EA has officially confirmed, and explained why, they have chosen Bruce Lee as the mystery fighter for EA Sports UFC, available via pre-order. The release date has also leaked in stores: the game is coming June 17. You can watch the official trailer here.
Well, we should clarify that EA Sports didn't really explain it, or at least it's not cut-and-dried. Creative Director Brian Hayes just says that when they knew the opportunity came up, they just had to take it. He presents the argument that they knew fans would want to play the iconic martial artist in the Octagon, and left it at that. (If you want to read about what Bruce meant to the world of MMA and modern athleticism, check out my explanation from their tease here.)
So, Hayes gets into talking with Bruce Lee Enterprises, who provided them with everything they needed to recreate the famous actor. BLE actually had a life-cast they provided EA, which was the next best thing to getting him scanned. Of course, they also used many references in terms of photos, videos, Bruce’s writings, etc.
A challenge they acknowledged stems from our common conception of the fighting Bruce Lee, where he always had his muscles constantly tense and flexed, ready to strike anytime. This is not how MMA fighters operate. Even in a real sparring or combat situation, martial artists today recognize the need to avoid overstressing their body parts, especially when torque is applied. It’s highly doubtful Bruce would have kept fighting the way he did if he knew what martial artists know today.
So, EA struck an uneasy balance between what we remember of Bruce, and what Bruce would be like if he were still in fighting condition today. Whereas other games make their own Bruce Lee stand-ins (and actual licensed games before), EA Sports MMA promises the most realistic depiction of Bruce in a video game yet. We can only hope EA thought better than to make Bruce only available via pre-order.
EA Sports UFC is coming to Playstation 4 and Xbox One.
