EA Sports MMA Gameplay Preview — Striking, Clinching, Submission and the Rumble in the MMA Jungle » 30ninjas

EA Sports MMA Gameplay Preview — Striking, Clinching, Submission and the Rumble in the MMA Jungle

Share on Facebook posted 04-26-10 by Max Tedaldi

Recently I went to the EA Sports MMA Gameplay presentation in Nashville. Along with getting some quick glimpses of the fighters prepping from the weigh-in for Strikeforce: Nashville, I got to preview some gameplay for the updated version of the game. I also got a sneak peak at newest teaser trailer for the game that aired during the fight. For those of you who were tuning in to CBS your attention may have been overwhelmed by the ridiculous post-fight brawl that occurred between Jason Miller and Jake Shields. Have no fear! You can watch the latest version of the game’s teaser trailer and get the latest gameplay updates for the game right here!

The game looks like a huge step forward for the mixed martial arts gaming experience. Fighters bounce around and strike with their own signature styles, and fluid movements combine with real-to-life sound effects that will make you feel like you are standing ringside. The game looks and sounds great, but the real highlight of the preview was getting play-by-play commentary from Dale Jackson, the executive producer of the game. If anyone knows the ins and outs of the game it’s this guy. While some fellow reviewers and I watched some producers of the game duke it out with Nick Diaz and Cung Le, Jackson filled us in on how the game has progressed since they last previewed it in November.

The Set Up

Key Points

Wide Variety of Venue Choices: Variable sizes from training rings to coliseums.
Wide Variety of Rule Sets: Not just one league. Choose from Japanese, Unified and Strikeforce rule sets.
Wide Variety of Ring Choices: Hexagonal, circular, hexagonal cage, circular cage, or boxing ring.

As may have guessed, Jackson’s emphasis on the fight set up was variety. This game is being designed to appeal to all sorts of MMA fans and that means being as inclusive as possible. Because of the variety of venues, rule sets, and rings, there are hundreds of combinations of that will allow you to tailor the fight to your preferences.

The Pre-Fight

Key Points

The Walkout: Individualized walkouts and music for each fighter. Intense lighting and pyro
The Announcer: Jimmy Lennon Jr
The Referee: John McCarthy
The Commentators: Mauro Ranallo & Frank Mir

The goal here is to give the game “that air of reality” and give the gamer “a little taste of personality” for each fighter. The walkout is one aspect of the fight that should get you chomping at the bit and clenching your fists in anticipation. Personalizing this part of the game for each player should go a long way towards inspiring this feeling.

Let’s Get It On

Key Points

Ring Awareness: Fighters automatically react to their opponent differently depending on location.
Total Strike Control: A modified version of the Fight Night: Round 4 control system.
Analog VS Face Buttons: Customizable controls allow usage from both systems.
Field of Fight: Rumble alerts player to an upcoming pass or strike. Counter appropriately
Strike to Pass, Pass to Strike: Disguise your strategy in transition.

Dale’s Commentary:

“As these guys start to fight I am going to talk a little bit about directing this stuff, but what you’ll notice right away is that when they are standing there, is the ring awareness in our game. The fighters know where they are at all times. They know how close they are to the other fighter so they’ll have their hands down now and as they get close they will bring their hands up. There are automatic things that happen that you don’t have to control. They are able to taunt each other, which usually leads to big head shot that shouldn’t happen. The striking that you are seeing there is on the analog stick. You can see how Nick Diaz has his classic Nick Diaz, paws in the air waiting to strike stance. The strikes are on the analog sticks so they give you a very visceral feeling, so if you played Fight Night Round 4 it’s a similar system to the Total Punch Control. We’ve got Total Strike Control and we’ve added knees, elbows and kicks to the Total Punch Control system. So if you want to throw a hook you’re going to circle the stick around like you would throw a hook and it feels very natural and very visceral. If you’re not into using the sticks you can also use the face buttons to throw all of the strikes as well.

Defending yourself is how you would expect; you put your hands up and block things. If you’re punching and you time it right you can push aside and parry and then it gives you an opportunity to counter punch. You can also just split a punch and it gives a window to counter punch. Those windows are important! So the knockdown you saw earlier, those don’t happen because of a dice roll. It happens because you threw a punch and it happened right at the vulnerable moment. If their shoulder is down and you come at them with an overhand right right as they’re throwing their punch you can catch them on the chin. That’s going to depend on their chin and the timing of the punch and everything, more than it is just a random dice roll in the game.

One thing that we have on the ground that we focused on is called Field of Fight, and what these guys are feeling right now (the guys playing the demo), as one person is trying to pass. One of the things that is hard to capture is that when you feel someone tense up and you know that they are pushing down at your leg that something is coming. Well we can do that with the rumble so you can tell if something is coming and you have to defend it because you felt that they are going to pass. You can mask that with what we call Strike to Pass and Pass to Strike. To mask, if you’re going to hit the face it will be rumbling just the same as if you are going to pass, and you’re taking damage, so if I can keep you’re controller shaking to pass you may put your hands up to defend your head. It’s really a way to feint your opponent to get them to do something so that you can set up the next move.”

Strategy

Key Points

Stamina: Body shots, whiffing, and grappling will sap your energy. Will rebuild at rest.
Interactive Damage System: Fighters react to taking damage to different body parts ie. leg shots may result in stance change.
Animation VS Control: No compromise necessary.

Dale’s Commentary:
‘The other thing that you’ve seen is that stamina is an important part of gameplay. One of the things that fighting does is decrease your stamina over the course of the fight. It rebuilds over time if you’re not throwing punches. Shots to the body, missing strikes, and spending a lot of time whiffing takes a lot of stamina, as does grappling. So all of these things burn your stamina. But also you don’t just take damage to the player as a whole, like HP in a fighting game. If you take damage to the body you can use that to set up the next move. In a previous demo I showed you that you could kick the leg to a point where you’ve done enough damage that the reaction is bigger to a leg kick. It opens things up for a punch because the opponent is going to react with a larger turn and open up his chin for a straight cross. You can do the same thing with a shot to the body. Get the opponent to clench down a little bit and then fully transition to a clench that you might not have been able to get them to otherwise. There is a lot of strategy in setting this stuff up in the strikes you do and the way that you play the game.

The other thing that you have probably noticed is that fighters will throw punches at the same time no matter what’s going on. You don’t have to wait for an animation to play out with one character while the other one is throwing a punch. While you’re being hit you can also be throwing a punch just like in real life. A lot of games can’t do that, and it’s a pretty deep system that can do that and still look good. Most games you have a trade off between the way that the animation looks, the fluidity of motion and control. Here we don’t make any trade offs with the visuals and the technical system.

Thoughts of a Gaming Ninja

MMA titles have been sparse over the last four years. With the exception of UFC 09 Undisputed, MMA has been absent from the gaming scene for far too long considering how popular the sport is becoming. It seems that EA Sports MMA is direct improvement over its THQ predecessor.

Undisputed is an extremely popular title and is easily the best MMA game to date, but the game is not without its faults. Disappointing cage dynamics, seemingly random ground transitions, sluggish gameplay, and spammable clinching prevented the game from becoming a classic. What Dale Jackson really tried to impress upon his audience was the fluidity of motion and control. The game is fast while still giving the gamer a sense of control over his fighter. Of course, this doesn’t mean a whole lot without actually getting to play the game so I’ll get a better sense of that when I can actually start grounding and pounding with Randy Couture.

The gameplay aspects of the game that seemed the most intriguing to me were the Field of Fight/Strike to Pass, Pass to Strike system and the stamina strategy. The Field of Fight and Strike to Pass, Pass to Strike systems seem like they will play well together and give the game a more physical chess feel. These systems will make it so you will be constantly engaging and reacting to your opponent much like and actual MMA fight. It should also add a feigning aspect to the game that was severely lacking in Undisputed.

Stamina is one of the most important weapons in a fighters arsenal and Undisputed essentially ignored this element of the sport. Stamina bars rose quickly in the game and became a part of the game that you could essentially ignore. Unlike Undisputed it seems that a fight in EA Sports MMA will become more and more realistic as the fight goes on. Fighters will tire, they will change their stances and guard areas of their bodies differently depending on the damage they have taken. This provide a rich and deep strategy to gameplay.

The producers of the game were very hush hush about online gaming and this seems to be where EA Sports MMA could prove itself to be the superior MMA game. If EA can establish an intricate online meta-game that is void of the spammable clinching and griefing that have plagued Undisputed since its release, the game should be popular.

The next update for the game should take place at the E3 convention in LA in June. I can’t wait!