Well, those of you who know me know I'm a big fan of action games, and specificly fighting and combat games. recently, a jam session on Def Jam Fight for New York got me thinking about the representation of martial arts in games and how many martial arts in real life are actually poor methods for self defense.

In def jam, there are five fighting style, three of which are based on Street combat techniques like wrestling, Brawling, and Submission. Martial arts and Kickboxing are the other 2.

When you break it down, in a real fight, Martial arts is nearly worhtless. I know, having studied 3 different forms of it. When fighting a street brawler, the unpredictability and wild nature of there fighting style means that all the fancy stance and flashy moves mean nothing, you have to relay on reflexs and clear, direct blows to an oppenents open areas. Fighting someone who can grapple or use submission is even worse, cause once a martial artist is off his feet, they are very open to attack.

Having fought hand to hand with a master, who had full training in 9 different fighting styles, he taught me that all the fancy moves mean nothing in a real fight. it's about timing, precison, and control.

Which is why I love fighting games. They allow players to get all the fancy moves and styles going and make it look cool, somethign that doesn't work in real life.

So, what are some of your favorite games that feature cool fighting. This doesn't have to be just martial arts, any kind of cool fighting will do.

for me.

1. DOA 4
2. Def Jam Fight for NY
3. God Of war.
4. Shenmue 1,2
5. Budokai 3.

Thats just for starters. Your turn!:D