EA Sports MMA Review Process - SBartlett's Blog

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SBartlett's Blog

EA Sports MMA Review Process Stuck

Posted on October 7, 2010 at 11:25 PM.

(5)

Hey World,

S. Bartlett here from OS. I'm beginning my review process for the new EA Sports MMA. After doing one of the biggest reviews of the year in Madden NFL 11, there are some fundamental flaws in my approach to writing a game review.

To be considered a professional writer, there are a few steps I am going to take to separate the OS review from the rest of the reviews out there on the web such as IGN, PastaPadre, GameInformer, ESPN Videogames, etc.

While studying journalism, I was preached to practice objectivity. In the case of a game review, which is more of a feature type of writing, there is room for objectivity but it's mostly my own opinion. This is an important balance I try to keep in mind during my reviews.

More importantly though is becoming an expert on the topic at hand. In this case, MMA is a sport I am going to research in a whole new way. I admit, I have only watched maybe a dozen UFC fights in my time. This month I am committing to this review and breaking down MMA fights on television - learning the language, the different fight styles, and all of the leagues.

In an attempt to make this the most genuine and authentic review on an MMA game on the web, I am hitting the training facilities here in the Greater Boston Area with my boy J. Hova to learn fighting styles first hand. Jay is a fighter with expertise in Muay Thai. I will be documenting my training on my blog here with video and commentary. This will fully immerse me into the world of MMA. I hope to learn the body control, movements, strength and finesse, intelligence and strategy involved in the world of MMA.

It's going to be one interesting journey.

As far as the drafting the review - it starts with timing. I am going to play this game until I understand every function of the a.i.; until career mode is damn near exhausted, and I until I am an mixed martial expert in both the ground game and stand up game.

With Madden, I placed the emphasis on the game play and feel of the game and pushed the rest to the side. Partially because the other modes were bare, and the main focus for the OS community usually is in game play.

Next is givin' the game a fair review - score free of past scores of games in the genre. It is easy to fall into the trap of comparing this title to UFC Undisputed but I will not. I am grading the game for what it is at this point of time in gaming.

I hope you all tune into this blog and the future posts I have with my training and my updates on the review process. We are working to get a copy of EA Sports MMA in my hands so I can do a developer walk through via Xbox Live which I will attempt to post if allowed.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the future content I post on here. Below are my first impressions of the demo. Training begins Saturday at Sityodtong NorthShore in Beverly, MA.

This review will display my dedication to my work - and sports gaming.

-Steve

Comments

# 1 ffyfe7 @ Oct 8

Sounds really interesting, I am glad that those at OS are willing to go the extra mile when it comes to reviews. Honestly after a while I got sick of some reviewers because it seemed as if they had made up their mind before they had even played it. In regards to EA MMA I am still on the fence so I will definatly keep posted with the journey and the final product. Good luck and as Big John always says "Lets Get It On!"

# 2 aida.samual @ Oct 8

This is so interesting they all looks so nice and super fighter, thanks for posting and sharing with us.....this blog is so good i got so informative topics.

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# 3 Indiedog @ Oct 8

Kudos to you for taking your role as a journalist seriously. IMHO, one of the major blockades to the games industry maturing as a whole and being taken as a legitimate form of media is the lack of journalistic integrity in many of the game reviews.

With the ease of which people can put their thoughts on the internet, it's become too easy for people to believe that because they blog, they are a journalist. A blogger can be a journalist. A journalist is not always a blogger.

I applaud your initiative and look forward to reading your review.

# 4 SBartlett @ Oct 8

Hey all, thanks for the support. I don't plan on sparring anytime soon. It will be mostly training on the fundamentals but my trainer fights all the time so it will be an interesting look inside to some MMA fights.

# 5 lockdown50 @ Oct 9

i can say ur might fall in love with the sport, its really a science when u learn about it and watching a fight becomes a chess match good luck and u will like what you see