In the words of Sam Cooke, “It’s been a long, a long time coming, but I know a change gon’ come. Yes it will!”
Yes it has Sam…yes…it…has. It’s been over a year since Undisputed early access dropped and nearly two months since Update V.6, but it finally feels as if we’re getting closer to the finished product. Along the way we’ve seen tweaks to the gameplay mechanics, updated fighters, and even new arenas but sadly a stale feeling kept creeping in because of the lack of modes.
For the longest time, it was either fight the AI in a one-off bout or take your skills online in either a ranked or quick fight. Even the Title Fights vs. the AI they added simply did not scratch the itch. Well, it looks like come February 12, we’ll finally be able to create a fighter and take on the roller-coaster ride that is a professional boxing career. With no further delay, let’s dive into what the recent announcement had to offer (in order of how they were announced in the video below).
Flat-Footed Movement
The first gameplay improvement announced was the introduction of flat-footed movement. If you’ve been following my breakdowns over the past year, you will know how much I loathe the current stamina system and mainly how it relates to fighter movement. For far too long your fighter could move around the ring leisurely no matter if it was Round 1 or Round 11.
With the introduction of flat-footed movement coming via this update, fighters who are below a certain stamina threshold will stand more flat-footed and move at a slower speed. Now what this threshold will be is still yet to be announced but it’s good that Steel City Interactive has balanced this feature as you’ll be able to return to normal/loose footwork through regular stamina regeneration and by looking after your punch output through intelligent fighting. Overall, this is a welcome feature and should cut down on some of the punch spamming that plagues online fights.
Fighter Customization
We’re getting closer and closer to the breakdown on career mode but what’s a good career mode without fighter customization, and from the early looks of things Undisputed will allow us tailor the looks of the fighters to our liking. From the video, we can see the following options available:
- Gloves
- Shorts
- Boots
- Taunts
- Ringwalk Song
Of these options, I’m particularly interested in being able to choose the ringwalk song, especially if you’re able to upload your own songs.
New Camera Angle
Not to be overlooked by the career mode and gameplay tidbits is the news of a new camera angle, the over-the-shoulder angle. This is one the updates that looks good but will need to be tested before anyone can judge how worthy of an addition it is. It looks very promising, especially since there are some venues where your view is obscured (thanks cameraman) and some where the backgrounds can be a bit disorienting (Technicolor Gym).
Career Mode
Now we get down to business! Finally, after months and months of the community asking when career mode will drop we not only know when (February 12) but also a few details about what’s comprised within Undisputed’s career mode through some early video previews.
Career Hub
First up within this career mode news is the main menu, which is the Career Hub where we can see the following options:
- Advance Week – Way to advance time on a weekly basis that seems to be the smallest increment of time. Perhaps there will daily advances should you get closer to a fight.
- Media Feed – From the looks of things, this is where you’ll go to get updates from around the boxing world and perhaps some tie-ins to social media.
- Negotiate Fight – Seems pretty straightforward as this is where you’ll head to negotiate the details of your next fight.
- My Boxer – Like most single-player career modes, this sub-menu should give us the ability to change the appearance of your fighter and quite possibly allocate something akin to ability points to level up your character.
- Notifications – Like all good career modes, regardless of the sport you’ll need something that mimics an email inbox where you can get updates on matters important to you such as negotiation workings and news about other fights/fighters to name a few.
Gym
There’s not a whole lot to this tab but perhaps the devil is in the details. Fight Sharpness vs. Weight Reduction looks to be weighed against each other, perhaps with an element of risk (i.e. Fight Sharpness training having potential impacts to fatigue) taken into consideration. There’s also what appears to be an option to change your home training gym, which would benefit from being able to upgrade your gym should you move on up in the world of fighting. There’s no mention of actually being able to train (heavy bag, mitts, technical training, etc.) but there’s going to be a need for something to do on an training basis in-between fights.
Rankings
As required by the major boxing oversight commissions, there needs to be a rankings system, and by the looks of things we’ll have that. Fanatico doesn’t go into great detail about this section, but perhaps it’s self-explanatory. What will be worth paying attention to is the logic system behind the rankings and whether or not there will be mandatory title challenges. It looks like come February 12 we’ll find out.
Choose Your Own Team & Opponents
Like all individual sports, it’s important to surround yourself with a team that can get the most from you. A good trainer and cutman should help to accelerate your career and prepare you for the trials and tribulations that will soon come your way.
It’s also worth noting that there’s an element of negotiations tied into choosing your own team, mainly costs. Whether those be upfront costs or percentages from your purse, surely as you climb the rankings you’ll have access to top-quality coaches and doctors that should push you every step of the way along your career. In regards to manually choosing your next opponent, that option is there should you not want to let your manager handle it. Lastly, we’ve finally been given some visual confirmation that randomly generated AI fighters are in the game.
Fight Negotiations
Should you choose to negotiate your own fight there are several aspects to iron out. Upfront costs and your team’s take will all be there to help split your purse (earnings) — with contracts as well — so there’s going to be some money management and team drama along the way. Rematch clauses and promotional cuts all appear to be among the choices you can negotiate, as well something called “Media Activities” that could hint at some fight promotional activities.
Fanatico mentions building some “leverage” via your fame (Fame Gain) so we’re going to need Steel City to balance this area of negotiations in order for us to get the most from it.
Bottom Line
For folks like myself who have been invested in this title since the early access days, February 12 can’t come soon enough. We still need Steel City to tighten up the gameplay, especially versus the AI, but just the option of being able to play the game differently is what this game needs in order to get its momentum back and re-engage with those who might have put this game back on the shelf.
Speaking of those who have been there since the start or at least when the game was first made for purchase, you’ll be vested in the sense that you won’t have to pay an additional fee for this update, but for those who have not yet purchased the game they can expect an increase in price. There’s still no mention of when the game will come to consoles, but rest assured PlayStation and Xbox owners, we’re ironing out all the kinks for ya!
