MashButtons enters the ring with MMA Supremacy review

Two years ago at E3 we saw Jens Pulver on the show floor promoting the upcoming fighter MMA Supremacy, you know, the gritty no holds barred fighting title recently released by 505 Games. What’s the difference between this and the handful of other MMA fighting games out there? Supremacy focuses on unsanctioned fights along with fast and brutal gameplay that seems to be more like how the old MMA pay per view fights used to be. Each fighter has their own fighting style and story as you fight from an amateur no name to supremacy with names like Jens Pulver and Demian Reis to real life female fighters Felice Herrig and Michele Guiterrez. Rather than sold out arenas, you will fight in underground events taking place in prisons, warehouses, strip clubs, and more. So will this Mature rated fighter hold up to the other MMA fighters out there?

So I have had some time with UFC Undisputed and EA MMA, liked the first and had mixed feelings about the latter, but after seeing footage on Supremacy, I thought it was an interesting concept, and now after playing through the story with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighter Demian Reis and Felice Herrig along with some online matches with other fighters, I feel like I have a grasp on the mechanics and gameplay.  This is more of a 2D fighter similar to Mortal Kombat, minus the fatalities but with ground fighting. The graphics look really good and realistic, with bruises forming on you and your opponent throughout the fight. It is definitely more brutal than the other MMA titles out there while being easier to get the hang of controls. I was only able to find a couple matches but they were fast and fun, however, the feature that stood out the most was how each fighter controls so much differently from the next.

I highly suggest playing through the tutorial before going into the story mode; I did not at first and found myself pounding buttons trying to lay down combos to beat the opponent into submissions. I quickly learned that this method does not work so well unless you play on easy. Also, there isn’t much of an online community right now, which is the main reason as to why I have only been able to play a few matches online, not sure if it is due to another big release that came out this week, but there were numerous times I would sit for five to ten minutes waiting for an opponent during prime time hours in both ranked and player matches. Lastly, it seems controls are a bit sluggish and there were numerous times I would have to repeat the move entry to execute moves and combos, while other times it worked flawlessly, even when I would slow down my button input it did help some, it did not eliminate the issue.

 

Supremacy MMA did not feel like a game that could overcome the UFC fighting game but is a title I could have fun playing until the next UFC entry. It does deliver on all of its features, primarily the brutal action and once you land a few combos and knock outs, it is easy to keep playing and developing your player strategy, unfortunately with little to no online community, the replay value wears thin after a couple hours, unless you have another controller and some friends to beat down. It would have been nice to create your own fighter and work your way to Supremacy, but it does make do with what is available. My review is based on the Xbox 360 version of the title, I have not heard as to whether the PlayStation 3 entry has a larger online community for this title, but I do see this game being a lot more enjoyable as long as you can find matches online.