u/ArcadianEuphoria

I've avoided most competitive games for a few years because at one point that was all I was playing.

I'm looking for a game with an active community, a well-made/fun ranked system, and that is one of those games where you want to hop on and learn everyday to get better.

For context, the main "competitive" game I've played is R6 (waiting for ranked 3.0), and then tried a few others over the years.

I have a feeling I won't enjoy games like League or Dota, they just suck the life out of me.

And I know CS is popular but I absolutely suck at it, but I could give it another try if enough people suggest it.

I've never really been good at online in UFC games, but out of the couple hundred matches I've played so far in the beta, I've probably won less than 10.

Here are the main problems I'm facing:

- Always getting backed up to the fence. My circling does nothing, they just continue to cut me off.

- My block gets broken extremely quickly. Head movement can only help so much before you get caught with something.

- I'm constantly being pressured and spammed with punches, which breaks my block even faster. I can never seem to counter someone doing this without getting caught.

- When backed up to the fence, I just get hit with constant combos to head and body, always either get knocked down or put out with a body shot.

- My punches seem to never do much damage, let alone rock someone. Yet I get knocked around the ring.

Besides just "use head movement" what can I be doing to avoid spam fighters, stay off the fence, and actually deal damage without getting beaten down?

I've mostly been only a career mode player in past UFC games, where the AI doesn't pressure.

But since the only mode available in the beta is online, I'm constantly (like every fight) getting backed up to the fence and styled on until my block is gone and then I just get flatlined.

If I try running, they just chase me and eventually catch me with something.

Block gets depleted so quickly so it's hard to just block and counter without getting caught.

I kinda had this issue in UFC 5 online, but with the increased strike damage, I've barely won a single fight in the beta.

Any tips?

For some background, I have over 1000 hours in UFC 5, close to that in 4, and a decent amount of time in UFC 3 and Undisputed 3.

I've played the beta for a few hours now, and here are my thoughts and feedback.

Graphics and Presentation

• Pros
  • More interesting main menu (animated fighter staredowns)
  • Upgrade in pure fidelity of fighters and assets
• Cons
  • Fighter appearances seem like a step back to me
  • New in-game HUD looks pretty bad, way too busy and takes up large part of screen
  • Blue filter over everything looks pretty ugly

Striking

• Pros
  • Increase strike damage and ground & pound damage
  • Strikes feel more impactful/weighty
  • New knockdown position, more variance in knockdowns
• Cons
  • 'Flow state' mechanic seems very out of place, kinda cheesy
  • Trade off for weightiness is that strikes feel slightly less fluid than UFC 5

Grappling

• Pros
  • New sitting cage position
• Cons
  • Exactly the same grappling system, positions, and submissions as UFC 5

Animations

• Pros
  • More fighter-specific striking animations and stances
  • More dynamic dodging/weaving animations, pretty cool looking
• Cons
  • Striking sometimes feels like just flailing limbs around, not as clean looking as UFC 5

Overall, I think it's important to remember that this is a beta, although I'm sure we all know not much is likely to change.

There seem to be more offline game modes for launch, and possibly some career mode improvements based on the trailer.

I think this game, if you enjoyed UFC 4 & 5, will be worth buying, but maybe not immediately.

If you were hoping for a different game, maybe wait until a while after launch to see what changes.

Firstly, the main menu at least looks cooler than UFC 5, there are animated fighter staredowns (Max & Volk) instead of just a static fighter.

Haven't checked out 'The Gym' game mode much yet, but it seems like you can recruit fighters and level them up/get cosmetics from it?

There also seems to be multiple new offline modes, but they are not playable yet.

When getting into a match, there is a very intrusive blue filter over everything, I don't think I like it very much. I thought the lighting in UFC 5 was pretty good, this seems like a downgrade to me.

The striking feels more weighty similar to UFC 3, I personally don't think it's as fluid/smooth as UFC 5, but people might prefer that.

The striking animations feel weird to me. Using Whittaker, it looks like I'm just flinging my arms around. Maybe I'm just too used to the static animations from 5, but it seems weird to me. Might just take some getting used to.

Also dodging animations look different. From what I can tell, you can still dodge the same ways as 5, but fighters will put their hands up in different ways while dodging and weave more realistically. This seems like an upgrade.

There also seems to be a new knockdown position, like laying sideways against the cage. Pretty cool.

Strikes do way more damage from what I can tell. If you get knocked down, there's a good chance you get finished. I've also been finished very early in fights by one or two headkicks. Very strong. Also ground and pound seems to do equally more damage.

The HUD is atrocious. What used to be the health bars in the top corners for each body section is now a massive rectangle for each player that takes up the entire top half of the screen. I really don't like this, it's too much.

The 'flow state' mechanic is very strange. You build it up over time and when you activate it, the screen goes dark and sound muffles, and you have blurry streaks coming off of you as you unload combos. I don't understand why this was added, it seems very out of place in an MMA game.

I also think the graphics and character models look straight up worse. I thought most fighter were pretty spot on in 5, but they some fighters literally don't look like they do IRL. Seems like a downgrade.

Overall, there are many things that seem unfinished, which is to be expected I guess. Some of the mechanics and animations feel weird or out of place, and the in game HUD sucks.

Not sure if I'll be buying this one yet.

This really is just a rant because I'm very stressed out.

Ive been burnt out heavily since last semester and the only thing getting me through was knowing I will be done soon.

But now, after a semester of not putting in effort, it's come down to how well I do on my finals to determine if I actually graduate.

For exam #1, I built a study system for the previous one, so I'm confident I will pass that class.

For exam #2, I currently have a 61% in the class (this teacher only does exams), and the final is 120 points. So after doing the math, I have to make around a 75 to pass. This might not sound too bad, but his exams are only essay questions and very hard. So I'm worried about this one.

For exam #3, I am waiting on our final project grades to get in, but I'm confident I did well on that. With that in mind, I need to aim for around a 65% to pass. Not too bad, but it is cumulative, and I have barely paid attention this semester.

Finally, for exam #4, with the thought in mind that I will probably make a decent grade on our final project, and possibly deducted some points for attendance, I need to make around a 65% to pass. Once again, this one is cumulative, and I haven't paid attention this semester.

On top of all that, I procrastinated once again and haven't really started studying 7 days out from the exams.

So basically I have 5-6 days to cram all of this material so I don't have to come back next semester.

I am incredibly stressed to say the least.