The majority of Sudden Impact’s modes can be won by simply tackling an opponent to the floor and proceeding to pummel them until you win by KO. While some may condone this as cheap, it is rather ridiculous to deny oneself a proven, and more importantly, legal path to guaranteed victory. To be fair, Legend mode, a more difficult version of Championship mode, is not prone to this strategy and requires a substantial understanding of the game’s combat rules and move sets to complete. Unfortunately, most players will have tired of the game long before Legend mode is the only remaining alternative. For those that have mastered prior UFC titles, Legend mode may be the only challenge you find outside of a skilled human opponent.

Meant to be the meat of the single-player game, Story mode ends up as nothing more than an extended training session. Beginning the mode, players must first customize their fighter’s appearance, including trunks, tattoos, weight, and height. From there, the story picks up as they are recruited by a trainer and undergo three years of training. The disciplines in which a fighter trains and the challenges they complete determines not only their move set, but also their overall attributes. Sadly, most of the challenges repeat from year to year and are generally quite redundant. For example, one challenge may have you punch an opponent once, while the next will require you to punch an opponent twice. Upon choosing a different discipline the following year, the player gets to do this all over again. While Story mode is a solid way for new players to pick up the basics, those expecting the challenge and variety of Soul Calibur II’s Weapon Master Mode will be sorely disappointed.

This is not to imply that UFC: Sudden Impact lacks replay value. Rather, there is quite a long list of unlockables, including 16 hidden characters, additional moves for each fighter, plus multiple tattoo and trunk designs for created characters. The requirements for each unlockable are simple - just complete each task with every character possible. Even with Legend mode to force players into learning the game, the other 75% of the title is susceptible to the afore-mentioned tackle strategy, and thus unlocking everything is an exercise in monotony.

With that said, to whom does Sudden Impact appeal? Fans of UFC who are interested in, but have never played the games may get a kick out of pummeling foes as their favorite fighter. Those who mastered previous UFC titles may be interested in the new characters and Legend mode, though the basic gameplay remains unchanged from past UFC offerings. Unfortunately, that’s about it. While the budget price makes UFC: Sudden Impact easier to afford, in the end, it’s still a bitter pill to swallow.