Supremacy MMA is arcade style fighting game that takes place in a MMA environment. From the time you look at the cover of this game, you get the feeling that it needs to deliver something special to be good. Unfortunately, it does not deliver, but somehow still finds some redemption.
I’m sorry to say, but from the moment the game loads up, it looks and feels very generic. You are greeted at the main menu, you have a few choices to make as far as what you might want to play. You have a tutorial mode that explains all the controls and trust me when I say, you better take that option first. A Fight Now mode, girl fighter mode, Xbox LIVE and Supremacy Stories. The last is the career mode if you will. It’s a collection of generic stories that can be played through with each of the characters in the game. The game does a good job of throwing in all sorts of different fighting styles in, and allows you to experience them in every mode. The mixture of fighting styles does not help the utter stupidity that the stories them self bring to the table. Then again it is a fighting game and story may not be of importance to most people, but the lack of quality is worth a mention so that the sale line of “bring your fighter to Supremacy” will not confuse people.
When you begin to play the game you realize that even going the tutorial, the game still has a learning curve to deal with. Not so much because the controls of the game, even though it does have its problems. The game becomes increasingly harder due to the ever evolving and sometimes confused AI in the game. There will be times when you will dominate a fight and then there will be time that you will not get off the mat. The AI when in the game is frustrating and rage quitting will become common happening as you progress you way through the game. It’s not just the AI that’s frustrating. The level up system in the game is just as unsatisfying as the stories. You never really get anything out of it unless it’s a pair of new trunks or pants or maybe a new way to display your name. Not enough to be satisfactory or anything else for that matter.
When you get into talking about the controls of the game, it’s a whole different story, but unfortunately it’s not any better. The controls are simplistic and easy to grasp on to, but that doesn’t mean that it works. The controls to the game are not clunky, but not fluid. It really feels like every button push and every move you manage to pull off seems uncomfortable and forced. You have the constant feeling of having to place your hands in odd positions in order to do anything. This problem hurts your progression in the game. Difficult controls make for difficult wins leading to a less than par W/L record and a disappointing experience to boot. This problem carries over with even more disappointment when you take the game online. Most people have the same issues that I ran into, or at least from what I could tell. Most of the matches I played online was played out to be myself and another person just trying to land a punch, kick or mat move. Most of the time neither of us would succeed. The graphics are pretty decent. Pretty much typical for an arcade style fighting game and the fighters take and keep damage pretty well, especially in tournaments. There seem to be several different venues to keep things fresh as you progress and with all the fighting styles that the game features it allows you to enjoy what fun is there to be enjoyed.
Oddly enough with all the problems that plague this game somehow it still manages to be enjoyable. By no means can this game demand a $60 price point. With licensed MMA games out there this game is going to be a hard sale for 505 Games. It’s worth a rent but the replay value on the game is not enough to make it a purchase. The achievements are hard to come by for the most part and require you to pretty much complete the game in order to unlock most of them. Al in all I would not recommend this game for a buy, but it’s worth a play even with all the problems that it has, but for what it is it still manage to keep me interested for a short amount of time.
