The Checkpoint 6.23.08: Why Any UFC or MMA Game Will Fail
Posted by John Curry on 06.23.2008
The Checkpoint looks at why the UFC game or any other MMA game will ultimately fail to capture the true essence of an MMA fight which will ultimately make the game a failure.
This week the UFC released the footage of the early version of their upcoming UFC game (See video below). As many of the readers know, I am also a columnist for the MMA portion of our website and as a result I am very interested in this game and ultimately will pick it up in 2009 when it is scheduled to come out. With that said, I have very little faith that the game will be able to fully capture the essence of an MMA fight. Many games capture the essence and most importantly the reality of a given sport within the confines of a video game. The first game that comes to mind is Fight Night Round 3 which captured the world of boxing as well as any game up to that point. So as a result of my hesitation about the game I have decided to look at why this game will fail ultimately in the eyes of real MMA fans.
You just can't capture the real submission work
While the game will focus a lot on the characters and the standup, which will hopefully be done extremely well, the ability to capture pure submission work and submission defense seems like the holy grail of MMA games. I will be the first to tell you that it is easy to believe that the takedowns will be a big part of this game and will be executed quite well. My concern is once the fight hits the ground how well will the player be able to execute important aspects of the MMA fighter's repertoire, such as passing the guard, butterflying, crucifixing, and set ups for submissions on the offensive side and submission defense and ground defense on the defensive side. If the game does not fully execute this to top notch quality it will ultimately spell failure for this game.
There better be some horrible refs for this game
One of the biggest parts of the MMA world that often goes unnoticed when a game is created is the inclusion of refs that are just absolutely horrible at some points. I think that in order for this game to be a full "realistic" experience for the players, at various points in the game the ref should stop the fight too soon or force unnecessary stand-ups. If the UFC forgets this the game will fail to capture the essence of what really happens in an MMA match. Too often can someone's fight be ruined by the ref's inexperience or when his nerves get in the way. If the UFC forgets to include this subtle aspect into their game they will again fail. And this is one thing I guarantee they overlooked because they don't want their refs looking bad on a game.
As with anything in the world of MMA, not everyone's favorite fighters will be included
This is just a fanboy excuse not to purchase the game, but if I didn't include these fanboy excuses I would be just as bad as everyone else. The fact that some people will not purchase a game simply because it does not include some of their favorite fighters is stupid to me but the reality is that it happens all the time. This isn't just a problem for a UFC game but for any other MMA company who plans to make a game (Such as Randy Couture's rumored game). You will never be able to put all of the fighters that fans want and when they don't like your game this will be the first thing they jump to say, "Where's Fedor?" "Where's Kimbo?" "Where's Randy?" just whatever they can say they will say.
The ultimate reason UFC 09 and any other MMA game will fail… Because they have always FAILED
The Ultimate reason that any UFC game will fail, and subsequently any MMA game, is because they have always failed. Look at just a few of the games the UFC has already put out:
If anyone out there would like to attempt to justify to me why any of these games was a good representation of the MMA world, I am sure myself as well as all of the readers of this column would love to hear it. The truth is these games sucked. Just flat out sucked. I don't think I could say these games sucked enough. If this is the track record that the UFC is going to follow then I would say the odds are 2:1 that this game will ultimately suck as bad but have nicer graphics. I hate for that to be the fact but it is true.
These are the reasons I foresee the game sucking but I would like to see it succeed. I will be picking up the game when it comes out and following it until the release to see what comes of the game. Here's hoping the string of horrible MMA games comes to an end. There is just no reason with the UFC's money, the fan base, and most importantly the advancement of technology that the game should suck as bad as I think it will. Here's hoping I guess.
The same can be said of early pro wrestling or even sports games as a whole. There will always be some aspect that is overlooked or unable to be fleshed out completely due to technical or time constraints and not everyone's going to get their favorite athletes. As long as the game plays well enough, people will by it. Horrible reffing is available in every sport and pro wrestling games never capture ref bumps, interference behind the back and such properly. If it's a good game, it will sell, regardless of how realistically it plays out.
Posted By: MC42 (Guest) on June 23, 2008 at 12:20 AM
The first UFC game on Dreamcast and the first Pride PS2 game are completely successful games. It is the UFC who put out the bad rep of MMA games when they had extremely amateurish game studios create their games subsequent games.
Posted By: Gamer (Guest) on June 23, 2008 at 12:26 AM
"The Ultimate reason that any UFC game will fail, and subsequently any MMA game, is because they have always failed."
That's a fairly ridiculous statement. You had me with the rest of the article, but to assume that no game can capture essence simply because it hasn't been done yet is foolish. That kind of approach is the kind that hinders innovation.
Posted By: MKick (Guest) on June 23, 2008 at 01:59 AM
Virtual Pro Wrestling 2 on the N64 did the MMA thing better than the specialised games.
Posted By: WadeMcG (Guest) on June 23, 2008 at 03:07 AM
The Ultimate reason that any UFC game will fail, and subsequently any MMA game, is because they have always failed. Look at just a few of the games the UFC has already put out:
You couldnt be more WRONG with that statement. While most of those games werent perfect 10's they were still awesome for its time as an MMA game because that was the only thing out there.
Posted By: natedoggcata (Guest) on June 23, 2008 at 08:29 AM
As long as the fights can last all 3-5 rounds I'll be happy. In the past MMA games I NEVER went to the 2nd round. As long as the fights are reallistc and they have a good career mode I'll be happy.
Posted By: Marcus (Guest) on June 23, 2008 at 10:47 AM
Fire Pro Wrestling Returns has MMA and K1 rules matches and pulls it off fairly well. Furthermore, MMA matches can be fought under modern rules (KO or Submission stops the fight) or the old Pancrase rules (similar to boxing with points and standing 10 counts). I do agree with the column, though, it is very difficult to recreate the MMA experience on a game console. I owned a copy of UFC Tapout 2 for Xbox and although it was an entertaining game, I found that just by standing up and striking you could beat the CPU opponent 99.9% of the time with any character .
Posted By: S.G. (Guest) on June 23, 2008 at 11:15 AM
I agree with two out of three of your arguments. The one I don;t agree with is having shitty refs in the game. I think this would turn people off more to have bad calls in the game, than to have the refs be there to stop a fight and thats it. If you are online, finally putting the boots to some little punk that has handed your ass to you on several occasions, and now you are finally in the drivers seat. You make your chosen fighter go in for the kill, the opponent ends up getting a takedown, and throws two hammerfists, that you defend. The ref jumps in makes a shitty call, stops the match, when you were clearly fine, and defending the shots. That, to me anyway, spells lots of broken games, controllers, systems, and maye a couple of microphone cords.
Posted By: Toddo (Guest) on June 23, 2008 at 11:23 AM
This game actually can work in my eyes. If they take a page out of "Fight Night's" book as far as striking goes, it's already a plus.
I agree that the submissions will be sketchy, but if the game is a yearly release then the engine SHOULD improve.
As far as the roster's go, I can tell you that the UFC is loading this bitch up. And who the hell cares if Kimbo isn't in the game? You really want to play with a character who just strikes and phantom taps?
Posted By: Dustin James (Registered) on June 23, 2008 at 11:36 AM
so the game will "fail to capture the essence of what really happens in an MMA fight"
what?
are you kidding. Is this what you think is one of the most important features for an MMA game.
crazy
If the game can create an exciting and realistic fight it will be a hit. The ref has almost nothing to do with it.
Posted By: opp (Guest) on June 23, 2008 at 11:56 AM
As S.G. already stated, Fire Pro Wrestling Returns has a fairly decent with a decent but little outdated MMA roster. But it also has pro-wrestling and K-1 type matches with a massive rosters of wrestlers.
Why does this game always get overlooked? They game play is stellar, the AI is unmatched - is it because the 2D graphics?
Posted By: Eddie Chicago (Guest) on June 23, 2008 at 01:52 PM
"As with anything in the world of MMA, not everyone's favorite fighters will be included"
Add a create-a-fighter feature. Wrestling games have been including this for years.
Problem solved.
Posted By: Robin (Guest) on June 23, 2008 at 03:30 PM
Pride FC on the PS2 was, and still is a great MMA game. To say that none of them will work because none ever have is not only stupid, but is also very ignorant.
Posted By: SWMCryotek (Guest) on June 23, 2008 at 05:22 PM
The random KO's in Fire Pro Wrestling are very realistic. There has been a couple of instances where I'm owning CroCop and then he KO's me out of nowhere with a head kick. Awesome! Also, the AI is very advanced with ground and pound fighters like Randleman attempting takedowns and Wandy just standing up and banging. I think the fact that its a 2d game turns some peeps off to it though.
Posted By: S.G. (Guest) on June 24, 2008 at 01:30 PM
"The ultimate reason UFC 09 and any other MMA game will fail...Because they have always FAILED"
It has never been June 25, 2008 before. Thus, June 25, 2008 will never happen.
GG John Curry.
Posted By: Pwnage (Guest) on June 24, 2008 at 03:30 PM
In career mode I wonder if you will be able to set your fighter's IQ? Of course 45 would be the max. Also I hope you pick your own lameass tatoos and stupid haircuts.
Posted By: Ribbions (Guest) on June 24, 2008 at 05:37 PM
Look for a counter article from John in the coming days where he goes into why IT WILL be a success.
Posted By: Ramon Aranda (Registered) on June 24, 2008 at 06:46 PM
THQ has a rep for putting out quality wrestling titles. Also, they previously released the Pride game, which was pretty good. I'm sure they're going to expand on that previous game engine and create a more realistic game.
Posted By: Guest (Guest) on June 24, 2008 at 08:27 PM
The game WILL NOT fail because there aren't inconsistent referees included. Give me a break man.
Posted By: doug (Guest) on June 24, 2008 at 09:04 PM
Ran out of ideas Curry?
This was garbage.
The UFC game on the Dreamcast was highly regarded.
And most of the PRIDE games were outstanding, sorry that you're ignorant and make decisions before even playing a majority of the games.
Posted By: Kent Baker (Guest) on June 25, 2008 at 12:50 AM
Can I play as a dirty MMA ref. and make bullshit calls?
Posted By: cenasucks (Guest) on June 25, 2008 at 05:38 AM
Idont think the games will fail as long as the effort is put in. Ive owned the UFC games for the PS2 and they were good but the PRIDE FC game from visual concepts was by far the best and closest to reality at the time. The Visual Concepts Team ( who made the top notch and very realistic 2K series) really put there work in , the graphics, takedown defenses, submissions and in depth Create A Fighter re 2nd to none. I can only hope the UFC gamr can come close to this classic
Posted By: Guest#4803 (Guest) on June 25, 2008 at 01:34 PM
yep, the pride game for ps2 was definitely worth the buy (just got it a few days ago.)
great game. only lacking season mode. but still better than the ufc games.
Posted By: pride (Guest) on June 25, 2008 at 04:55 PM
this game will be considerably better than the previously stated ones. mostly because its next generation gaming, which has alread made games more realistic. no it wont be like rolling with the crew but should be fun to blaze and kick some ass. peace
Posted By: Dmang (Guest) on June 26, 2008 at 04:13 PM
