EA Sports MMA News Post

EA Sports MMA Review

03:24 PM - October 29, 2010 by RaychelSnr

My shins sore and calves tired, we began sparring -- practicing the technique from the lesson of the night. Putting any apprehensiveness to rest, I took a combo to the face that smashed my cheek off my black rubber mouth guard. Whoa. With that out of the way, I’m ready to continue my studies in Muay Thai with a new-found confidence. I flashed a smile for a second, shook my head and went back at it.

Journeying into the world of MMA has provided me with an inside perspective to review the new EA Sports MMA title from EA Tiburon. And while we both may be new to the sport, we have something in common: fundamentals.

EA Tiburon firmly grasps mixed martial arts, and the developers have created their own interpretation of the sport, which in this case is a technically sound fighter with innovative gameplay design. This is a representation of MMA at its finest.

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Game: EA Sports MMAReader Score: 8/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 5 - View All

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Member Comments

# 1 SBartlett @ 10/29/10 04:47 PM

My four blog entries into the world of Muay Thai: http://www.operationsports.com/SBartlett/blog/

# 2 daniverson1973 @ 10/29/10 05:23 PM

this game is so awesome, i find myself wanting to trade in ufc10 now, because the fighter-engine is superior and amazing, im totally addicted, and the fightershare is awesome

# 3 Bad_Intentions @ 10/29/10 05:43 PM

Nice in depth review. I rate this game the same 8/10. Very strong title for a first effort. One of my main gripes is collision detection(wish this game had glancing blows like FN4).

A couple of other minor gripes are when put in a triangle the submitter seemingly locks it in before the "battle" starts. I would like it better if while during the sweet spot battle he was graphically trying to get it locked in, kinda like they do for the rear naked choke, then if the submitter wins the hold gets locked in for the tap. Minor gripe.

Also when locking in the head and arm choke, you should switch from full mount to side. Again minor gripe.

I am having alot of fun with this game though. You have to approach it like a chess match, and I like how fights can actually go the distance between equally skilled opponents. I feel the chances of being knocked out/submitted/taken to a decision are very realistic and depend on the fighters strengths and weaknesses more so than any other MMA game out.

# 4 DaveDQ @ 10/29/10 05:45 PM

This is a fair review. The game does enough to merit an 8 but has a few issues that keep it there. For a first time effort though, I'd say EA did great. I still say other sports game should take note of how well online is done in EA MMA.

# 5 kingback2410 @ 10/29/10 06:11 PM

so much easier than ufc...i just like the roster for ufc a lil better though.

# 6 Bad_Intentions @ 10/29/10 06:50 PM

Yea, I like the UFC's roster better, but since the game plays like crap it renders the roster useless.

# 7 daniverson1973 @ 10/29/10 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bad_Intentions


	Yea, I like the UFC's roster better, but since the game plays like crap it renders the roster useless.

my point exactly
thats why the online fighter-share feature is so freaking awesome
i have been playing with 'created' Brock Lesnar, Cain Velaquez, Royce Gracie, Ortiz, Liddell, and on and on
so im very happy, just need to improve on a 2-17 record....lol

**good review - i give it a 9/10, and would be 10 if cpu vs. cpu was available**

# 8 PlatooN @ 10/29/10 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daniverson1973


	my point exactly thats why the online fighter-share feature is so freaking awesome i have been playing with 'created' Brock Lesnar, Cain Velaquez, Royce Gracie, Ortiz, Liddell, and on and on so im very happy, just need to improve on a 2-17 record....lol good review - i give it a 9/10, and would be 10 if cpu vs. cpu was available

i always roll with liddell on LHW. he is prob the best lookin w/most accurate stats on fighter share

# 9 eagletal88 @ 10/29/10 11:00 PM

Great review!

Great game!

Hmm... I think I need to download some user created fighters... I just wish they had a tournament mode for offline

# 10 sportskid84 @ 10/30/10 01:28 AM

Will pick this up over svr11

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

# 11 Hjkflannel @ 10/30/10 05:43 AM

'Liddell is best looking' . . . Made me laugh but I know what you mean looks just like him and the fact that all the commentary names are in there, sneaky sneaky. Everyones machida is the same and way too bulky I find but there is some great work. They need to go full 'pro evo soccer' style and add a league creation with customisable logos to add to career, then we could simply create ufc.

# 12 stlstudios189 @ 10/30/10 11:00 AM

control scheme can make a game or break a game. UFC is good but, takes a long time to master it. Jump in and compete is not a bad aproach. I will get this game soon.

# 13 daniverson1973 @ 10/30/10 11:10 AM

you should be interested if you like ufc10, i like ufc10, but mma does laps around it
the only thing better is the presentation and commentary in my opinion
but NO its not easier than MMA, in fact MMA is harder, especially online
the fights, online and offline are much more technical and realistic, and harder
the fighting is very unique to each fighter
UFC becomes very repetitve after a while, although still a good game, EA-MMA is breath of fresh air because its much more realistic and challenging and everything else i stated
i been playin it everyday since ive had it, and i DIDNT do that with UFC after TWO days

# 14 Lakers 24 7 @ 10/30/10 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smokez4DAyz


	Is this game reallly better than UFC or easier, there's a difference. Also, are you guys giving a 6 game an 8 because its different than a game you have gotten used to? An eight is a really great game. Is MMA a really great game? long hours of play, no cheesy computer a.i., is it as fun alone as it is online? How's online lag? How's the online opponents? do they just button mash? are you forced to adapt to a different way you play the cpu as opposed to when you play a human? Just asking, cuz I'm interested. A better control scheme than THQ? Really?

It's definitely better, but I don't know what makes it easier. A good sports game should be realistically challenging so IMO it's a knock against EA MMA to say it's easier than the UFC. To me the UFC version is much more pick up and play, it's easy to get lucky KO's, just spam the stick for Take downs and defense, slap on subs whenever and with whoever, etc. Anything that's arcade is going to be easy to play. EA MMA actually requires a bit more skill, both strategically and stick wise. That's the main thing that separates the two games, UFC 2010 was far too basic and thus not fun to play.

Online opponents is hit or miss. I've had some great battles online, just awesome MMA matches that went down just about how I would picture the fight going in real life. Managing range, fighting to your strengths, avoiding your weaknesses, proper timing, and looking for good counter opportunities. Then you run into guys who throw all of that out the window and playing against them is more annoying than the worse Madden cheeser that you can dream of.

Basically when you have guys that won't abuse the irrelevant stamina system and the fact that anyone can throw out punches at rapid succession then the game plays very sim and is a lot of fun. The matches where you're dealing with guys who throw litterally 3-500 strikes in 3 rounds that's when the game feels completely cheese and arcade. That goes for TSC and classic, the latter just being even worse than the other for button mashing.

So, there are times where I love the game and it feels like a 9/10, then there are times where I feel the game needs a lot of work.

I'd say 95% of my matches online were lag free. Sometimes it does take awhile to find an opponent though.

Yes, the control scheme is better, but harder to learn. Also, should point out that the judging system is completely broken.

With all that said I'm still glad I purchased the game and with the proper patch it will have phenomenal longevity. If they don't address the button mashing and potential strike output, then it'll be a completely different story so we'll see what happens.

# 15 Anim8or @ 10/30/10 08:35 PM

He DID take my middleweight belt online (in a totally random chance match up, while I was on an 8 game winning streak I believe). We then did a fight card, where I won in round 3 in the same match up (by KO), but then in true "I am a sports gaming god" fashion, he immediately flash KO'd my Cung Le (my favorite fighter in the world) with Scott Smith (the only guy who has ever beaten him) in the first 30 seconds of our second fight card match up. I honestly loved seeing a guy reviewing our game with over 100 fights under his (blue) belt online, it's great to see someone reviewing our game with enough skills to actually win 2 out of 3 fights against a developer (I am no Mark Taylor, but I am also not a chump in the stand up game, so I was quite impressed).

# 16 jugganott @ 10/30/10 11:43 PM

I bet it hurt to give EA any type of love on this site.

# 17 ManiacMatt1782 @ 10/31/10 05:26 PM

fifa and nhl get almost nothing but praise on this site pal, ncaa football gets alot of praise too. madden is a mixed bag but its not ALL negative. do you even read when you come here? OS is not this anti ea haven you make it out to be.

# 18 n8ccwa @ 11/01/10 12:06 PM

EA MMA is a great game with better controls then UFC. The career mode is similar to other titles but I really enjoy being able to train in different parts of the world. Online is very competitive, the different fighters styles really shine.

# 19 Buckeye @ 11/02/10 01:15 AM

I went and rented the game this past weekend.

I enjoyed it but as mentioned earlier UFC has the better fighter choices.
The game play is amazing though.The career mode had me jumping up and down. It was that much better than the past two UFC games.

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