Although not as
in-depth as the console version, MMA on the iPhone/iPod touch is a
mixture of WWF meets Tekken. For the uninitiated, MMA stands for
mixed martial arts and is an extremely popular sport, especially in
the United States.
At its core, MMA is a fighting game that requires
the player to use the intuitive touch screen of the iPhone/iPod
touch to pummel your opponents into submission that include a
variety of manoeuvres from punching, kicking and grappling. Best of
all, it actually works!
After the
informative tutorial process of MMA, the player is then ready to
embark on their fighting career, thanks to a fairly decent career
mode. This allows you to create your own fighter from appearance to
skin tone and even tattoos. It's a great way to waste 10 or so
minutes in creating your MMA avatar. Apart from career, the game has
an exhibition mode for quick one-off fights and a challenge mode that
requires you to complete a certain challenge.
However the heart of
the game is career mode that forces you to fight your way to the top
in the world of MMA. Career also needs the player to fine
tune their fighters from fighting style to various mini-games to
assist in building your statics up such as the speed bag or weights.
Some of these mini-games are actually fun and the developers have
put some thought into the enjoyment factor of them.
Stamina
also plays a huge part of this game because if this is low, you will
have an extremely difficult time in fighting back so some strategy
is involved here. If you complete the tutorial which I suggest you
do, this will help you with some basic tactics in order to win your
first fight.
My favourite aspect
of MMA are the submission moves which is like a quick-time event and
once your opponent has a certain level of health (e.g. low), these flash on the
screen for the player to use. Whether it's sliding both fingers down
to grapple them to the ground or sliding your finger to the left to
grab your opponent, it's the small things in this game that open it
up to a whole wealth of replay value not to mention sturdy gameplay.
Graphically, this is
one good looking game on the iPhone/iPod Touch with some well
designed environments and realistic fighters. The sound effects are
decent as well and the commentary is not bad... however after 30 or
so minutes, it does become quite repetitive. Another highlight is
the intro music of the fighters that is oozing with WWF references
and enhances the gameplay.
In the end, MMA is a
fun game on the iPhone/iPod Touch that proves that fighting games
are possible on this portable device. The only issue that we found
is that the career mode is a little short and there is no option for
multiplayer which really would have made this game. Even so, the
sturdy gameplay and great graphics work hand in hand with the touch
screen of these smart devices.
