You don’t need to be really into a sport to enjoy a video game based on it.
So it is with UFC 3. I don’t particularly like mixed martial arts — give me straight old boxing any day — but I have had a bit of fun with the latest game based on the sport’s signature competition.
All the top UFC fighters are there, including the great Conor McGregor and New Zealand’s own Mark Hunt, and like any EA Sports game, there are zillions of modes to try.
Ultimate Team makes an appearance, hoping to emulate the smash success of Fifa and Madden, but it doesn’t quite have the same accessibility.
A really in-depth career mode is the feature, and it will keep you going for hours with its mix of challenges, fights and levelling up.
In the ring — ooops, sorry, the octagon — the action is fluid and smooth and, in keeping with the whole UFC ethos, visceral. Punches and kicks can be hurled in all directions, and there is satisfaction to be gained from working on an opponent until victory is in sight.
Blood? Yes, of course. And scantily clad ring girls and all that rubbish.
The grappling side of combat is frustrating, and this isn’t the sort of game you imagine yourself playing in six months, but it’s certainly good for a bash.
UFC 3
For: PS4, Xbox One
From: EA Sports
Rating: (R16) ★★★+