EA Sports UFC 5

EA Sports UFC 5 is a mixed martial arts combat simulation that, on Xbox Series X/S, moved to the Frostbite engine for more lifelike fighter models and more detailed animations of strikes, kicks, throws, and ground grappling. The game introduced a new real-time face and body damage system called Real Impact, which visibly manifests on the fighters' models during a bout through swelling, redness, and cuts that gradually worsen based on the strikes taken, and it expanded the mechanics of transitions between stances, the clinch, takedowns, and ground positions to better match the real dynamics of MMA fights. The career mode follows your own fighter from amateur bouts through smaller organizations all the way to the UFC championship belt, including negotiating contracts, building rivalries, and camp preparation ahead of every fight.

The extensive roster includes licensed current and former UFC champions across men's and women's weight classes, from flyweight to heavyweight, and on the new generation of consoles what stands out most is the smoothness of transitions between the different phases of a fight and the detailed rendering of the arena, the cage, and the reactive crowd around it, which roars in response to every well-landed strike. The sound atmosphere, with loud crowd cheers, corner coaching one-liners, and the referee's familiar calls, does a good job of evoking the tension of major pay-per-view events.

The EA Sports UFC series remains the only official video game license of the UFC organization, so the fifth entry also serves as the current standard for mixed martial arts fans on consoles. The depth of its combat system makes it a more demanding title, but one that rewards players willing to invest time in practice with a convincing feel for the cage and a believable sense of impact on every hit, whether it's a flurry of ground-and-pound punches or a precisely aimed head kick while standing.

Why play it: Players willing to invest time in practice will find in EA Sports UFC 5, the only official UFC video game license, a convincing feel for the cage on current-generation consoles.