I've seen the actual videotapes of Ultimate Fighting Championship, and I must say... it was some of the most gruesome, violent fighting that I have ever seen. Translation... I loved it. So graphics wise, I was looking for muscle definition, good fighting animations, and of course... blood. All were delivered. Player models looked realistic with body types, facial features and ring attire. The octagon fit well as a background too. However, the ever-so-famous PlayStation crowd took place, meaning they looked like 2-Dimensional hell. Also, every once in a while, arms were going through the sides of bodies, which means that Crave didn't clean it up entirely. But all in all, the graphics were what you could expect from PlayStation One.

Sounds are almost just as important, with the music, hits and crowd noise. The music is great, as it totally fits the mood of UFC, including the Megadeth hit 'Crush Em.' Every punch and kick delivers a knockout sound, and when you break someone's bone in a submission hold, the cracking sounds very realistic. The crowd noise was my problem of the category. It seemed to be running on a track, so every once in a while throughout the round, the crowd would fade out, and then fade back in a few seconds later. Really, the rounds aren't that long... they should have recorded enough noise to make it through.

Jump into the Octagon of Ultimate Fighting Championship and face up against 22 of the UFC's top fighters. Each man has his own specific talent that coincides with his fighting style. Some fighters are small in stature, but are quick and know some explosive submission moves. Others are big and bulky, containing some knockout strength. With all of these fighters, your objective is simple: kick the crap out of the other guy. It's your basic arcade fighting simulation... with three different ways to win. First, win with a KO, by emptying your opponent's Life Bar. If that takes too long for your liking, then win by Submission by making your opponent tap out. If you can't win with either of these ways by the end of the match, then the judges will decide a winner based on points awarded during the match. That, however, will only be the case during an Exhibition match, not the Tournaments. Chances are they will call a Draw, and you must replay the fight.

Speaking of those game modes, there aren't many different ones to play with, but there are plenty of fighters for them. First, you probably want to train at Big John McCarthy's Training ring, where you can work on your skills until you feel you're ready to take on the Warriors of the Octagon. Your next mission is the UFC Tournament, where you face up against several different fighters to win the UFC Belt. If it sounds like the end of the game, it's not. You then need to defend your title in Road to the Championship. This mode can only be played with fighters that you have won the UFC Belt with, so make sure to save your wins. Plus, every time you win the Road to the Championship with a different fighter, secret fighters will be unlocked.

If you grow weary of the 22 allotted fighters, then you can create two more men, where you can change his appearance and fighting style like boxing, several different martial arts, or submission specialist. To increase your created fighter's variables of Speed, Power, etc., simply win the Road to the Championship with the real fighters to earn points that will enhance those variables.

The other two modes are basically for you and your friends: Exhibition and Multiplayer Tournament. Exhibition allows you to face a friend or the computer in a single bout, with no title on the line. The Multiplayer Tournament consists of eight fighters, where you can fight match after match with your friends to determine who really is the Ultimate Fighting Champion!

The difficulty for UFC depends on who you fight, and for how long. The only degree of difficulty that you are allowed to change is when you are in Big John McCarthy's Training mode, where you change his AI to your preference. Otherwise, when you go through the Tournaments, the difficulty increases the higher you fight in the tournaments.

Since Ultimate Fighting Championship is an arcade style fighting simulation... game mechanics are crucial. Button combinations and controller responsiveness are incredibly important, because otherwise, your man could be left for dead just standing there not being able to defend himself. Well, don't be afraid because the response time for each punch and kick is very quick. The controller combinations were simple to figure out and use and my hands were never stretching to hit three or four buttons at once. Following that theme, the loading time itself didn't take long at all. Finally, the memory card won't be bogged down with too much information (only two memory blocks), so don't worry about using up the entire thing with all those fighters you have won the belt with.

PS2: When I changed the settings of Disc Speed to fast and Texture Mapping to smooth, I saw no difference. The loading time didn't speed up noticeably, and I saw no real difference in player models and such. So don't bother changing the settings on your PS2, because you'll get the same results.

Ultimate Fighting Championship is a formidable counterpart to the real-life mixture of martial arts and boxing. If you've seen the tapes or heard of the hand-to-hand combat sport, you should find yourself stuck in the Octagon with UFC.