From the Frostbite™ engine to Cinematic K.O. Replay, presentation in EA SPORTS™ UFC® 5 is as real as it gets. Many teams, from audio to camera to rendering, worked together to bring every fight to life in breathtaking detail. Get more info on all the new systems, technology, and more that are coming to UFC 5.

FROSTBITE ENGINE

For the first time in franchise history, the Frostbite™ engine powers EA SPORTS UFC, bringing unrivaled graphics upgrades for console games. Fighters look absolutely stunning, and you’ll notice things like the strand-based hair system and new lighting/rendering systems immediately. Once you see the Real Impact System do its thing, damage will look more realistic on both fighters, reflecting everything that’s happened in the fight so far. 

Frostbite brings a new particle system to UFC 5 called the emitter graph, a GPU VFX system that renders individual particles of blood and sweat. Particles look and feel realistic and relevant to every individual fight; you can see blood droplets hit the mat and build up over time. The mat tells a story about every fight; it starts clean, but the patterns and quantity of blood on it by the end speaks volumes on the outcome.

Audio was another key feature that the team focused on, bringing realistic and dynamic crunching effects that go hand-in-hand with not only the new gameplay features but also the visual effects unlocked by Frostbite.

ADVANCED FIGHTER LIKENESS

Fighters are the center of the game, and we’ve made some amazing improvements to fighter likenesses compared to UFC 4. A new strand-based hair system has been added, making its movement and lighting look incredibly realistic. Skin gets revamped with the dual lobe shader, which affects how sweat and blood bead and roll across a fighter’s skin. Brand-new tech called Shapeshifter helped the team model fighters to look as close as possible to their real-life counterparts.

NEW IN-GAME CINEMATICS

Fighter walkouts are more dramatic and realistic than ever, thanks to three key features. First is the new facial animation system that allows us to have more detail and subtle human animation for the duration of every walkout. Next up are the Frostbite cameras, which create an entirely new cinematic experience every step of the way. The final key new feature to walkouts is a bit subtle, but still crucial to bringing these important moments to life: dynamic lighting. Light changes and moves, dancing across a fighter’s skin thanks to the previously discussed advancements. 

CINEMATIC K.O. REPLAY

Showcasing UFC 5’s significant presentation updates in truly innovative fashion is the all-new Cinematic K.O. Replay. The team found the perfect blend of cinematic cameras and Frostbite cameras to dynamically compose replays depending on the action. In UFC 5, we actually have knowledge of the action in the replay, so we know whether it’s a right fist or a left fist, whether it’s a right kick or a left kick, etc. With this information, the system can place the cameras in the most compelling and dramatic positions for each replay. 

A massive amount of work went into slow motion replays too, so that every single strike animation is smoother from beginning to end. The simulation of hair and clothing, as well as ragdoll physics had massive attention to detail so that they slot perfectly into every slow motion replay. Over-the-top audio was also added to really dial up the drama in each replay. The blood and sweat particles that played a key role in the overall advances made by Frostbite also factor into slow motion replays in a big way. Custom particles were even added to help take every epic, next-gen knockout moment to the next level. 

AUTHENTIC FINISHES

From newly added draws in offline and online play to realistic updates to how the ref steps in to save a downed fighter from too much ground-and-pound; the number of ways a fight can end has grown in number and authenticity in UFC 5.

One of the ways that fights can end differently in UFC 5 compared to UFC 4 are Doctor Stoppages, which we talked about in our Gameplay Deep Dive. This ties into the damage system really well; there are eight regions on the body where cuts, swelling, and bruising can occur, each with five levels of progression. This provides about 64,000 possible damage combinations. When the damage level on a fighter gets to a certain point, the doctor will come and stop the fight to check the fighter out. Thanks to Frostbite and our other presentation upgrades, there are specific dynamic camera capabilities for these doctor stoppage moments. There are six areas that the camera can focus on to get shots of cuts, blood oozing, swelling, etc. The doctor will then decide if a fighter has taken too much damage and needs to end the fight.

Pre-order* EA SPORTS™ UFC® 5 Deluxe Edition and receive:   

• 3-days early access
• Mike Tyson
• Fedor Emelianenko 
• Muhammad Ali 
• Bruce Lee Bundle (3 Alter Egos)  
• 4 Alter Egos 
• Origins Bundle (2 Alter Egos and 22 Vanity Items) 
• 30th Anniversary Vanity Bundle (4 Vanity Items)
• Online Career Mode XP Boosts (x5)

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