Graphically, Tapout 2 has an interesting look to it. The fighters, ring, and surrounding items are rendered on the fly, but the crowd actually appears to consist of prerendered video clips. This makes the crowd look more active and realistic than most game audiences, but it's also a somewhat weird-looking contrast to the action in the ring. The game's fighter models look nice, but the animation isn't so hot. Much of it appears to have been taken from the previous games in the series, and the nicer-looking models make the sketchy animation stand out more than it has in previous incarnations.
The game's sound is particularly underwhelming. Instead of using big, loud, oversized smacks and thumps for strikes, TDK opted for an extremely subdued set of sound effects. While one might argue that this was done for realism's sake, the effects that are in place don't sound any more realistic--they're just less prominent. The game's music is also pretty poor, especially the menu music, which sounds like a bad MIDI rendition of the UFC music.
Overall, UFC: Tapout 2 has some strengths, but they're the same strengths that the previous Tapout game had. The game doesn't really bring anything new to the genre, and the game's AI flaws make it a very dull single-player experience. Even devout fans of the sport would be better off with the previous Tapout game, or, if they own a PlayStation 2, THQ's Pride FC.
User reviews
Write your own review Be the first one to review UFC: Tapout 2 (Xbox) and share your experience with the CNET community!
%20Xbox%20Game%20reviews%20-%20CNET%20Reviews&srcUrl=http://abcnews.com.com/xbox-games/ufc-tapout-2-xbox/4505-9582_7-30985526-2.html){kind=small}