E3 2013: EA Sports UFC Thoughts - Wiggy's Blog

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E3 2013: EA Sports UFC Thoughts Stuck

Posted on June 10, 2013 at 09:26 PM.

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With EA showing yet another trailer for EA UFC today, we were able to glean a few more details about what this next-gen MMA product will be about. Disappointingly, they didn't show any true gameplay in that trailer, but there seemed to be a possibility of the game being playable on the show floor, so we'll certainly try and get our hands on it.

The new "MMAI" was setup as a game-changer for fighter intelligence, with Jon Jones on stage to talk up the feature. The basic idea appears to allow the CPU to attack in unconventional ways, even in the middle of the fight. Jon Jones used the example of his fight with Chael Sonnen, where he took the fight to the ground, an area where Sonnen was (foolishly) given the advantage by many pundits.

Frankly, it's easy to talk up a feature like this, so it's a wait-and-see approach here. Until we see actual gameplay of desperate strikers going for takedowns when they can't their shots off or jiu-jitsu fighters actually dropping to their back to give up the guard, we won't know what all of this really means.

The other feature talked about was full-body deformation, which promises unprecedented impact and damage for shots to the leg, body and face. While the trailer didn't us what this would look like in actual gameplay, it gave a sense of what to expect. EA seemed to be going for the Fight Night Round 3 "wow factor" of a face being punched and stretching like crazy, but it kind of takes the starch out of the shot when you know what you're seeing isn't representative of the final product.

As with the hitting physics in NHL or Madden, features like this have to be deployed correctly. If the developers overuse it to draw attention to the feature, then it just ends up overshadowing other nuances in the gameplay. It makes sense to talk about this in a conference, because it's a very "showy" feature, but it would've been nice to see them talk about something that truly affects gaemplay rather than next-gen fighter damage.

More to Come

It's nice to see EA getting pumped up for the new game, and I'm glad it's being given the extra time to truly come together. But we need to actually see it before we can get a feel for what all of these promises really mean.

Expect to hear more about EA UFC in the next couple of days, and we'll likely see -- and possibly play -- the game on the E3 show floor.

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