Undisputed Review

I’ve been banging on for years about the lack of boxing games on console. When I say lack of, there has been none since Fight Night Champion back in 2011. 13 years without a prominent boxing title on consoles is a hell of a long time, especially since it is currently two generations of gaming in the past now. It honestly baffles me since we have had five iterations of UFC from EA Sports which seem to do well enough. As a huge boxing fan who follows and watches the sport religiously, I was excited to see Undisputed seemingly appear from nowhere from development team Steel City Interactive.

With the studio being born from two passionate brothers back in 2020, their dream has become a reality in blossoming the first boxing game in over a decade. After spending a period on PC in early access phases with plenty of testing, we finally have the game on Xbox Series X|S and Playstation 5 consoles. Boasting 70+ licenced boxers at the time of writing and a multitude of different modes including online multiplayer, it has plenty of bells and whistles for avid boxing fans.

Fight Your Way

Undisputed does a good job of introducing you to the fighting basics. You’ll be talked through how to throw specific punches from jabs to power throws along with how to duck, dodge and block. There is the option of using the right analogue stick to control your throws, but this has never really come naturally to me and I prevented myself from using it during the UFC games. I much prefer the conventional old-fashioned route of pressing A, B, X or Y with the added LB or RB here and there. The fighting and movement mechanics are actually spot on and while reviewing the game there was a patch improving some of the complaints with certain combos not landing quite right.

I never had an issue though and I enjoyed playing fight after fight attempting to improve. They say practice makes perfect and whilst I had a hard time online straight off the bat, I enjoyed diving into the Campaign and using my boxer to pave my way through my career path. You can of course choose one of the in-game rosters and carry out the career with them if you wish to. I was impressed at how much depth there was here with training camps allowing you to condition yourself before big fights and starting as an amateur in the hope of climbing to the biggest world stage and winning title belts.

Online Multiplayer

I was glad to see online multiplayer as part of the Undisputed package and I am unsure whether this was added later after early access on PC. I find that in competitive games like this, there are only so many times you can compete with AI before you want to go and smash someone else’s head in. They have done a great job here with stat tracking, leaderboard rankings and more. I like that you can see wins, losses and KO’s and being at the very top of the game grants you the opportunity to gain and win belts. If you’re more of a casual player then you can just have quick online fights with no tracking or even set up an online lobby. Lots of choice and flexibility here which is fantastic.

Visuals & Audio

I was pleasantly surprised with the presentation across the board for Undisputed. Considering we have a fresh studio and team going into a genre that hasn’t been explored properly for some time, it is excellent. All the authentic fighters look true to life and it is hard to criticise any of the likenesses to their real counterparts. It reminded me of the FIFA titles where you can gloss over someone’s face and features in-game and instantly recognise who it is. Even Eddie Hall looks spot on, although I did question why he is in a boxing game when he was both Britain’s and World’s strongest man at one stage. I think it is because he has had a few boxing matches in the past, most notably against Thor Bjornsson.

When it comes to the audio, the atmosphere of the arena, the connection of punches landing and the majority of sound effects are brilliant. I did find the commentary does fall a bit flat and becomes very repetitive with too many similar lines that you hear over and over again. I feel with a bit more love poured in here it would create greater immersion with the rest of the great audio work. One absence I did notice was the lack of an in-ring referee during the fight, you only tend to see one during cutscenes which again may take some of the realism of the fight away for you.

Final Thoughts

Let’s face it Undisputed doesn’t have any direct competition right now so it’s hard not to call it the best boxing game on the market. But hopefully what this ambitious project will do is spark some rival studios to create and make boxing games great again. As for Undisputed though, what we have is a fantastic stab at an engaging in-ring experience with plenty of content to dive into. Sure it isn’t perfect, but from a brand-spanking new studio and its first outing into the gaming world, this is a sterling effort into a genre no one has risked for a long time.

If you’re after that fix of scrappy fights on the sofa in front of a screen with your mates or you want to dodge and weave your way to success on the online leaderboards, then Undisputed does it all. It does it well enough to bring replayability and longevity to your personal gameplay experience and if you love boxing then I assure you that you’ll find enjoyment here.