Relearning EA Sports UFC 4 is then a question of time more than ability. I remembered a fundamental lesson, from Bas Rutten in 2010’s EA Sports MMA, of all things: “Strike to pass, pass to strike.” In other words, use one to implement the other. That’s because I had spent all my energy trying to advance my hold leading into it. When I wasn’t paying attention to my stamina, I often found myself fully postured up, ready to hit my opponent, but with nothing behind the punch. It’s also a good idea, in the career mode, to build up your stamina in the early training options, rather than going for strike power - despite the disproportionate effect a harder hit has against weaker AI opponents. This places a premium not only on picking your spots and keeping your guard up, but also on not trying to do too much once you’re in position. Image: EA Vancouver/Electronic ArtsĮA Vancouver has always discouraged players from spamming attacks and moves, but the stamina penalty this year seems larger than ever. The Kumite arena (and its Bloodsport-inspired broadcast presentation) is a great inclusion for the one-off bouts. It’s still better than it was in UFC 3 I can’t begin to tell you how I managed transition defense back then. It took me a lot of time to figure out where I was in the hold, and how I got there. I didn’t understand the game was telling me that my only option was defending against a submission move. But in some cases, early on, I’d been reversed without realizing it. Grappling is a timing game now, where you try to beat your opponent to the move you want, or apply its counter in enough time. Partway through a sequence, I couldn’t tell if I was pressing or defending a transition, because defending a move is the same stick gesture as implementing it. After completing enough of these holds in a sequence, the fighter gets to apply the chokehold or rain down the hammer fists. The game then contextually implements a grappling move that gets the player into better position for that goal. Now, they get one of three choices, always the same (with the same directional commands) on the left stick: Get up, submit, or ground-and-pound. UFC 3 and earlier games listed specific holds and postures for the player, and asked them to choose which one to attempt.
On the plus side, now it only gives me the information I really need. Once locked up, though, the simplified grappling worked with and against my intentions. In UFC 3, where the command was a trigger and the right stick, even when I had backed up my opponent and had a good opportunity to go for the takedown, I often ended up matadored into the cage. Going straight to a takedown (trigger and face button) is more viable. Starting a clinch also felt a lot more purposeful, using a face button and bumper modifier. Strikes are as thwacky as ever in UFC 4, but the stamina penalty for spamming them is more severe, especially if you’re trying to finish a hold later. Takedowns from the standing clinch position felt a lot easier, and consequently, a lot harder to defend against, even with both triggers held down as the game instructed. That’s a very basic approach to fighting in the UFC games, and with it, the new transition grappling system really does shine. I seem to remember things going that way in EA Sports UFC 3, as the game starts you out in the lowest of three competitive tiers and gives you ample time to build your fighter into someone who can handle the big time.Īfter getting worked over, even by my sparring partners, in the game’s introduction to the fighting basics, I found my tried-and-true ground-and-pound game gaining traction in my fighter’s first few bouts. Maybe I’m supposed to get my ass beaten badly (in a parking lot, no less) in the onboarding scenarios during the game’s single-player career.
The new grappling/transition system UFC 4 implements is definitely simpler, but there’s still a lack of feedback, leaving me wondering at times if I’m purposefully leaning on my left stick, or just spamming an input in desperation to advance or break free from a hold. This connective tissue of mixed martial arts is critical to the sport, but over three different video game series, spanning more than a decade, it has been inscrutable to my only casually interested mind. I confess some frustration with the career mode of UFC 4, despite EA Vancouver’s third attempt at refining the grappling, along with the transitions to stronger positions or to submission holds.
But when the game’s release cycle is longer than a year, what happens to the folks in between? I mean the apostates, who may have the last game in the series but may have not played it in a year, which describes my situation with EA Sports UFC 4. Yearly sports titles try to straddle a line separating accessibility for newcomers and familiarity for lifers.