World of Mixed Martial Arts

While playing my fair share of first-person shooters throughout the holidays, I pondered to myself when a mixed martial arts based title would be released on the next-generation consoles. Having been since 2004 when the last MMA title was released – UFC: Sudden Impact to be exact – I searched the net for any information I could find and I stumbled upon a diamond in the rough titled World of Mixed Martial Arts that was nearing completion.

What is World of Mixed Martial Arts? First off, it’s not on any next-generation console; it’s only available on the PC. Secondly, it’s developed by Grey Dog Software; a popular developer that’s known for its sports text simulators. And lastly, being a simulator, it puts players in the role of a president of a MMA organization booking matches, signing fighters, creating television shows, working out contracts for pay-per-view events, negotiating with sponsors, and much more. To be frank, WMMA is the video game that every crazed MMA fanatic out there has desired since The Ultimate Fighter television show began on Spike TV in 2005.

Sadly, WMMA comes with a big downside that wasn’t Grey Dog Software’s fault. Right from the beginning, players will notice that WMMA doesn’t used licensed fighters, organizations, television shows, arenas, or anything of that matter. What GDS incorporated into WMMA was a fictional universe called the “Cornellverse;” a database created by lead developer Adam Ryland’s that may draw inspiration from real world fighters, but it ultimately was all created from the mind of Ryland himself. With unknown fighters such as John Rivero (my personal favorite) to Sukarno, a fighter that comes with a 173-0 record that rivals the Gracie’s family own Rickson Gracie (over 400 victories), the database of fighters have a moderate appeal, but lack the sense of attachment that players would have with booking matches for the UFC.

Let’s move on to the dirty details of WMMA. Filling the shoes of the president of one of the four organizations provided, players will embark on a never-ending journey to become the number one MMA league in the world. The difficulty of the game is somewhat mixed since players can take control of the Global Association of Mixed Martial Arts (GAMMA) right away if they choose to do so. The GAMMA happens to be the number one gun right off the bat, so it’s increasingly easier to take a hold of it and spend millions of dollars to promote it as opposed to taking control of the British Cage Fighting (BCF) corporation that ranks number four in the database in terms of size. Having used the BCF a few times, it’s progressively harder than controlling the GAMMA due to the lack of funds, quality fighters, and popularity in almost all the regions of the world. There are over 80 regions in the world where you must compete for popularity; from the 50 states of the United States to six separate regions of Europe, you must focus on challenging the other MMA organizations worldwide.

As for the actual simulator itself, it’s solid all the way through. There are over 350 fighters, workers, and announcers to hire that all range in different strengths and weaknesses. Every fighter comes with a fully 3D rendered model to show off a unique look to give you a glance of the fighters that are pitted against each other. After pitting the respective fighters against one another, and of course filling out the rest of the event’s card, you can advance to the day of the event and see predictions from “Blurcat,” an “online” resource that keeps tabs on all the rumors and happenings across the world for MMA. After seeing the predictions of who is going to win and how they are going to win, you can move onto the actual show where the fight will be simulated through text. Depending on the rules, the length of the fight, and the fighters, the text will vary to determine the winner of the match. Reading text may sound boring, but it can be quite exciting when you pit your top two draws against each other in their respective weight class and read the outcome.

The game comes equipped with a rankings system for both your own organization and worldwide. So while your champ may be number one in his weight class for you, he may be only ranked fourth in the world with other associations’ fighters mixed in. This was a great addition to the simulator as it helped make it more interesting to keep tabs on other fighters and how they are doing. On top of that, fighters are able to create relations with one another – whether it’s rivalries or friendships, the relations with one another go a long way to help with the replay of the game. If fighters have a strong friendship, he or she (yes, there are female fighters in WMMA) may join the MMA camp to learn new techniques and become a better all around fighter.

With all the said, the biggest downfall of WMMA is the lack of a license. But even with that considered, WMMA is still an impressive game for its first release. The modding community of WMMA has already developed several databases of their own that included real-world fighters from the UFC, EliteXC, and the like. Outside of that, there are ongoing mods that will include fictional characters such as Spider-Man and Batman to face off in the cage. The number one thing to keep considered is that WMMA is all text based and doesn’t allow players to take control of a particular fighter ever to compete in a one-on-one bout. To obtain your own copy of WMMA you must download it from Grey Dog Software’s homepage located here http://www.greydogsoftware.com/wmma/.

Gameplay: 7.9
The simulator works superbly, but after six years deep into one of my organizations, it felt like I saw everything that I needed to see. The text becomes redundant a few years in with matches ending in the same fashion as the previous one.

Graphics: 7.4
The renders are detailed and unique from one another. The menus do take time to load up, especially the menu where you can see the best potential matches to book.

Sound: N/A
Grey Dog Software didn’t include any type of music for WMMA. No menu music, no soundtrack, no voice-overs, or anything in the sound department.

Difficulty: Medium / Hard
Many players will start out a little rough with not knowing what to do, but give it thirty minutes and you’ll know what you must do to wipe the globe clean of all other MMA associations.

Concept: 8.8
MMA nuts will love World of Mixed Martial Arts for providing full control of booking matches and all the goods.

Overall: 7.7
The biggest problem with WMMA is the lack of fighters, organizations, and content in the database. It becomes a big problem when all your biggest fighters have all faced off against each other and the only thing left to do is throw them in there with weaker opponents just to be able to fill a card. Though, the actual simulator is tight and provides enough detail in the text that it might improve your MMA intelligence with knowledge on maneuvers you never knew existed.