EA Sports MMA Demo Available, Post Impressions Here (360, PS3)

[Biizz]

The reason why I could never get into Fight Night Round 4 was because of all the collision detection issues. Punches going through faces without landing, getting KO'd by punches that whiff, and stuff like that.

Unfortunately this game seems to have the same exact problem. I have KO'd Bobby Lashley several times on Legendary, most of them were the result of phantom punches when I was clearly out of striking range but kept on throwing because they mysteriously landed. This is too big of an issue for me, I guess some people can deal with it but I can't. It's the single most important element in any fighting game in my opinion and they didn't get it right.

[Biizz]

And whoever said button spamming doesn't work is crazy, it's super effective. I don't even know how to get up from takedowns and yet i'm doing it on legendary by just spam clicking the left stick. All of my KO's come from landing the same 2 punch combo over and over again because he's stunned and can't fight back. When I'm in the clinch I just spam random stuff until something happens.

I've won 4/5 games on legendary playing just like that.

[TheShizNo1]

Re: EA Sports MMA Demo Available For 360, Later For PS3 - Post Impressions Here

And whoever said button spamming doesn't work is crazy, it's super effective. I don't even know how to get up from takedowns and yet i'm doing it on legendary by just spam clicking the left stick. All of my KO's come from landing the same 2 punch combo over and over again because he's stunned and can't fight back. When I'm in the clinch I just spam random stuff until something happens.

I've won 4/5 games on legendary playing just like that.

In other words, you're trying to do the crap you're complaining about.

[Knighttime24]

Tactic definitely works on medium. Doesn't work on hard, stamina plays too big a part to do this on hard. Didn't try it on legend b/c of that.

You can spam body shots on the ground on ANY difficulty. The CPU will let you hammer them until you stop. They wont try to transition or standup until you stop wailing on them. The only thing stopping you is your stamina, but once that recharges then you can do the unstoppable punches and knees(in the half guard) again. This NEEDS to be fixed.

[TheShizNo1]

Re: EA Sports MMA Demo Available For 360, Later For PS3 - Post Impressions Here

You can spam body shots on the ground on ANY difficulty. The CPU will let you hammer them until you stop. They wont try to transition or standup until you stop wailing on them. The only thing stopping you is your stamina, but once that recharges then you can do the unstoppable punches and knees(in the half guard) again. This NEEDS to be fixed.

I guess I'm not looking hard enough, b/c Lashley usually transitions out before I can do all that

[Biizz]

In other words, you're trying to do the crap you're complaining about.

The game doesn't have a lot of variety in the striking department, all I see are the same hooks and jabs over and over again. I use head kicks sometimes when they are stunned but that's about it. I tried the flying knee but it rarely lands with all the collision detection problems. What else is there to do other than right and left hooks?

I started out trying to pick shots and get timing down but it's pointless, you either get taken down or KO'd because blocking does absolutely nothing.

[DaSmerg]

Re: EA Sports MMA Demo Available For 360, Later For PS3 - Post Impressions Here

Some thoughts after half a dozen matches.

Unrealistically fast paced.
Controls are not overly complicated (would consider this a both a plus and a minus). u
Character modeling is not very sophisticated (but very much improved from the first looks I saw months ago).
Due to the lower level of sophistication of the character modeling, player movements are unrealistic and gives a general cartoonish feel to the game play.
Lashley v. Overeem is your heavyweight demo match up? Really? Did nobody at Tiburon working on this title bother to see Lashley's last fight?

There looks to be some pretty cool features for the main game. But this needs to be tempered with the reality that any and all advertised features and being an EA Sports title. How many will really be in the game, from there, how many will really work as advertised, if at all?

Definitely comes off to me as a first try game.

Overall I would describe the demo as cartoonish. Great example...me as Overeem v. Lashley on Legend level...B to block take down (results in knee to the face for Lashley), B to block take down (results in knee to the face for Lashley), jab, jab, right hook Lashley is on the mat ko'ed. Match is all of 25 seconds. Must have been a fluke I thought. So I hit rematch, Lashley charges me, mistime the B to block take down, in less than a second Lashley is in full mount, my stamina is already at 3/4. Pound, pound, pound by Lashley and I'm ko'ed. Match is all of 30 seconds.

No doubt in my mind it will be appealing to some but from what I've seen/played, it's a pass for this guy. Look forward to what they can do for next year though as there are possibilities there and some of the promised play modes do sound intriguing.

[Knighttime24]

I guess I'm not looking hard enough, b/c Lashley usually transitions out before I can do all that

All you have to do is block his transition then be fast enough to land the body blow. After you land that first one... he's yours. Go ahead. try the knees to the body in the half guard.

[Lakers 24 7]

Re: EA Sports MMA Demo Available For 360, Later For PS3 - Post Impressions Here

Someone at the EA MMA forums posted this, and it has me worried.. your thoughts?

"Well, gave it a few more hours this morning. Even more laughably disappointing.

Basically, the mechanics of the game are deeply flawed. With the simplicity of the ground game system, it's just too easy to get into one dominant position and stay there, raining down strikes, and tapping B anytime you see your opponent move. His stamina will deplete severely everytime you defend a transition, which takes no skill, then you can proceed to throw strike with impunity...and by throw strikes, I mean repeatedly tap the diagonals on the controller- yaaaaawn.

I cranked it up to Legend, and won the fight pretty much the same way every single time, about 10 times in a row, first round. I was Lashley against Overeem. Wait for him to throw any strike, shoot, takedown. Let him get me in guard, posture up, pound away. Anytime he moves, tap B, and take out a bunch of his stamina. Distribute shots between head and body, easily keep his stamina in the red, while he can't do anything. Then once he's tired, just pound away- blocking shots does next to nothing. KO!

Alternatively, and I did this about 5 times, wait for him to shoot, tap B. In the sprawl, wait for him to try to transition, take out a bunch of his stamina by defending, try the to transition until it works - not like he can reverse you or anything. Wait to get to the side back mount, wail away. He moves the slightest, tap B.

It's just too simple and unbalanced....I can't wait for the poopstorm of whining once people go online and see how easily things are exploited. And don't say "not the final build!"- the flaws are too deep and inherent in the simplicity of the system. Sorry, folks...the diehard fanboys will cry, but it's simply not a good emulation of MMA, and will not be a successful game."

The AI is incredibly easy, but that's not the fault of the game mechanics that's purely the AI. I've played user vs user and the game is a great chess match. Nothing is too easy against a human opponent and everything feels well balanced. But, yes against the AI it does feel simple. Let's remember though this is only a demo, and an EARLY BUILD.

[TheShizNo1]

Re: EA Sports MMA Demo Available For 360, Later For PS3 - Post Impressions Here

I'm indifferent to it. I don't think it's overly great, but don't think it's bad either. not gonna go out and pre order it, and probably won't get it on the first day. We'll see

[Lakers 24 7]

Re: EA Sports MMA Demo Available For 360, Later For PS3 - Post Impressions Here

The game doesn't have a lot of variety in the striking department, all I see are the same hooks and jabs over and over again. I use head kicks sometimes when they are stunned but that's about it. I tried the flying knee but it rarely lands with all the collision detection problems. What else is there to do other than right and left hooks?

I started out trying to pick shots and get timing down but it's pointless, you either get taken down or KO'd because blocking does absolutely nothing.

There's jabs, straights, hooks, uppercuts, spinning back-fists, knees, kicks, and body shots. What else are you looking for?

There's probably more, but I haven't looked through the moves list yet.

Also, timing is not pointless at all and blocking absolutely works. What's more important though is your footwork and parrying when you have to.

[Biizz]

Re: EA Sports MMA Demo Available For 360, Later For PS3 - Post Impressions Here

There's jabs, straights, hooks, uppercuts, spinning back-fists, knees, kicks, and body shots. What else are you looking for?

There's probably more, but I haven't looked through the moves list yet.

Also, timing is not pointless at all and blocking absolutely works. What's more important though is your footwork and parrying when you have to.

Every time I throw a jab the CPU comes over the top with a power punch. Same thing with the straight. Uppercuts are slow, back-fists are slow, body shots seem absolutely pointless when you can just hit the guy in the head 3 or 4 times and he's rocked.

If blocking works then why can I beat the CPU on legendary by just punching through his defense? If blocking works then why does the animation look exactly the same as when I'm not blocking and get hit?

Footwork? What footwork? All I see is a bunch of gliding and teleporting into takedowns.

Ultimately you can't blame the players for using the most effective tactics in the game, you have to actually make it worthwhile to play as if it were real life.

[Dr.J]

Re: EA Sports MMA Demo Available For 360, Later For PS3 - Post Impressions Here

Oh man if this demo is any indication of the full game i'm going to avoid it at all cost seriously this demo is atrocious, bad a.i, fighters move like thier on ice ,the punching/kicking feels sluggish and the judging is really bad i mean its terrible.

I was looking for something better then the other company but i didn't get it oh well i use the 60 bucks for another game.

[Lakers 24 7]

Re: EA Sports MMA Demo Available For 360, Later For PS3 - Post Impressions Here

Every time I throw a jab the CPU comes over the top with a power punch. Same thing with the straight. Uppercuts are slow, back-fists are slow, body shots seem absolutely pointless when you can just hit the guy in the head 3 or 4 times and he's rocked.

If blocking works then why can I beat the CPU on legendary by just punching through his defense? If blocking works then why does the animation look exactly the same as when I'm not blocking and get hit?

Footwork? What footwork? All I see is a bunch of gliding and teleporting into takedowns.

Ultimately you can't blame the players for using the most effective tactics in the game, you have to actually make it worthwhile to play as if it were real life.

Sounds pretty realistic to me. The overhand is a good counter for the jab. Do you want the AI to just let you land your jabs with ease? Try throwing some faints to keep the AI off guard or faint and wait for the overhand to counter off of it. There's really good strategy involved in this game, it's not as simple and straightforward as the UFC.

Spinning back fists, the speed depends on the fighter and it should be easy to see coming the majority of the time. How often do we see clean back fists land? We usually go multiple events without seeing a successful one, so I'm not sure how often you expect to be landing that in-game. Heck there have been entire events where you won't even see one attempted and there's reason for that. So EA replicated the spinning back fist pretty well.

Uppercuts have to be setup to be effective. Body shots I've used and they work pretty well. You can setup some great combos off of the body shots.

As far as blocking goes I haven't experienced what you're talking about. Footwork is decent, the speed makes it possible to get in and out of the pocket, makes reach and distance a factor, or you can also be aggressive and push the pace.

[LingeringRegime]

Re: EA Sports MMA Demo Available For 360, Later For PS3 - Post Impressions Here

My goodness. This game is fire. Loving the submissions and ground game. So much better than breaking your analog stick. I hope Dana White will reconsider the licensing issue. Because this game really captures MMA better. Colored me surprised in a good way. Nice job EA Sports!