After the disappointment that was WWF: Royal Rumble, the Dreamcast is still in desperate need of a top quality wrestling title. I think that the closest we're going to get is this.

Crave have never published a fully fledged beat 'em up and this is Anchor's first game, so you'll forgive me for being a little apprehensive, I'm sure. The fact of the matter is that UFC is a no-holds-barred, any style fighting tournament involving fighters from all over the world. Sumo, Wrestling, Kickboxing and Karate are all represented and it makes a refreshing change from the excellent but sometimes dull WWF/WCW style fighting. Graphics
I have to say, that the graphics in UFC are quite simply some of the best I've ever seen. The real-life warriors look EXACTLY the same on DC as they do in the octagon on TV. Their muscles are suitably ripped and they have the same facial expressions to boot. The animation is just SO good, that it has to be seen to be believed.

If you do purchase UFC, go into UFC mode, choose a fighter and press start. Sit back and watch the intros. The crowd near the entrance seem to be individually rendered, as are the cameraman and his camera. Excellent all round.

Sound
Almost on a par with the graphics, the sound in UFC is amazing. The crowds sound real, the referee (Big John McCarthy) has his real-life voice and everything just smacks of professionalism.

Gameplay
It's funny, but although you can only do a few moves to start with, learning the more tricky moves proves to be compelling stuff. You'll be lucky to last more than 3 minutes in your first few fights, but once you start to get the hang of the Soul Calibur/Tekken style controls, dropkicks, clotheslines, armbreakers and a plethora off other attacks will come easily to you.

Career mode is interesting. Create your fighter and train him up from a useless wreck to become a combatant in the Ultimate Fighting Championship Tou
rnament. In order to do this, you must beat 32 different opponents (some more than once) to gain skill points, which you can use on your fighters different abilities, or even "buy" new moves for him. It's an amazing feeling when he steps out in the tournament for the first time, cameras clicking and crowd cheering.

The bouts area little short, but as with everything else in UFC, it's true to life. How many roundhouses to the head could you take before you are knocked out? Not many, I'll bet.

Overall
To be honest, I enjoyed this more than the hyped-up Dead or Alive 2 and the mediocre Royal Rumble. It may not appeal to all, but I think that wrestling and beat 'em up fans should at least give this a try. Superb and well worth £40 of anyone's money.