[Review] Supremacy MMA (PS3)

Genres often lack precise definitions and are usually betterconsidered as an umbrella term rather than a concrete idea of what a game is. Whileat first the fighting genre was pretty specific, it has come to includeambiguous games like Super Smash Brothersand wrestling games as well, neither of which featured the signature life bar. Supremacy MMA bridges the gap slightlywith health as the primary outcome judge and meter management aspects as well.However, it falls short on execution, leaving players with a game that isn’tfine tuned and ultimately disappointing despite its aspirations.

Presentation-wise, the game does a decent job of bothpresenting a gritty backdrop for the MMA fights and pumping players up. Thoughthe rock music may be generic, it does fit the motif. Characters’ stories arepresented through animated, voiced stills. With little movement in theanimation, the believability of characters is fully dependant on the voiceacting, which is a hit-or-miss in SupremacyMMA. Sometimes, characters seem barely excited after a hard fight, showinglittle expression and practically shoving the virtual script in players’ faces.

During actual matches though, it’s visually satisfying to beatdown opponents’ faces and other limbs, seeing it get more injured over time.The attacks themselves look very clunky though. This may be a directconsequence of the awkward gameplay, which gives characters striking combosthat are hard to execute, making most combos last only a couple of hits long. Afterthe first couple of matches, I quickly learned to not bother with strikingcombos and go for a takedown at any opportunity possible. Even on the groundthough, it’s a total frenzy. Though that may be what MMA fights resemble, itshouldn’t be what games feel like. Often, players will be mashing on an attackbutton, only getting in a strike a couple of times while being pounded by thepinned down opponent instead. The game just feels unpolished.  Likewise, the sound department once againrears its ugly head, offering little more than stock grunts.

Despite this the game did have some good concepts that,given better execution, would have made for a pretty deep game. Differentattacks actually do require different buttons to counter, creating a rock-paper-scissorlike metagame. In execution, however, there isn’t really enough time to countermost strike attempts, which leaves players much like a training dummy ifthey’re trying to reversal the opponent’s attacks.

Thankfully, grapples couldbe reacted to properly if players can anticipate it, which is a godsendconsidering how much more damage these deliver. The AI in the game isunrelenting and its difficulty varies vastly depending on the setting. Thougheasy mode allows players to breeze through levels by pounding on any desirablebutton, normal mode cranks up the difficulty immensely, countering practicallywhatever button pick players choose. Playing through the story would seem to bean affair in either playing against depressingly easy or maddeningly hard opponents.

Supremacy MMA is chaotic. MMA fighting is chaotic as well, I get it. But a video game shouldn't be to the point where players lose control and are simply mashing on buttons. On top of the usual MMA formula, this one throws in meter management, which seems to be a page out of most gamers' idea of fighting games and could have added a lot of depth, but the game's overall execution throws that potential away. Supremacy MMA may be good for a couple of night's worth of mashing goodness with the right amount of spirits, but is clearly not the answer for gamers in need of complexity. 

Available on: PS3, Xbox 360; Publisher: 505 Games; Developer: Kung Fu Factory; Players: 1-2; Released: September 20, 2011; ESRB: Mature; Official Site

Note: A retail copy was provided to Denkiphile for review purposes by the publisher.