When the second Undisputed beta was announced, I was curious as to what kind of improvements the team at Steel City Interactive had up their sleeves. The team’s post-beta roundtable on Youtube dropped a few hints, but in the official second beta reveal the team let us know all the juicy details. Things like the roster, adding a second venue, and many more details were confirmed. It wasn’t until I was scrolling through the fighters that I realized what I was going to have my hands on this time. As always, it’s down to the gameplay first and how it feels. Is it responsive? Is there a noticeable difference between fighters?
Questions like that make or break a simulation, and judging by the way my time went with the first beta, you can probably guess I’m still high on this game after the second beta.
Undisputed Beta Impressions (Take Two)
What I Like
There’s A Tutorial This Time Around
Although it would have been better if the first beta included this tutorial, it’s nice to see that Steel City Interactive listened to feedback from the community to help them learn the basic mechanics of the game. Even better is that you can use this time to work on anything, just as long as you don’t complete the objective. A true free practice mode or AI sparring is probably the next step, but I’ve played through this tutorial a handful of times, which is more than any sports game I’ve played in quite some time.
Punching Mechanics Are Improving
In my first experience with Undisputed, I felt like the punching mechanics were good but at times a little clunky. There was an auto-correct that turned jabs on the inside to hooks, which has been fixed thanks in large part to feedback given by the community. Punches land all over the place now. They miss when your opponent reacts with a nice defensive input. They go wide, short, and land nearly anywhere, a true testament to the punching freedom, especially with the right stick.
Notice how in this clip Wilder throws four jabs in a row without reply. The first misses, with the second one coming in at a much shorter distance. The third lands flush and Wilder finishes with a downward jab that tracks Usyk’s chin. Technically the same punch is thrown four different ways.
One of my criticisms from the first beta centered around the feeling that you had to be stationary while punching. Sure, in front of a heavy bag that doesn’t punch back you can throw every punch with your feet planted, but with a real opponent you need to be able to punch going backwards, forwards, and side-to-side. Normally your go-to retreating punch is a jab because it’s the quickest and gives you the longest reach, but those fighters like Katie Taylor and Roy Jones Jr. have incredible right hands so it’s nice to get off a smooth looking step-back right hand.
Styles Make Fights
First and foremost, the number of fighters included in this second beta has been drastically increased, and because of this you’re able to get a feel for fighters from different weight classes carrying unique styles. It’s one thing to feel unique and different on paper with their respective stats, it’s another thing to feel different when the controller is in your hand — and this is where this second beta shines. As an avid sports gamer, I’m passionate about athletes moving and feeling like their real-life counterparts.
I can confidently say that I’ve haven’t seen a likeness captured quite like Steel City Interactive has with Roy Jones Jr. On ultra high settings, he looks totally realistic, even down to his trademark stance with that lead hand low, moving in a circle while the right is high and ready to fire on command. When combined with his agile footwork (far more agile than any fighter we’ve seen for both betas), you can get off combinations that you simply can’t do with other fighters.
Speaking of fighters, Steel City Interactive absolutely nailed the likenesses of Roy Jones Jr., Rocky Marciano, and Deontay Wilder. In truth, all of the fighters look good, but the Wilder render is one of the best I’ve ever seen in any sports game. The graphics are top notch overall even down to the crowd standing up and cheering louder when a big shot lands. I’m really curious to see how the “create-a-fighter” builds turn out, but on a good rig this game looks stunning.
What I Don’t Like
Too Hard To Close The Distance After Stunning An Opponent
Flicking the right stick does indeed help you close the distance, so let’s get that out of the way. Still, at times it’s hard to close the distance when opponents are dazed. I’ve seen some opponents wiggle out of a corner even with me trying to cut the ring off. Even in the later rounds, some opponents still seem to have too much energy when stunned.
The Knockdown Cutscenes Need To Be Smoother
The knockdowns themselves have improved since the first beta. This is partly due to the inclusion of flash knockdowns and knockouts, but it’s also due to an increased variety of knockdowns overall (it could use even more). Despite these improvements, it’s still a little awkward when you’re the one who has knocked your opponent down. The fighters just sort of hover over their opponent instead of seeing animations where the ref steps in or your fighter backs off.
This could be a case of the developers prioritizing the actual gameplay first, which by all means isn’t a bad thing but it’s something we’ll hopefully see improved upon every time we get our hands on this game leading up to its release.
Beyond that, as it relates to knockouts, the location in the ring where the fighter goes down isn’t reflected in the next cutscene. You can knock someone down in the corner, but when the mini-game starts the fighter will always be in the center of the ring.
Bottom Line
The worst thing about this second beta is the fact that they gave us a taste and then snatched the spoon away. Just as you’re familiarizing yourself with the controls and really enjoying yourself, reality sets in and you realize you’ll just have to wait for a third beta (hopefully). The leap in terms of gameplay, matchmaking, and art were noticeable, which is saying a lot considering the relatively short amount of time between each beta release.
The gameplay with a few tweaks here and there is good enough to release right now. Thanks in large part to the updates mid-release, the matchmaking was solid, and I haven’t seen much chatter from the community about lag. It’s really up to the modes and whether or not they can be on par or even better than the gameplay.
