THQ locked down the UFC for their video game rights, but that didn’t deter EA from finally jumping aboard the fastest-growing bandwagon in America. With EA Sports MMA, the developer responsible for creating games about virtually every other sport on the planet has finally fired the first warning shot across THQ’s bow. With impressive graphics, innovative online features, and a solid combat engine, EA Sports MMA aggressively asserts itself upon UFC Undisputed’s coattails. It’s not perfect though, and a myriad of small issues prevent EA Sports MMA from being the best mixed-martial arts title this year.

EA Sports MMA’s career mode gets you off on the right foot by taking you through the basics of the game’s controls. Though you can use the alternate control scheme that mirrors UFC Undisputed, I wanted to give EA a fair chance to show me what they could do differently. Following in the vein of the latest Fight Night games, MMA puts your punching and kicking on the analog sticks, with modifiers on the shoulder buttons. The action in the ring while you’re on your feet feels instantly more immersive than anything that’s come before in an MMA game, and you truly feel in control of your fighter’s actions. Hit detection is smooth, as are the animations inside the ring, however the ground game severely lacks the polish and intuitiveness of the striking. Takedowns are handled with a mere press of the button, as are transitions on the ground. You can also stop a takedown, or when your controller vibrates, prevent a transition with a simple button press. Both of these elements take a bit away from the immersiveness of the game. There’s no real skill involved, and with the proper timing, a match can quickly devolve into a stalemate because of how easy this part of the game is. Why transitions couldn’t also be mapped out the way punches and kicks were (like they are in UFC Undisputed) is beyond me, but the game feels incredibly boring and uninteresting once you get your opponent down on the mat.

The one point that I still feel that no developer has really gotten right yet is submissions. EA shies away from the “Shine,” utilizing two different types of controls for the different types of submissions. All joint-based subs like kimuras and leg locks use a button-pressing mini-game where you have to carefully time the use of your button presses in conjunction with your opponent to prevent being tapped. The camera zooms in on the particular joint being manipulated, and the tighter the sub is, the redder that part of your body becomes. It’s up to you stave off your opponent without burning your stamina. Mashing will only lead to you being burnt out, and thus tapping out. Chokeholds are a different animal entirely, and ask you to rotate the left analog stick in order to find a constantly moving sweet spot. The faster you’re able to find the spot, the faster you can sink in/escape the submission. I absolutely hate this method, though it does uniquely present the battle for control of an opponent’s neck. I’m not the biggest fan of the “Shine” either, but both EA and THQ seem to struggle with trying to figure out how to best recreate attempting a submission in a video game. I’m not sure what the answer is, but I’m very unimpressed with what both publishers have done to this point. I never feel like I’ve actually done something when successfully getting or escaping a sub, and I don’t often have time to wonder how I just managed to pull it off since the fight will either be over, or back in the stand-up.

When playing through your career, there are some fascinating and odd decisions made as to how you progress. After training with Bas Rutten for a bit, you’re presented with the opportunity to sign with one of two fight leagues. The rules are different in each, and it’s up to you to decide whether or not you’d like to fight in a Japanese rules league (ground kicks allowed on a downed opponent), or a league with more traditional American-style rules. There are variations in the round length and style (three five minute rounds, one ten minute round/one five minute round, etc.) in each of the leagues, giving you a handful of diverse options, rather than being restricted to one rule set. It’s interesting trying to adapt your play style to the Japanese (read: Pride/DREAM) rules since those fights largely take place inside a boxing ring. Only once did I actually have a fight end with me getting my face smashed in by someone’s foot rather than their fist, but at least the option is there. If you perform well enough in a given league, you’ll be offered a chance to fight in a better one, with the ultimate goal making it in either Strikeforce or Mystic. To get that far though, you’ve got to train pretty hard.

Building up your created fighter’s attributes is simple and easy, and is actually much more accessible than the way it is done in Undisputed. That’s not to say it’s engaging though. Training any of your skill sets (stand-up, ground, clinch, submission, health) merely requires that you open up a practice session, do what the computer tells you to do, and try to succeed before time runs out. If you manage to complete your workout, you’ll earn an “A” rating.  With that “A” rating, you’ll never have to actually do the workout again. Instead, you can simulate your practice, and earn the same experience. That holds true no matter what rating you earn, but obviously you won’t want to simulate a workout you got a “D” on. There’s no stat degradation, so your character will only ever get better, and will never become worse at something. You’ll also have the option to travel to a small group of gyms headed by Randy Couture or Renzo Gracie to learn new techniques or unlock better workouts. A fighter can learn up to sixteen special moves like a spinning back-kick or Superman punch during their career, but no more. It only sort of makes sense for that to happen because the same created fighter you use in the single-player mode can be used online, but it’s an odd number to use, particularly when there are so many more moves to use than the game has built in.

EA has made a pretty big deal about their computer fighters approaching a fight like their real life counterpart. That’s not to say that Fedor is going to fight exactly like the real deal, but stylistically, a fighter will attack you within their discipline. Wrestlers will spam takedowns almost incessantly, whereas boxers/kick boxers will come out swinging for the fences. There are only a few types of fighter built into the game’s intelligence, which allows the developers to focus on a few solid styles, and makes for some very strong computer opponents. Unfortunately, it works almost too well. The AI sticks to its gameplan too much, leaving them exposed to opposite styles. If you can manage to keep a wrestler on his feet, you’ll be able to slug him out rather quickly, and the opposite is true for boxers. Take them down to the ground, and they’re fairly helpless against your advances. Obviously, this isn’t true of every fighter in the game, and the marquee names like Nate Diaz and Ken Shamrock are much more well-rounded. The computer is still highly susceptible to uppercuts no matter who they are though, and if you can manage to catch them with a flurry, the fight will be over rather quickly. That said, I had more fights in EA Sports MMA go to a decision after just twenty-five fights than I ever had in two years of UFC Undisputed. It’s great that fights flow much more realistically, but you never get to see the judges’ scorecards after the fight, which drives me crazy. In a split decision, or the majority loss I earned, I would have loved to see what the judges thought of my performance. I never did, and I’ll never know just how close to winning.

Beyond the career, the only other offline option is exhibition, so it’s a good thing the online portion of the game is so well put together. Not only will you be able to battle it out in regular ranked matches online, but you can also create fight cards to play through with some friends. EA Sports MMA also has the best online feature in a sports title that I’ve ever seen, Live Broadcast. Once or twice a week, EA invites six or eight players to fight in a pay-per-view style fight card that is broadcast live in the game. You can watch complete with commentary from MMA devs, with little to no interruption. Of course, the first one I watched had its last two fights cancelled due to connectivity issues, but the rest of the card went off without a virtual hitch. Players can campaign to be invited onto a card by creating a hype video that can be seen online, and if you talk a big enough game, you could be on the next card. It’s very impressive, and I’m astounded more sports titles don’t have something like this as an option. How interesting would a weekly Monday Night Football game be in Madden NFL? Or perhaps you’d rather play in the NHL Game of the Week?  It’s a very interesting way to present the game online, and ensure that people are still playing well into the game’s lifespan, and I’m curious to see how it’s holding up early next year.

The action on the screen is brought to life wonderfully with great attention to detail. Fighters are rendered so well that it’s often tough to tell you’re playing a video game. Jeff Monson wishes he looked as good in real life as he does in EA Sports MMA. Like any recent EA Sports title, the sweat can get a little out of hand at times, but the facial damaging and hit detection is impeccable. Fighters move with great fluidity, but there are a few instances where things look a little weird. Neither this game, nor UFC Undisputed, has gotten the ground game right. Players still look awkward when trying to prevent a transition, and there’s no real sense of fluidity on the ground. The animations look smooth when they happen, but stalls and stops make all the action look so weird that it’s jarring. As much as I appreciate the game’s hit detection being so strong, at times it can be too accurate. There’s nothing like two men trying for the same kick to the head, then having their legs collide in mid-air, resulting in an odd-looking dance. If two guys kicked each other in the legs like that, they’d both fall off balance. For the most part though, the visual presentation is outstanding, and sets a new bar for games in this genre. Depending on how you feel about Strikeforce announcers Frank Shamrock and Mauro Ranallo, you may like the game’s commentary. I don’t really care for either of them in real life, but they’re not anywhere near as annoying as Gus Johnson, so I guess that’s a win?

I was skeptical about EA Sports MMA being able to hold its own against UFC Undisputed. After playing the game, I’m pleasantly surprised that EA Sports MMA is not only a fun and interesting game, but it’s also a great first effort by the developer. I look forward to what EA’s able to do with the franchise in the coming years, but it’s definitely going to be an uphill battle since they lack the UFC license. If EA’s able to improve on some of the small issues, and keeps the combat as intuitive and refreshing as it is in this version, not having the UFC may not matter at all. This game is definitely a contender worth taking a shot on, and I hope EA doesn’t give up on what could be a new marquee franchise.

Tags

EA Sports MMA PlayStation 3

UFC Undisputed 2010 Xbox 360

Xbox 360