Here's something fans of MMA (most of us) who are also avid video game players (not me) probably already know: the sport of MMA is too intricate and complex to be properly adapted to the video game format. To wit:
If the depth of the MMA game is hard to see in actual fights, it's impossible to see in the various UFC videogames. Fighting for a submission in an actual fight is a chess match; you need to be 100 moves ahead. In the videogame, sadly, the nuances of the ground game are reduced to button mashing at its worst and a who-can-press-two-buttons-first contest at its best. Same goes for the striking game; in a sport where mere inches can determine the effect a punch has, the subtlety gets completely lost in the unrefined, stilted UFC: Sudden Impact. Granted, a videogame is never any substitute for the real thing, whether it's Wii Sports or Madden, because it's not the real thing. But what is so profoundly disappointing to MMA fans everywhere is the game of MMA could be translated to a videogame - it just needs a game designer who understands the intricacies of the game itself. And while fans everywhere are gearing up for UFC 2007 thanks to some really impressive trailers, given the previous games' track record, it looks far more likely that we'll get a game that looks like MMA, but doesn't play like it.
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