I got the game last night, around 12:15am from Tesco. I couldn't wait any longer. :tongue:
I had a few rumbles against the CPU (on Expert) and saw some brilliant results. I then went online and stayed there for hours! I ranked up around 17 wins - 2 losses - 0 draws before having to force myself to bed, at around 5:30am. I claimed most of my victories via KO/TKO, but I pulled four or five submission victories out of the bag.
My two losses both came against Rampage Jackson, one by KO, one by Unanimous Decision. In both cases I was caught in situations that I just couldn't seem to do anything about. More practised required it seems! The first was a single collar tie that I just couldn't budge from, while my opponent furiously smashed me with left-hands. I was attempting to shake free, or transition to a body clinch myself, neither of which saw any movement until I crashed to the mat after being knocked for six. I assume it's better to either return strikes, or attempt to block.
The second was an opponent who (with Rampage) used the same gameplan the whole fight to score points, and ultimately win by unanimous decision. Body Clinch - Over/Under Hook - Big Slam - Surrender Half-Guard to Standing - Leg Kicks to Downed Oppened - Rinse and Repeat once opponent (in this case, me) gets to his feet. It was bloody infuriating, not because of the gameplan, it was sound and fair play to my oppenent for snuffing it out, but it was literally as soon as he secured the Over/Under Hook the Slam came almost instantly, literally in one movement, before my fighter could attempt anything to counter or block. I should have simply started to defend the incoming body clinches but, I'd never had trouble holding my own in that situation until that point, and would often haul my oppenent to the mat even if they initiated said body clinch. But for the entire duration of that fight it was simply impossible to hault the slam once he secured the body clinch. It was the first and only choice of offence that my opponent offered through the entirety of the fight, all three rounds, never changing, and he was a hell of a high rank, so I'm assuming he has either found a niche that a lot are yet to learn to defend correctly, or that he has discovered a lose end in the game that is almost undefendable due to a fault. But maybe that's just sour grapes on my end from being dominated.
My major gripe with the game is that on two seperate occasions I have one; KO'd an opponent, and two; submitted an opponent, who immediately upon realising they've been defeated somehow caused a server error before the game can save, to thus invalidate the result. Disgraceful. Hopefully something is sorted out where the server can detect who either leaves, or glitches (I dunno) to avoid accepting they were beaten, and save their record. I mean, I got battered in my second defeat, and I have some sour grapes about it but, I still accepted it and remained so my oppenent could see his hard earned victory added to his record.
