Every generation of video games have their John Carmacks, their Shigeru Miyamotos, their Jordan Mechners, their Tim Sweenys or even their John Romeros. These are the rockstars of the video game world. They push boundaries, they break limits while giving us great technology, design and art to look at as examples of where games need to be. We can look back on their work as examples of prime engineering, artwork and design. There is no doubt that these men were not meant to be kings but legends. 

The problem with these great men is that we had to look back on their work to notice they were kings; we couldn’t notice their work till it was done. The dawn of the internet has changed that, today any kid out of high school, start-up or any bored programmer can show us what they are working on. We can see the future of video games not only when they succeed but from when they take root. This is what brings me to Undefeated: It is not a complete game but a proof of concept from three students who hope to join the ranks of the gods of video games. 

Let’s go play Undefeated.

Story:

There is none so here is a cute cat:

Sound:

The background music is badass. There are around two or three tracks with minor differences. They are not low hums but rather an upbeat track that you feel straight out of the shootout in an action movie. While not hard they are intense.

Everything has a sound effect; running dashing, breaking windows, punches, ranged attacks and everything in between. The best part of the effects? They all feel right, they might not be perfect but they are really close. The attention to detail is mind-numbing.

Graphics:

I’m not buying that this game is made by three students. The graphic quality is impressive. The buildings look good and are well textured. Some of them even have a minor shimmer that makes it look like they are reflecting. The character models are decent and while I’ve seen better these aren’t bad at all.

The special effects, oh god are they amazing. The speed tails, the hit animation the long-range slashes. All of them look damn good. It’s also the little things that are done well like how there is a glass break effect when you fly close to a building or splashes of water as you speed over the sea around the city. Everything is brightly coloured as well so you don’t need to hunt for the obvious. It is undeniable that the sense of speed and power delivered by these special effects are exceptional.

Gameplay:

The controls are simple with the left mouse button for melee attacks and the right for ranged attacks. WSAD is to move, space to jump/fly and shift is dash. The controls are incredibly simple, they do react quickly making the game really good fun. There is also Q and E to increase and lower height when flying but they are rarely used since you use the mouse to aim at a target while flying forward. The movement is fast while being really straight forward, aim where you want to go, hold down shift and enjoy the feeling of speed.

The combat is alright. It’s just a click to attack enemies, the combat system detects the next closest enemy and automagically forces the next hit to the closest enemy. The scale of the attacks is perfect if you consider the Arkham games with Supes. There are also ranged attacks that spit out long-range slashes. These not only damage but also slow down enemies. That’s all for the player-controlled gameplay.

I would like to bitch about the limited scope of the missions but this is a proof of concept. It is not a mainline game that charged me money so all that is forgiven. Let me break down the missions for you my dear reader:

• Random events: These are usually someone being trapped under a rock.
• Destruction Challenge: Go and melee the shit out of bots and armaments that are lying around. There are usually just rapid clicks that you need to aim at before clicking. Not that great for gameplay but fun to watch.
• Flight Challenge: Fly through a ton of rings like you were playing Superman 64 just without the fuckall flying.
• Boss Battles: Boss Battles are a fight against a single overpowered enemy. The boss needs to be dropped before he can destroy the city. This is where things get interesting since the boss can’t harm you but the city has a health bar. This becomes a hectic round of chasing, long-range hits to slow him down before getting in close to do some damage all while putting out fires to save the city.

There is a leveling system that improves damage dealt when you complete events but it doesn’t change the gameplay much nor does it let you define how you want to spend upgrade points but I like the fact that it is there at all.

The city looks nice and diverse, it is also filled with people and traffic but you hardly notice the details and little touches since you are usually flying over at high speed. It is amazing that cars and streetlights can be destroyed on a whim. I’m not sure if they got the city from somewhere or if they built it. If the latter then they have done one really impressive job. 

Conclusion:

I think some of the games recently have lowered my standard. All of you can guess which ones. This game is fun, fast and what I hope to see retextured into a Superman game one day. While the gameplay gets repetitive after an hour it cost me nothing to get my hands on it so it gets a score a tad bit higher than if it was a game that had a price tag.

Final Score: 8/10