Overall rating: 7.5 out of 10.
Electronic Arts are the Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory of the blister-causing, sleeping-pattern-disturbing popular video games series Fight Night; a series so well developed that no other boxing game has had a look in since 2004. Now, in 2010, Electronic Arts have been wise enough to recognise that boxing is slowly having its position usurped by the exotic world of Mixed Martial Arts, and they've produced a game to rival the reigning champion Yuke's and THQ's UFC 2010. Before tearing EA Sports MMA to little shreds and analysing each detail, a little background on the UFC vs. any-other-sporting-organisation-who-tries-to-use-any-of-our-contracted-fighters-and/or-logos-and-we're-not-playing-anymore-screw-you-guys-I'm-going-home.
Dana White, president of the UFC and part-owner of it's parent company Zuffa, is without question the most intelligent, ruthless and business-smart person to ever have his likeness in a video game when there was really no need for it. Anyone who has watched Dana on the UFC reality show 'The Ultimate Fighter' or in interviews, can see very clearly that he's a brash and somewhat unlikeable person. This became very evident in the lead up to EA's release of the game when Dana declared war (he actually said 'war' I swear to god) against EA after they refused to develop the UFC franchise over some mishap. White even went so far as to threaten his current roster with expulsion from the UFC if they agreed to appear in the EA release. Of course, this has nothing to do with the game itself, but comparisons will inevitably be drawn between the two as they fight for the top spot... or the title, as it may be.
I got home from the supermarket, ripped the cellophane off the luminous green box bearing the battered mugs of Fedor and Randy and fired it into my X-Box. As always with a new game, I sat through the intro-animation, an impressive show of punches, kicks and submissions, then I carefully clicked through the menu options and decided on MMA 101: the best place to start, I assumed. I was wrong.
MMA 101 is like being blindfolded, spun in circles, thrown into a boxing ring... then having Bob Sapp punch you square between the eyes. You're automatically put into a fight, without the option of choosing your fighter or opponent, and instead of being given instructions on how to play the game, you are given a summary of what button you have just pressed and what it does. All the while you are being punched and driven into the canvas whilst frantically flicking through the instruction manual. The feature doesn't contribute to the game in any way and it gives a dreadful first impression of the game as a whole... it won't be missed from next year's instalment but a proper tutorial would be a welcome addition.
So as we stumble out of MMA 101, wondering what the hell just happened to us, we decide to cheat a little... we'll have an exhibition fight against an easy opponent just to experiment with the controls. The exhibition menu is simple enough, as we have come to expect from the UFC series: choose your weight class, your fighter, your opponent... FIGHT! But this is where EA have been so god-damn clever. They have opened up a whole world of mixed martial arts to us with 6 separate organisations, including the popular Strikeforce, each with it's own set of rules, round durations and the option to choose between a hexagonal cage, a circular cage, or the traditional square ring. It's a small change, and purely aesthetic as the ropes behave the same as the cage, but this makes a world of difference to the hardcore MMA fans... and believe me, they'll let you know if you've got it wrong.
So you've picked your division, your organisation, your arena and your cage/ring... now you get to choose who you want to use to beat seven shades out of your opponent. As soon as this game was announced the online message boards were crammed full of the aforementioned MMA "geeks" asking and/or demanding that so-and-so "BETTER!!" be in the game. The game-roster may possibly be the most determining factor of whether or not people buy your game, and EA were not oblivious to this. They exploited the UFC franchise's two biggest (literally) flaws... no Fedor "The Last Emperor" Emelianenko and no Randy "The Natural" Couture. The until-recently-undefeated Russian has never stepped foot inside the UFC's octagon, much to the dismay of many, and the cauliflower-eared American hasn't appeared in either of the UFC's most recent releases due to contractual and personal disputes with Dana White.
Along with two of the least-groomed cover boys ever seen, EA secured the rights to the Shamrock brothers, former professional wrestler Bobby Lashley, Roger and Kron Gracie, Pat Miletich, Kevin "The Monster" Randleman, etc. etc. etc. EA delivered over and above with their impressive roster, and no doubt this is something we can expect to only get better in the next instalment.
Now, and only now, do we get to the actual fight... that is, after our fighter's entrance, complete with music, fireworks, the lot (yet another feature lacking in the UFC games.) Having played the Fight Night games I was intrigued to see how the right analog stick controls would fare against the typical button-bashing, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the "total control" that EA promotes was not far from the truth. True, in the panic of being repeatedly punched in the face, it can be fiddlesome, but I put that down to my own personal composure issues. The developers have also been considerate enough to provide us with the option of "classic controls" aka "the same controls that the UFC game uses, you lazy swine."
To keep things simple, we'll be talking about the right analog stick here. The basic movements are simple enough; flick to jab, half turn to hook, hold the left trigger for the kick modifier and RB for the high-low modifier. Then you have your takedown button, your deny button to stop takedowns and clinches, your right trigger for blocks and parrys, and all the dashing, bobbing and weaving you can shake a stick at. Total control indeed. The ground game works much the same as the UFC games, but with greater emphasis on the "Pass to strike, strike to pass" ethos, requiring a greater deal of concentration and skill.
The submission system is something almost reminiscent of newer WWE Smackdown vs Raw releases, where control/timing plays a bigger part than button bashing or spinning the analog stick at 88mph. There are different systems for limb submissions and choke submissions, the limb submissions requiring you to press the designated button in short bursts, without running out of stamina. The choke submissions require you to find the "sweet spot" with the left analog stick, moving it in the correct direction to tighten the grip on your opponent and cause him to tap.
So there you are, punching and blocking, sticking and moving, using all the tactical knowledge you've gained by watching hours of MMA on illegal online feeds, when you strike one big punch and there's a blue flash on the screen - this is EA's version of 'being rocked.' You can almost taste the victory so you start throwing Bolos and your opponent hits the mat. Now a truly magical and brutally graphic thing is going to happen... you can choose to either continue throwing fists into your opponent's unguarded face until the you are declared the winner, or if you're lucky your opponent will land on his back and you can take this opportunity to do a full-force soccer kick to his face or to stand over him and stomp your calloused heel repeatedly into his bloody mush of a face. These two simple additions to the game have been major talking points since it's release.
Exhibition mode is good for a quick fight to kill time before going outside to the real world, or if you have your mates round and you want to take out your secret frustration on them for drinking all your beers. But the real test for the single player game is Career Mode, where we take on the role of Dr. Frankenstein and build and develop our creation through the many trials and tribulations to the title. The create-a-fighter option, in any game, is never varied enough for the fans. It has taken the WWE over a dozen games to get to the advanced stage that they are at now, EA were never going to get this right first time. But their attempt is not disastrous, the options are certainly limited, but your created fighter does not stick out like a sore thumb against the refined features of the in-game characters. A redeeming factor, however, is the Photo Game Face option, which helps make up for the fact that you must otherwise choose from a list of pre-made faces. Another problem that all developers are facing in regards to charcter creation is the variation, style, size and placement of tattoos, and sadly EA has dropped the ball on this one. Again, these are problems we should see worked out by next year.
The career mode itself begins with a tutorial that would've helped a lot in MMA 101, with Bas Rutten taking you under his wing and showing you the basics. You have 8 weeks of training to endure before each fight, and anyone who played the UFC 2010 career mode probably groaned with frustration at the thought of having to put up with 20 minutes of repetitive exercises before getting to your fight. EA have remedied this, thankfully, by allowing you the option to simulate your training exercises providing you have already completed them once before. This shaves down a lot of time that's better spent in the cage/ring. As mentioned previously, EA have opened up the world of MMA to us, and career mode gives us the opportunity to travel to some of the best gyms in the world to train with the likes of Randy Couture, Pat Miletich and Rickson Gracie among others. Here we can learn upto 14 special moves, including superman punches, flying knees and various submissions, and each trip will cost you only $5000 maximum. Which, you will find, becomes pocket change soon enough as the fight purses become much greater, but there's nothing to spend your hundreds of thousands or even millions on. I think purchasable upgrades, clothing, sponsors etc. would be the obvious solution to this one.
Career mode tends move a lot quicker than it's UFC counterpart, but for this it sacrifices some of the depth, and this becomes apparent when you realise that your fighter, although a Brawler for instance, can pull off a gogoplata or a climbing armbar if you choose to. EA would be wise to examine and emulate the customisable movesets allowed in UFC 2010. Another issue that should be addressed is the option to choose your opponent in career mode, rather than having Bas Rutten choosing for you. Bas makes up for this greatly with some of the funniest voice work you'll ever find in a game about beating the crap out of people.
Sadly Career and Exhibition modes are where the line ends for the single player with no X-Box Live (much like myself.) Online play is definitely becoming the bigger and more developed part of every game these days, which I personally believe to be a way to maipulate more people into getting an online subscription, because I clearly don't spend enough money on games as it is. From what I read and hear however, the EA MMA online features are pretty expansive, with some innovating elements too. But that's not for me to testify to either way.
Some last minute observations on the game now; on the plus side the soundtrack is highly impressive, clearly no expense was spared and it shows. On the negative side, the loading screens are frequent, long and stammering, as if trying to load a million things at once but only coming up with a 10 second animation. The CPU stamina bar has also been recieving some negative remarks as it never seems to diminish, whereas your character is fighting for breath in the corner.
On the whole, EA Sports have stepped into the cage and made an impressive debut. It's not a first round flying knee knockout, but it's not a split-decision points victory either. People will ask if the game is worth the £40 or $60 asking price and I would tell them, with no feelings of deception, that is certainly is. I would hope that they will take in all the suggestions and criticsisms and put them all to work in producing a more refined and in-depth title next year. In which case, next year's EA vs UFC battle for the title is going to be a fight to remember.
