With only two fighting games to consider, there is a limited body of evidence to see how sports fighting games have transitioned into the next generation. It's still a bit of a sore spot that there has not been (and won't be for some time) a boxing product, but we have EA Sports UFC and WWE 2K15 to fill some of the gap.

What's notable about EA Sports UFC is that it started out from a relatively solid base, and it's been iterated and improved a half dozen time now (via patches). Entirely new animations and concepts have been added to the core gameplay loop, and things like stamina, punch speed and groundwork have been tuned to counteract some of the problematic spam and exploits that have been an issue for offline and online play.

What interests me is the way in which these two games try and represent their respective sport. It's an interesting divergence from something like boxing, which basically has the one discipline but a lot of variety in how to implement that discipline. Mixed martial arts, by its very name, incorporates various styles, and there were a lot of possible ways the developers at Electronic Arts could have gone. Wrestling, on the other hand, is a scripted experience that's always been represented in games as more of a "conventional" fighting product. While the outcomes are predetermined, the violence is very real. This doesn't always seem to make it into the game design.

It's an interesting contrast, though — UFC and WWE — as there is a flashy production aspect of each sport, and personality is a lot more front and center than in something like boxing (which still has lots of that, too).




What I feel EA Sports UFC does so well is create a balance between all aspects of MMA. The amount of time you spend on the ground, in the clinch, defending submissions, striking and moving around the Octagon is well tuned. Even through all the patches, I don't feel there's too much ground game or too little. Submissions happen at the right frequency, and the minigame is actually pretty good. Even the striking has come a long way from a decent start, and there's way less spam and more flow to the combos. They've even added lots of new fighters to play with.

While the "realism" of the game initially was undone by some of the stamina systems and move spam, I still think the amount of knockout variety and match outcomes keeps the experience more on the sim side of the ledger. True, there is more striking than you'd normally see in a real fight, but there are legitimately several paths to victory, which I couldn't always say with THQ's products. You can knock someone out with a flask KO. You can wobble someone and then finish them off. You can wear someone down and TKO them. You can sink in a submission, if the timing and stamina is right. You can even win decision fights. This variety alone speaks volumes to me, as EA has created the foundation (I know, I know…) to really iterate, which they continue to do via patch.

What's fun about the game — and also frustrating, from time to time — is that many fights actually feel like fights. There is a back and forth to the action, and a fighter can be knocked down several times and get back up. Then again, he might be knocked clean out on an initial flurry. There is an amount of randomness to the game flow, but if you master the systems, these uncertainties become fewer and further between.


The fact that the action actually transitions well between the various disciplines is also key, as clinch work happens naturally as you back someone up, and that can lead to takedowns. Just the same, the ground game has a reasonable number of reversals and situations to land damage, and it doesn't become some Cirque du Soleil show like the THQ games often did (even though they did a lot right).

The final piece is the individual fighters, and that's an area where I feel EA Sports UFC could be better. To be sure, these guys and gals look the part, but they lack some of the signature behaviors and moves that set them apart from one another. They have a lot of good animations for movement to differentiate personalities (big guys vs. little guys, etc), but there needs to be more attention paid to specific attack patterns and strategies that each fighter uses.





For 2K's first foray into the wrestling world (joining forces with Yukes), they've tried to take baby steps in a direction that I think a lot of people have wanted wrestling games to head in for some time. As stated, wrestling games have, up until now, played out as a competition where anyone can win. There are life bars, stamina bars, stored finishers and submission thresholds, but there's nothing dictating who wins or loses the match beforehand, which is a key part of the wrestling equation.

Sure, the flash and sizzle of the sport is present in all aspects, from spectacular entrances to nostalgia-dripping historical modes. What is still missing from wrestling is the soul of wrestling: the performance. I found that this year's MyCareer mode started to hedge towards that a little bit, with social media followers and matches where you're almost meant to lose, often in squash fashion. Even the stamina meter has the dual purpose of infusing some drama into the matches, as your wrestler will drop to one knee or hold the ropes if they're weak. Sometimes this will even result in kick-outs on pinfalls if you don't have the strength to make the cover.

For full disclosure, I still like a lot of what the WWE games do these days. The weapons and gimmick matches provide some amusement around the ring, and the variety of finisher deployments and OMG moments add to the proceedings. Even the basic grappling, striking and chain wrestling is serviceable, if a little tired.


What I think does need to happen is a complete overhaul of the control system, as it's just become too cumbersome and clunky for modern gaming. It gets the job done, but it doesn’t allow you to move or attack with the smoothness and fidelity required by the sport of wrestling. Compare that to EA Sports UFC, where a lot of the inputs and transitional animations actually bridge into subsequent moves and look right. It's not all perfect, but it's closer to the reality than where WWE 2K15 is at.

Changing up the input scheme and general game flow would allow the developers to achieve something closer to the actual concept of what wrestling is, but that would require admitting that wrestling games aren't about wins and losses. Ideally, matches should be about telling a story and taking the fans along for the ride. This would still allow a great deal of agency for the player, but the outcome would be pre-determined. You could even play with that idea and go against the script for certain matches. Of course, you'd still have to allow exhibition matches to be "off the book," giving players full control of the moves and the outcome, but I think the whole conceit of a wrestling game needs to be thought through and revisited. What we have is a half measure.

Similar to EA Sports UFC, the developers at 2K and Yukes need to leverage their stars better as well. Whether this means more face/body scanning, more audio or more animations, the characters have to live as themselves beyond the entrances. That currently doesn't happen. There are flashes where the character you're using resembles their true self, but not often enough.

Outlook

Even though these two games are at different levels of adherence to the "real sport," I think it's really intriguing to see EA so committed to UFC and 2K working on the emotion and performance aspects of WWE. Things are likely to get better, and it will be fun to see where they go.