Quick Look: Bellator MMA Onslaught

I'm not sure how Jeff didn't notice it, but it's pretty clear that where you start on the submission bar is dependent on how much stamina you have left. Jeff lost every submission because he just kept punching until he had no stamina left, at which point he'd get taken down into a submission and need to fill up about 80-90% of the bar, while his opponent only needed to fill up about 1/3 or less.

The stamina bar definitely is the reason Jeff gets tapped so fast, but why would the guy getting punched in the face with hits that would knock his head off not lose any stamina from those blows? Seems kind of broken if you are fighting a stand up game and your opponent can just absorb all of your blows and then easily tap you out because he was "rested".

The animations seem really quick, especially on the takedown type move. But then again, he is Terry, Son!

@ajamafalous said:

I'm not sure how Jeff didn't notice it, but it's pretty clear that where you start on the submission bar is dependent on how much stamina you have left. Jeff lost every submission because he just kept punching until he had no stamina left, at which point he'd get taken down into a submission and need to fill up about 80-90% of the bar, while his opponent only needed to fill up about 1/3 or less.

This. If you properly manage your stamina, getting out of submissions is super easy for most of the fight (gets tougher near the end, as it should, because your fighter is more tired by then).

@bigevil1987 said:

Also Bellator airs on Spike guys lol.

Not true. It airs on MTV2 right now.

It will be moving to Spike in 2013 when Spike's contract with the UFC is fully up (they're allowed to air reruns of any UFC programming that previously aired on the channel until the end of 2012, and with that, cannot air any other MMA promotion's programming during that time).

@ajamafalous said:

I'm not sure how Jeff didn't notice it, but it's pretty clear that where you start on the submission bar is dependent on how much stamina you have left. Jeff lost every submission because he just kept punching until he had no stamina left, at which point he'd get taken down into a submission and need to fill up about 80-90% of the bar, while his opponent only needed to fill up about 1/3 or less.

It really goes to show you why modern games hold your hand and hit you over the head with the basic concepts again and again. Because every developer cries themselves to death when they watch a professional games reviewer fail to grasp basic concepts and shit on their game because of it.

@Brodehouse said:

@ajamafalous said:

I'm not sure how Jeff didn't notice it, but it's pretty clear that where you start on the submission bar is dependent on how much stamina you have left. Jeff lost every submission because he just kept punching until he had no stamina left, at which point he'd get taken down into a submission and need to fill up about 80-90% of the bar, while his opponent only needed to fill up about 1/3 or less.

It really goes to show you why modern games hold your hand and hit you over the head with the basic concepts again and again. Because every developer cries themselves to death when they watch a professional games reviewer fail to grasp basic concepts and shit on their game because of it.

In all fairness, that's hardly the only reason to shit on this game.

@Vinny just for the record, Bellator are subject to the same rules as the UFC & every other MMA company in the US (& potentially Canada too), the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. So yeah, Bellator still has things like blood stoppages, but usually fights just get paused so a doctor can take a look. It's got to be really serious to stop the fight. The other rules are things like not being able to kick or knee guys in the head when they are on the ground, & needing to use weightclasses, unlike those strange early UFC shows.

@Ronald said:

The stamina bar definitely is the reason Jeff gets tapped so fast, but why would the guy getting punched in the face with hits that would knock his head off not lose any stamina from those blows? Seems kind of broken if you are fighting a stand up game and your opponent can just absorb all of your blows and then easily tap you out because he was "rested".

Agreed completely. Also it seems like stamina recovers really slowly in this game compared to what I remember from UFC09, which makes it even worse if you beat the crap out of your opponent and have little chance of recovering before the inevitable sub attempt.

Selling skill points? Don't know what's more grody, the game or the business model?

@ApolloBob: Ha!

For some reason, all the fighters look like midgets in their pictures.

@Brodehouse said:

@ajamafalous said:

I'm not sure how Jeff didn't notice it, but it's pretty clear that where you start on the submission bar is dependent on how much stamina you have left. Jeff lost every submission because he just kept punching until he had no stamina left, at which point he'd get taken down into a submission and need to fill up about 80-90% of the bar, while his opponent only needed to fill up about 1/3 or less.

It really goes to show you why modern games hold your hand and hit you over the head with the basic concepts again and again. Because every developer cries themselves to death when they watch a professional games reviewer fail to grasp basic concepts and shit on their game because of it.

I dunno, I kind of got the impression Jeff understood plenty that low stamina = danger, but didn't give a fuck. Having to hold back when an opponent is flustered and not blocking just doesn't feel good, or make sense. It's spending your stamina on a dude that is blocking or rope-a-doping you somehow that should result in that sort of punishment.

I like the Demon's Souls stamina system fine. But that game didn't have submission insta-kills when you burned your meter too fast, it just had stagger and the necessity of stamina to roll properly.

@Ronald said:

The stamina bar definitely is the reason Jeff gets tapped so fast, but why would the guy getting punched in the face with hits that would knock his head off not lose any stamina from those blows? Seems kind of broken if you are fighting a stand up game and your opponent can just absorb all of your blows and then easily tap you out because he was "rested".

That happens in real life. The first fight between Anderson Silva vs Chael Sonnen is a recent example.

daniel straus looks kinda like mc ride. sold.

Looks like they didn't limit the CPU player's ability to mash buttons or something seeing how they always instantly win the submission segments.

Either way, bad game that no one cares about, but another good quicklook.

@smitty86 said:

Pitbull on Pitbull fighting - A

Telemundo Joke - A+

LOL. That actually made laugh out loud. Good job sir.

Jeff needs a rapid-fire controller to escape those submissions.

Eeesh... Not looking too great.

@ajamafalous: That system is still broken. It's implying that the person being punched is more able to handle a grapple than the one doing the punching. Why would someone's ground game be better after taking a beating? It essentially means you win every match by letting your opponent throw a punch and then immediately going to grapple. Their meter is going to start lower because of the punch they threw and as long as you press the button as fast as them you win.

With the stamina bar being linked to submission breakouts, it seems pretty much useless to even bother fighting as even as Jeff was beaten the shit out of the other guys, they're still have full meter and just come straight back. The bar even takes a little while to recover so even if you attack, your opponent just has to come in with a submission and will always win because they have full stamina and that seems really boring to just hold back the entire time.

I do know what Bellator means. Still a fucking stupid thing to call your video game and lame ass MMA concept.

Ronnie Mann v Joe Warren showed that the stamina was equal, and yet jeff still couldn't break out of it.

That submission system IS total bullshit though. When Jeff goes down around 16:30, his stamina is like 2 thirds full, and he still has less than a second to struggle. Anything less than full stamina and it looks like you're completely fucked.

Looks like if you want a good game, go for Tekken TAG 2 if you want arcade-y and UFC 3 if you want more simulation.

one liners are hot and heavy which means this will be an awesome QL

Huh was a smart move for them to only use featherweights it is their best division. Hopefully this at least gets more people to watch BElletor they have some really good guys 170lbs and down. 205 and above not so much.

Bellator currently airs on MTV2 and Spike.com but in 2013 is going to be on Spike proper since they lose the rights to the old UFC library.

This game looked like a bad arcade game.

Isn't this from Kung Fu Factory? Makers of this and Supremacy MMA? A.k.a. the worst fighting game developer on the planet? The ones who are given the chance to do anything, anything at all - a super slick street fighter to take on the likes of Tekken and DOA, a comic/graphic novel inspired game (perhaps partner with Image or Top Cow or something), a "run anywhere" fighter like Bushido Blade or Power Stone - and they choose to drop two of the most generic, janky MMA games ever made? I hate this studio. They better do something REMOTELY creative and original soon, or they should go out of business.

Good thing their next game is coming up soon. And if Majesco's Girl Fight (already off to a non-generic start, I see. Ugh) doesn't get a Quick Look, I'll be pissed, Giant Bomb. I want to see them complete their triforce of awful fighting games!

EDIT: Okay, I'll give them this. It looks much better than Supremacy MMA. Maybe - just maybe - they're improving a little bit? With THQ San Diego shut down (WWE All Stars), these guys should snap up some of those employees- their studio would be AWESOME with that talent! Maybe grab another wrestling license - Ring of Honor, Shimmer...anything but TNA really. And get cracking on a spiritual successor to the greatest wrestling game of all time. Fuck you THQ, for killing that studio.

@Kosayn said:

@Brodehouse said:

@ajamafalous said:

I'm not sure how Jeff didn't notice it, but it's pretty clear that where you start on the submission bar is dependent on how much stamina you have left. Jeff lost every submission because he just kept punching until he had no stamina left, at which point he'd get taken down into a submission and need to fill up about 80-90% of the bar, while his opponent only needed to fill up about 1/3 or less.

It really goes to show you why modern games hold your hand and hit you over the head with the basic concepts again and again. Because every developer cries themselves to death when they watch a professional games reviewer fail to grasp basic concepts and shit on their game because of it.

I dunno, I kind of got the impression Jeff understood plenty that low stamina = danger, but didn't give a fuck. Having to hold back when an opponent is flustered and not blocking just doesn't feel good, or make sense. It's spending your stamina on a dude that is blocking or rope-a-doping you somehow that should result in that sort of punishment.

I like the Demon's Souls stamina system fine. But that game didn't have submission insta-kills when you burned your meter too fast, it just had stagger and the necessity of stamina to roll properly.

I was thinking the same thing. I was trying to figure out how you're supposed to play that game as to not instantly lose any submission attempt you find yourself in, and I thought "hey, now that Jeff has the other guy down to half health, he could probably just stand around and get hit until his stamina is back to full to make sure he doesn't insta-lose, because even if the other guy opens up on him he'll only take off about half a health bar before running out of stamina".

And then I realized how stupid that is. You apparently have to wail on someone until you're on the verge of passing out on your own, stand around resting for a minute and then wailing for just as long again in order to get a KO. And if the other guy hits you while you're resting, as long as he's avoiding certain spots, then that's fine! You're still resting, and he doesn't have enough stamina to take you out even with no resistance at all!

Weird system.

Stamina base submission seems really weird. Seems like the best online strat is let the guy punch himself out, then just go in for the instant win submission.

We can be friieends.

If anything, that menu music is actually kind of awesome. The rest of it...... Not so much

Man, that submission system seems all kinds of terrible.

I've heard of Bellator! It's that stuff that TNA Wrestling does cross-promotions with sometimes. They'll have the owner come on and talk about it when I'm trying to watch a professional wrestling match. I think it airs on MTV2?

As for this game, it looks horrible, as you'd expect. The loading times are atrocious, the menus are boring, there isn't a lot of content, and submissions look really overpowered (which led to plenty of laughs in this video).

Skeletor MMA Onslaught would have been a way more interesting game.

MMA is pretty hot (especially for us martial arts dudes) and video games are pretty cool.

MMA is horribly suited for video game controls. There's just far too much to do in MMA. That's why fighting games usually remove themselves so much from realism and why Fight Night is the only thing succeeding at going anywhere near simulation. Boxing has a much more limited moveset, so it makes sense. Doing nonsensical minigames when you grapple does not.

Damn Jeff... Making the Freire brothers fight each other. Whoa... The standing animations look better than the UFC games. That probably says more about the latter through.

This looks terrible. Now that my MMA needs are unsatisfied, I'll have to go back to those Ronda Rousey photographs from the ESPN 'Body' shoots.

Watching Jeff beat the crap out of that guy and then just lose in 2sec because of a submission was pretty funny.

I here by declare that all QL are Vinny + Jeff from now on.

The "16 shots per second hudson guy" is Takahashi Meijn AKA Master Higgins.

I'm not trying to draw any conclusions or anything, but anyone I've ever met in real life who happened to be really into this 'sport' (or whatever), was a douche. I'm not saying there's a connection or anything, and I know it's just anecdotal, but still. Douches. All of 'em.

Hemolactation... urgh....

@thebigJ_A: That's just ridiculo-TAPOUT

Sixth result for "hemolactation" in Google. Awesome.

well this looks like a shitty game but not in a way that i could still like it like i do deadly premonition so i'll skip this even in these times of slim pickings when it comes to video games. i'd rather jump into endless space without any idea of what the hell a 4x game is.

@firecracker22 said:

The submission makes this game look unplayable.

This. Jeff was better off mastering wrestling rather than using the other guy's head as a speedbag.

Seems like the submissions are broken.

Somebody broke submissions.

The only time I raged on my controller was the first UFC: 2009 Undisputed. I was working Chuck Liddell all over the the place, and then that bullshit lucky shot mechanic kicked in on a limp-ass jab to the chin and put my fighter down to the mat. Spiked my controller so hard the rumbler in it broke.

Mann, that's one misshapen head.