, its not garbage.. its fun building your character up, but still, this game is lacking substance and a proper campaign woudlve gave this game just that..
    Online here had a few hickups with lagging, but most of the time worked fine..
    But now lets dive deep into the actual mechanics.
    As a mixed martial artist myself I appreciated what the team was trying to achieve with its different systems for stand up and ground, but ultamtely found the balance here to be unrealistic.
    UFC 3 is a stamina based fighting game.. on paper that sounds great
    You have to know when to block, and know when to strike
    When your character is low on stamina they become vulnerable for a knockout, all of this is true for real fighting
    You lose stamina by missing shots or just straight up striking, no issue there.. this again forces balance.. it forces you to pick your shots… however this system is highly in favor of a defensive player like this is boxing or point karate.. which it isn’t.. this is cage fighting
    Power is going into strikes here, these arnt love taps
    It makes no sense for my character to get in dozens of unanswered strikes while my opponent just absorbs them all and im now at the disadvantage for using up all of my stamina…
    Being hit with a clean strike should effect opponents stamina as it does in an actual fight
    But it doesn’t, their stimana is only effected when theyre striking back
    I am happy with the detail put into the stand up game though, youre able to move your head with the right stick, switch stance at any moment, every character has their own move set to stop them feeling completely the same even though at the end of the day.. every character handles identically.. slight alterations in their move sets do give the fighters a bit of personality..
    This fighting system is not beginner friendly though..
    It takes a lot of memorizing combinations and commands for roundhouse, front kick, side kicks, jab, uppercut , if youre going to strike with lead, if youre going for body or head when you hold down a certain shoulder button.. it takes practice and then you have to learn to balance the stamina..
    What im not happy with though is the ground game…
    its just not fun, it’s a game of stopping transitions and positioning yourself to be able to attempt a submission which takes you to a mini game of blocking escape attempts and flicking the left stick before your opponent to get to the next step of the submission, but there is thankfully a setting to turn it into a button mashing game, or a stand up only knock out mode if youre against ground game completely… but there is also submission only if you want to play around with the confusing mini game that is the ground game here…
    UFC 3 has promise with its attention to detail…
    but its stamina system needs balance that favors offensive and defensive players equally and a nice story mode wouldn’t hurt either.    … Expand
  3. Joellemm
    Jan 12, 2020
    5
    I'm a huge UFC and literally have not missed a single fight in the last 3 years, and obviously i'm huge gamer. This game should be perfect for me. However, i'm not a fan of Conor McGregor or Hip Hop and both are sadly unavoidable in this artificial slog of a game.

    Admittedly, i reckon its difficult to recreate the grappling side of the sport with any real authenticity. The striking is    I'm a huge UFC and literally have not missed a single fight in the last 3 years, and obviously i'm huge gamer. This game should be perfect for me. However, i'm not a fan of Conor McGregor or Hip Hop and both are sadly unavoidable in this artificial slog of a game.

    Admittedly, i reckon its difficult to recreate the grappling side of the sport with any real authenticity. The striking is far more effective and fun, which begs the question (even from someone who enjoys watching MMA more than boxing), why is this not a Fight Night game? I feel that the training, and just navigating the menus, can be really tedious, and takes away from what is an otherwise solid experience found in the career mode. I also believe a lot of work is needed to capture the scale and anticipation that can be felt from actual UFC events.

    I really think both avid MMA fans and casual viewers of the sport (or just anyone who plays games), would much prefer a faster, potentially more arcade-style version of the sport. Its a game after all.    … Expand
  4. davidpole23
    Feb 25, 2019
    7
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
  5. Eren5_
    Nov 23, 2019
    6
    After a hard time thinking about the score, I think a 6 is great for this game. I would rate it higher but the physics just bother me, for instance, when I give a knee to the opponent, sometimes it fails and it unrealistically goes to its back.

    This game gave me a good feeling and brought me good hours. If they improve the physics in the future, I’m going to give it a solid 10
  6. BAS3L
    Aug 17, 2020
    6
    Improved customization and animations from previous title. No improvements to interface, primarily option menus (issue with all EA games) and grappling. I appreciate the effort..(?) but 4 fights into my career and I’m once again rage-quitting every grapple training session. It forces you to invest XP in grappling defense attributes, even though you may not want to build that way. I don’tImproved customization and animations from previous title. No improvements to interface, primarily option menus (issue with all EA games) and grappling. I appreciate the effort..(?) but 4 fights into my career and I’m once again rage-quitting every grapple training session. It forces you to invest XP in grappling defense attributes, even though you may not want to build that way. I don’t mind the “mini games”, but the initiations, transitions, and reversals are still bad. I like how they’re trying to show the depth of clinch and grapple skills in MMA, but you can’t have your cake and eat it too. It’s like they decided to add complex grapple/clinch mechanics, then do everything to 180 and dumb it all down. It just leads to a convoluted mess. The career mode is a bit more fleshed out. I like how they incorporated the social element of the sport. It feels like you have a bit more control over what specific attributes/moves you want your fighter to possess. I haven’t tried a second play through yet, but I also think they could’ve done worse with the beginning “story” elements and so on. I just hope you’re able to skip that “tutorial” process in future play throughs. You do get your moneys worth in cosmetics. Literally because you could just buy all of them. All that being said - these are criticisms I had of the previous titles as well. If you’re looking for a new MMA/fight sim to waste your time on, this will do it. Or if you’re just looking to replace UFC 3 with something a bit more fresh. But that’s the case with every EA Sports title. You’re essentially paying for what could be DLC updates. New cosmetics, roster updates, and micro transactions. They added a few new tattoos and music options, but kept the nightmare interface. No more Gameface? Also, I feel like there are maybe 3 “normal” hairstyles. The rest are just meme looks or about 7 different kinds of bald/balding.. for some reason (shoutout Cowboy). If you’re used to the disappointing lack of new content with EA Sports titles, or just follow MMA and want a UFC game, I would recommended you buy this game. If you’re a more casual fan - I would wait to find this game on sale. You can get the same fix from UFC… Expand
  7. FadedInMN
    Dec 16, 2020
    5
    Decent game, the improvements to the new game make this one feel even worse than it did at the time.

Awards & Rankings

71
#71 Best Xbox One Game of 2018
40
#40 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2018
35
#35 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 17
  3. Negative: 0 out of 17
  1. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    Apr 3, 2018
    50
    Takes all comers in a stand-up fight, but somewhat flounders on the ground.
  2. MondoXbox
    Feb 18, 2018
    90
    The best game in the series so far, with lots of modes and a revamped and captivating Career mode. EA made a great job both on the graphics side, with a great rendition of all the players, and the gameplay, improving all the systems and making it more accessible to newbies too.
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  3. Generación Xbox
    Feb 16, 2018
    82
    UFC 3 is presented with a visual section of realistic impact, a large number of game modes and all the spectacle that accompanies the competition. However, the low level of novelty compared to its predecessor, its high level of playability and a somewhat repetitive progression system can frustrate the desire to continue playing.
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