EA Sports struggled to make significant inroads into the MMA gaming market with their first attempt, up against the UFC Undisputed series with its official UFC license and all the fighters which came with that. But the UFC franchise, when still in THQ's hands, was weighed down by it's own intricacies. Ground work, grappling, wrestling for the superior position on the mat, these are things which are incredibly complicated to map on a gamepad. EA Sports MMA struggled here too, but offered a simpler, more elegant solution. Now that EA Sports has snatched the UFC license there isn't much to stand in their way, and they've delivered an impressive overall package with EA Sports UFC. This next-gen-only release features on this for one simple reason: the knockouts. There is little as satisfying as a flash knockout, out of nowhere. It captures the element of MMA which makes it stand out from most other fight sports - those sudden moments where, without warning, one precise roundhouse kick or superman punch connects so perfectly that your opponent collapses to the mat. It's a classic gaming moment. And when it happens in a ranked online match-up against a real opponent, it's even sweeter. Come storming out of your corner as the bell goes, and drop the brawler across from you with one laser-focused unexpected blow to the temple, and it's all over. Stunning stuff. Ground and pound knockouts where your fighter pounces on a downed opponent and ruthlessly beats his head in until he spits his gum guard out and goes limp are almost just as satisfying, evoking an animalistic, caveman-like emotion in the heat of the moment. Perhaps not the kind of thing we should be encouraging in children, but it makes for thrilling gaming for the rest of us.
Game-obsessed since the moment I could twiddle both thumbs independently. Equally enthralled by all the genres of music that your parents warned you about.
