At a glance, you would be entitled to think that Supremacy MMA’s main “attraction” is its grimy underground environments, ugly menacing fighters and bone-crunching violence; it is a hardcore game for those who think EA’s MMA and UFC Undisputed are too soft. However, once you strip away all of the gruesomeness and awful metal music, you find something deeper and even quite thoughtful underneath.

Kung Fu Factory is a team full of fighting game fans, who genuinely love the sport, and in Supremacy MMA they have tried to capture it in its purest form through accurately portraying a wide range of fighting styles. Supremacy MMA even tries to build a connection between the player and fighter by showing their backgrounds and explaining their reasons for fighting. It’s essentially a tribute to the fighters, the sport and their disciplines.

The gameplay sits somewhere between the arcade and sim genres. Holding down the L1 button allows you to sidestep, which gives it a similar feel to a Tekken or SoulCalibur, but the fighting is mostly done from a standard 2D side-on view. Arcade fighting fans will feel at home counting frames as they landing a series of combos.

'ave it!

The sim aspect of it comes into play once you enter a clinch, which can occur in a number of positions, including: standing face-to-face, back-to-face and on the ground at the leg, arm and head positions; you can also sit on your opponent’s chest. Fighters can transition between multiple positions and act out reversals. Believe it or not, it is actually possible to spend the majority of a fight on the ground.

READ THE REST OF THIS REVIEW AT PS3 ATTITUDE