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This title may not be the most recognisable name in the mixed martial arts (MMA) video gaming world. That accolade belongs to THQ’s Ultimate Fighting Championship.
But what it has are play mechanics so robust that they translate into intense, almost chess-like fights that force you to think every step of the way.
This aspect was what won me over, even if it did take me a while to understand and master the various moves.
Fights revolve around four phases in which you have to do different moves. They are stand up, clinch, ground and submission.
Stand up is an extension of a component of Electronic Art’s Fight Night boxing games. You move and sidestep with the left thumbstick of your game pad and throw out jabs, hooks and uppercuts using the right thumbstick.
You have to use a variety of moves to break your opponent’s guard. One strategy is to back off and counter with kicks.
Clinching is a standing grapple – as opposed to a ground grapple – that varies with different fighting styles.
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The muay thai clinch has the opponent’s head clasped between your hands so you can deliver vicious knee strikes. Boxers can use clinching as a defensive tactic to regain stamina. Wrestlers can go for the under-elbow clinch which lets them slam their opponents to the ground.
Once on the ground, you must wrestle to gain positions which give you an advantage. You can do so by pressing ‘A’ on the game pad. You can repel your opponent by pressing ‘B’ when the game pad vibrates. Or you can use the right thumbstick to attack your opponent and drain his stamina, making it easier for you to advance.
Submissions are deadly chokes and limb-locking techniques that let you win a match outside of the game’s default technical knockout rule.
In fight scenarios involving choke moves, you have to rotate the left thumbstick to get to the sweet spot that will pin your opponent down.
For limb-locks, you have to hit the game pad’s buttons in a rhythmical fashion. Too slow and you will lose pressure; too fast and you will tire yourself out.
The game discourages button or thumbstick mashing. The more you mash the controls, the more your stamina will be depleted.
Instead, you want to be tactical in your approach. For instance, clinches and ground grapples are usually difficult to execute because your opponent can simply press ‘B’ to repel them. However, if you throw some punches first, you might be able to force your opponent to block, which makes him susceptible to grapples.
What strategy you use also depends on the pugilistic style of your opponent. A wrestler should tackle a muay thai fighter to the ground where he has an advantage, but this is a bad idea against jiu-jitsu opponents who can apply submission techniques from just about any ground position.
All these make for excellent gameplay and it especially shines in the single-player Career mode, in which you can gradually add special moves between bouts to your main fighting style – like a muay thai exponent with deadly jiu-jitsu submission skills or a wrestler with a boxer’s lightning punches.
Multiplayer online is, unfortunately, a mixed bag. This is due to exploits (bugs in the game software) that your opponents can use on you, such as left-right hook spamming (throwing a flurry of hooks) and the Brazilian jiu-jitsu heel kick plus triangle submission combo. These seemingly impossible-to-defend situations can end a fight within seconds.
You can still find the occasional fair fight, but watch out for glory-hunters who play dirty.
Play the EA SPORTS MMA games now.
