Paul Heyman guy. You know who else is a Paul Heyman guy? Brock Lesnar.

Only he’s not in Supremacy MMA. And neither is Paul.

No. Instead, you have a whole bunch of people the casual MMA fan will have never heard of.

In fact, I’m not going to lie. I’m not even sure if all these people are real. I’m

pretty sure Jens Pulver actually exists, obviously. But some of these guys...I mean, Dante Algearey?

That’s not real, is it?

He’s been dead for centuries.

Nonetheless, that’s kind of the point of Supremacy MMA. To give you an MMA game without

all the glitz and glam of major organizations like UFC. This is a game for fans who dig

deeper into the sport than just listening to Joe Rogan’s commentary. It prides itself

on being hardcore in spirit and simple in execution.

Too bad it’s kind of mediocre in everything.

Supremacy MMA counters its competition with a reversal in tone. Where THQ’s UFC games

go for a realistic vibe with really complex controls and gameplay mechanics, this one

takes a slightly different road. Supremacy is more like an arcade fighting game with

an MMA coat of paint. It’s kind of like Ryu stepped into the octagon.

Only, you know, without the hadouken.

And personally, I love that approach. I find the controls in UFC Unleashed to be a little

much. I vastly prefer a game with accessible controls that let you jump in and play without

the steep learning curve. So conceptually, Supremacy MMA’s heart is definitely in the

right place. The problem is how that concept has been realized.

If you’re going for that arcade-like vibe, fast and responsive action is essential. This

is something Supremacy lacks. Button inputs seem to have a bit of a lag, which can make

matches feel a lot slower than would be ideal. The fighting just doesn’t feel very fluid

or responsive, and again, that’s detrimental to what the game is trying to be.

Fortunately, the game does succeed in other areas. For example, Supremacy does a better

job portraying the brutality of the sport than any other MMA game on the market. The

animations are kind of jerky, but the attacks can look devastating at times. And as each

fight wears on, you can actually see the physical toll it takes on the characters.

They bruise, they start to bleed...it’s really cool to see that gradual effect.

But in addition to the unresponsive attacks, Supremacy also stumbles over its own strange

gameplay emphasis. See, you spend a lot of the game waiting to counter. You can’t really

make a move effectively until your opponent makes one, which you have to counter. It’s

realistic, sure, but Supremacy MMA deliberately strives to be unrealistic in every other area.

So it’s a strange system to implement in a game that wants to be a fast-paced counterpoint

to its competition.

But even with its flaws, I did have fun with Supremacy occasionally. Locking in a nice

submission move after a simple chain of attacks was really satisfying, as was getting a guy

to tap out with a sweet triangle choke. But I really wanted more from this game. As it

is, the presentation is lacking and the execution doesn’t match what the philosophy seems

to be, leaving fans with an average MMA game that just isn’t ready for a title match.