Alright Boyz, here we go!!! EA MMA first impressions...

[EagleFan]

Starting this one just a few hours early. Have been messing with the demo and it has promise.

My initial fear with the demo is that submissions seem like the easier way to win so far. I hope submissions aren't to this game what the flash KO's are to UFC 2010.

It was nice to be able to pull off a third round submission after getting my butt kicked for two rounds but then when I was able to do that regularly in the demo it started to make me worry that the balance may not be there.

Based off the demo this game won't be one where you get brutal action like in UFC 2010 but it looks like it is much more about working the strategy of a fight like the latest Fight Night.

Controls are going to kill me with this one for a while as I am so used to the UFC controls. My instinctive reaction is to go for the right stick when I should be going for the buttons or going for the buttons when I should be going for the right stick.


I'll be picking this up at midnight and I'll try to get a little bit of time in with it before gettng to sleep and will post a few reactions here.

[DaddyTorgo]

I'll be picking it up tomorrow after work.

[FF]

im interested in seeing what they think. i badly want to like a mma game but im afraid this one might not hold up.

[DaddyTorgo]

One thing to keep in mind that i read is that the demo branched off from the release-product several months ago, so many of the things that people have noticed in the demo have already been addressed in the release version.

i'll post some impressions tomorrow night, and it sounds like EF will have some tonight

[EagleFan]

Going to head to Gamestop in about an hour and I'll try to post a few comments here tonight after a couple matches.

[FF]

if you get the chance, let us know what the league features are like.

[EagleFan]

Only a little bit of time with it so far. Having a meeting tonight with "offshore" and squeezed in a little time with it first.

Have started a career to see how that is.

The tutorial is pretty much what you would expect. They take a shot at the UFC game during the career turorial (there is an MMA 101 "tutorial" which doesn't help you anywhere near as much as the career tutorial; I almost skipped the career one thinking it would be more of the same but it was definitely worth it as I picked up on a couple things that I never would have from the MMA 101 section).

Fighter creation is fairly streamlined which can be good.


If I can get done the meeting(s) soon (waiting between a couple at the moment); I will try my first career fight and will post more impressions.

[Icy]

Yeah please keep us updated about the career mode, do other fighters age? are there plenty of things to do in between fights?

[EagleFan]

Some early thoughts...

At least early on in the career (only a few fights in) it seems quite easy, especially to get a submission. I am 7-0 with 6 submissions and one ground and pound knockout. I submitted one opponent in 12 seconds.


It has a similar mechanic to Fight Night with training sessions between fights. Initially seems like it would get repetitive but there is enough variety so far to keep it interesting (and the challenge leve goes up as you progress in the training). Plus it looks like you can repeat a training session by simming it and it will base your gain by how you performed when you actually did the session (that could keep it from getting annoying after progessing deeper into your career).


Tried joining an online fight card and got my butt kicked twice. Though the second fight kind of annoyed me as when the fight started I went in to touch gloves and he shot for the takedown when I did. I was unable to escape and eventually was submitted.


There are a few places where I can see that they are trying to take shots at the UFC game, without directly saying it of course.


These are subject to change but here are what I feel are the current pros and cons:


pros
- I like the way it handles training better than the UFC game where it feels like you always are fighting to keep from losing ground in a skill an the sparring/camps start to get annoying after a while.
- Submissions are possible (partly a con if they remain as easy as they are at the early phase of the game, in that case they become to this game what the flash KO is to UFC).
- The online fight cards look like they have potential, in the fight card I was in I got to watch a couple other fights before mine. You get to see how others play the game.
- Not entirely a button masher as you need to manage your stamina; much like Fight Night.
- I like that you can pick an intro for the fighter.
- It has promise but will need to put it through more paces.

cons
- You don't get the same brutal feeling that the UFC game gives you.
- Being a UFC guy I can't stand the announcers.
- No options for your fights in career mode (at least not yet) as you only get one person to choose to fight. UFC at least gave you a couple choices.
- The rankings seem a little screwy. My fighter is currently in his second "league" (looks like you go through two before making it to Strikeforce) and ranked 14th in that league. When I look at the worldwide rankings it shows me as ranked 4th. Not sure how that works out. (minor con as it doesn't look like those rankings mean anything, the worldwide ones that is)
- Minor odd graphics glich. I chose my celebration move to be climbing the cage. In the first two leagues I am fighting in a ring. My fighter still does that move but is instead climbing into midair above the ropes. I guess with supernatural abilities like that it explains all the submissions I can pull off.

[EagleFan]

Oh, forgot to add. A little puzzled by the choice of two different submission mechanics.

For chokes you have to "find the sweet spot" as they say with the left thumbstick. They are tougher to pull off and get me a little annoyed at times as it seems like you have to keep finding that sweet spot after you should have it locked in. Had a rear naked choke where it should have been locked in (if you base it on the graphics) but somehow my opponent was able to get enough leverage to pull my arm loose. There would be no way that someone could have escaped like that with someone on their back with both hooks in and the choke fully applied.

For arm and leg submissions it becomes button mashing versus stamina (you can't outright mash or your stamina becomes too low and you lose the hold).


Just seems like an odd choice to have two entirely different mechanics like that for the submissions.

[DaddyTorgo]

Sounds alright so far - those are all things I knew.

Figure they had to make the earlier stages of career play easier because they don't want people to get discouraged and give up on it?

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Sounds alright so far - those are all things I knew.

Figure they had to make the earlier stages of career play easier because they don't want people to get discouraged and give up on it?

I can understand thatbut when the game sets it up as landmarks in making it to the next level I would have liked it to feel like I accomplished something to get to the next level.

Hopefully getting past the second league will become more of a challenge. I'll mess with that tonight to see how it changes.

Not a full complaint yet though.

[FF]

i remember the developers saying the earlier ranks would be easy to give you the sense that you are truly an up and coming mma star by beating up on these jobbers

[DaddyTorgo]

digging it so far. pounded on peeps with fedor for a bit before creating my guy.

the career-mode training is way in depth and gives you a bunch of moves/combos you don't read about in the manual

[DaddyTorgo]

first two fights of my career in the baby-leagues i've taken guys down, achieved mount and when they gave up their back, RNC'd them.

course this is as a 6'0, 249lb heavyweight sambo fighter, so maybe that's not that unrealistic

[DaddyTorgo]

how the hell do you "dash" so i can improve my standup...

[DaddyTorgo]

Is it just my TV where the sound has this irritating scratchy thing to it all the time?? Why would that be??

Just got my first TKO by way of standing strikes after learning a haymaker from the British gym.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

how the hell do you "dash" so i can improve my standup...

I have done it accidentally a couple times but then tried to recerate it but can't.

Let me know if you try to learn the guillotine (sp?) at some poit and if you have success. That has been the most frustrating training challenge yet. You have to keep from being taken down for 1 minute but all of your moves are disabled except movement. I made it to 40 seconds once but all it takes of for your opponent to get to within range one time and there is nothing that you can do once he starts the takedown.

There was another one that has you survive a minute without being knocked down with all of your moves disabled. That one is much easier as you can absorb a few shots without being knocked down; where one takedown attempt is all it takes when you can't block it.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Is it just my TV where the sound has this irritating scratchy thing to it all the time?? Why would that be??

Just got my first TKO by way of standing strikes after learning a haymaker from the British gym.

Have noticed the same thing with the sound. You have to really listen just to hear the introductions. I don't know what they were going for with that. It just seems like you are always in a haze while playing. Even the visuals at the start of the fights just seem a little off.

Were they trying to simulate being stoned while playing?

[EagleFan]

Oh, I did lose my first career fight finally. Got rocked royally and then TKO'd. That made me with the early fights were a little more of a challenge as it was easy to get into bad habits, at least I learned from that for my next fight.

[DaddyTorgo]

dunno why all this shit says "dash" but then nowhere does it talk about how to fucking dash. that's fucking annoying.

still progressing through my training. one win away from a title fight in ligue de combate down in brazil.

vale tudo rules...crazy.

[DaddyTorgo]

i actually got out-striked last fight i was in, but won via TKO, so that's cool. also wasn't totally dominant on the ground.

[DaddyTorgo]

fuck me. i just got knocked out in the first like...10 seconds of that fight

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

i actually got out-striked last fight i was in, but won via TKO, so that's cool. also wasn't totally dominant on the ground.

That was me during my last fight (in Strikeforce now). My opponent came ot swinging and connected on a few. I could get nothing going on my feet and finally clinched and pulled guard. I then pulled off my first triangle choke for the win. Loved it!

[DaddyTorgo]

how many potential gyms are there to travel to in order to learn special moves? i have 7 of my special moves filled up already, and wonder if i need to worry about there being more gyms (i've unlocked down through the english boxing one)...

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

how many potential gyms are there to travel to in order to learn special moves? i have 7 of my special moves filled up already, and wonder if i need to worry about there being more gyms (i've unlocked down through the english boxing one)...

I've unlocked 7 gyms so far. 3 1K ones and 4 5K ones. Not sure if there are any more. In Strikeforce at 13-1 so far, so 14 fights in.

[EagleFan]

There used to be days when a game would have a manual that tell us everything that we needed to know.... I miss those days...

[DaddyTorgo]

yeah - i think that's what i've unlocked.

i'm just wary of filling up my special move slots and then finding out there some more moves out there i could have used instead of like a "climbing armbar"

although a 250lb heavyweight doing a climbing armbar would be sweet....

[EagleFan]

That would be pretty sweet.

I am waiting to see if anything else unlocks before trying another as well.

[EagleFan]

Is there a way to just save one of the three replays after the fight? I thought that was the idea but when I have tried it saves all three.

[DaddyTorgo]

Just finished via triangle - on my way to a title fight down in brazil...

[DaddyTorgo]

you on xbox or ps3 EF?

[EagleFan]

360

u?

[DaddyTorgo]

Hmm - should i go to Mystic in Japan, or Strikeforce?

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

360

u?

ps3

[EagleFan]

This part gets a little unrealistic. I am 15-1 so far and will be fighting someone that is 14-16 in a "number one contender" match for a shot at the title.

I am 26th ranked, he is 21st ranked but it is for a shot to fight Lawal for the title. That seems rather f'd up.

[DaddyTorgo]

first UFC fight...back and forth on the ground...frankly on the bottom most the time...secured the win via triange after surviving an armbar/oomaplata chain

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

This part gets a little unrealistic. I am 15-1 so far and will be fighting someone that is 14-16 in a "number one contender" match for a shot at the title.

I am 26th ranked, he is 21st ranked but it is for a shot to fight Lawal for the title. That seems rather f'd up.

errr - yep

[DaddyTorgo]

need to get better at neck chokes - that triangle took way too long though

[EagleFan]

I now get my shot at the title. I'm 16-1 so I could see there being a possible title shot at some point because of that but not to go through the 21st ranked fighter to get it.

Hopefully "King Mo" doesn't kick my a** too badly.

[DaddyTorgo]

I sucked it up and learned the climbing armbar.

now if i can just do it in a fight that'd be sweet

[EagleFan]

Wow, 1st round armbar submission...

and new Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion....

[EagleFan]

Problem is that is left me not quite feeling like I just accomplished something.

[DaddyTorgo]

awww. well i think the offline playing isn't going to be the best part of this game - i'm just using it to try to get up to speed

[EagleFan]

So far this feels like a game with promise but that there are going to be enough holes in it that it is going to need another iteration to improve.

I have a feeling that the two games (UFC 2010 and EA MMA) are going to be played based upon what I feel like doing. Do I want to submit someone or just beat the crap out of something.

[EagleFan]

I haven't noticed. Did you happen to notice if the CPU fighters actually fight and have it reflected in their record) other than when you fight them. It doesn't seem like it.

[DaddyTorgo]

I haven't noticed yet either. Hmmm.

Bout to have my title fight.

And yes, I agree. UFC is more of a "beat the crap out of someone" game, where this is more "fight strategy" game.

[DaddyTorgo]

Be nice if there were real fighters in career mode...just saying.

[DaddyTorgo]

Strikeforce HW Champion!

Tight bout, but TKO in the 2nd

[DaddyTorgo]

ps - if you go to "online" and "download fighters" it looks like...95% of the big names in the UFC have already bee created by people