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UFC: Undisputed 2009 single handedly resurrected the UFC brand. It has since gone on to sell over four million copies — no small feat for any game, much less one with as rocky a history as the UFC franchise has endured.

After starting strong with the release of "Ultimate Fighting Championship" on the Sega Dreamcast in 2000, the UFC games slowly slid into mediocrity. By the time "UFC: Sudden Impact" rolled around in 2004, the series was being written off by both fans and critics alike. So it was with no small amount of relief that when UFC 2009 hit shelves it not only restored fans faith in the series, but also produced one of the best games in the genre of mixed martial arts, period.

UFC: Undisputed 2010 is due out May 25th, but I got a sneak peak of it this weekend. I can tell you that all signs point to UFC 2010 as being the best UFC game yet.

Attention to detail

Featuring a roster of more than 100 UFC fighters and sporting a ton of refinements, UFC 2010 is shaping up rather nicely. For example: The system for placing sponsor logos and tattoos has been completely redone. To place sponsor logos and tats, you now just use the left analog stick to place whichever tat or logo wherever you want and use the right to stretch it into whatever size you would like. You can also layer the tattoos Forza-style to create your own custom tats. It is a welcome change from the clunky system used in last years model. That may not sound like much, but it's the attention paid to the small details like this that make UFC 2010 so much more than last year's iteration.

That same attention to detail has been lavished on the create a fighter mode When you create a custom fighter in UFC 2010, you are presented with a series of sliders spread across multiple screens that will be instantly familiar to anyone that has ever created a character in a Bioware RPG. You can adjust just about every aspect of your fighter. From their height and weight, to the size of their brow, and the length and color of their hair. You can choose from a list of first, last, and nick names that the announcers will call out, or create your own.

Outside of the cosmetic changes you can affect on your fighter, you can also choose their voice style, taunts, and MMA style. You can mix styles and take specific fighters abilities and assign them to your own warrior. You have a limited amount of points to spend on abilities so you can't abuse the system, instead you are forced to think about your own personal play style and how to best maximize your point spending. In any case, it's a safe bet that you will be encountering some absolutely crazy looking fighters with some unorthodox fighting styles online when the game ships in late May.

New graphics and physics engine

Being able to adjust the length of your characters hair may sound like something trivial in a game whose sole purpose is to pummel another man into submission, but sometimes it's the little things that make the biggest difference. To make those flowing locks work, the development team had to completely overhaul the game's graphics and physics engine. Those improvements not only make long purple hair possible, they also make possible southpaw stances, the ability to grapple for position while standing, flash knock-outs -- and flash submissions -- from any position, amongst a whole host of other subtle improvements. It all adds up to make the fighting a lot deeper and more fun.

From a visual standpoint the shaders have been improved and the game is looking sharper than ever. A lot of the animations have been refined or redone with a lot of motion capture work having been done to make the striking and submission moves more accurate, and more painful. The developers also mo-capped different glove touching animations that you can assign to your fighter. The facial animation has also been taking to a new level with the fighters registering how much pain they are in, and conversely how close they are to submitting. Once again, it's a lot of small improvements adding up to something major.

Speaking of striking, you can now sway to dodge punches and gas your opponent. The sway system works pretty well and will be a welcome addition for when you are tasked with fighting someone that really wants a stand up fight. But be warned, if you get rocked by a wild swing you can't count on your opponent being gassed in UFC 2010 because of the Adrenalin Rush system which now kicks in for those heat-of-the-moment knock outs. It might just be my favorite change because it means the end of those epic matches where you and your opponent end up swatting at each other like a couple of drunken senior citizens after an all nighter.

Another brand new addition is time — your fighter will age as you progress through your carrer. You can start as young as 18, and end as old as 46. And beware! If you don't train hard and stay in shape your stats will decline and your life will become much harder. Your skills can and will degrade over time with age, just like in real life. Lose a few too many matches and you can be kicked back into the minor leagues forcing you to battle your way back into the big show of the UFC. On the flip side, if you tear it up in your weight class you have the option of moving up to the next one for a more challenging experience.

New game modes

UFC 2010 also introduces three new gameplay modes into the mix: Tournament, Title Mode, Title Defense.

Tournament mode features the ability to choose between either simulation or an arcade style of tournament. Simulation style presents you with a more realistic version of a real UFC tournament with persistent damage and more cunning opponents, whereas arcade mode is a more traditional video game style tourny for you to smash your way through. You can also remove yourself entirely and just watch a good CPU vs. CPU match or tournament. Heck, you can simulate just about any upcoming UFC bout if you want. Or you can use your own custom fighter and watch him get his face caved in by Brock Lesner's giant ham hocks. The only real bummer about the tournament mode is that it is a strictly offline affair. It will be interesting to see how accurate the results of a simulated season with a real life UFC fighter are versus the actual outcome.

Title mode is pretty self explanatory. Fight your way through one of five weight classes in pursuit of the UFC title belt. Title defense is just that. Defend your title from those that would take it from you. All three of the new modes are worthy additions to Undisputed 2010, and while I didn't get to play any of them from beginning to end, they each seem to offer something new and are different enough from each other to warrant a play through.

All in all, I came away from my time with Undisputed 2010 with a warm fuzzy feeling that I had a chance to play what is shaping up to be one of the biggest games of the year, and a serious contender for best MMA game ever made. If you are a fan of the UFC, MMA, or fighting games in general, do yourself a favor and mark May 25th on your calender now. You won't regret it.