Undisputed Review (PS5)

Undisputed is the little engine that could via Steel City Interactive, the boxing game that came out of nowhere after Fight Night disappeared over a decade ago. In its absence, many a UFC game continues to come and go while fans plead for a legit boxing sim.

Over the last few years, Steel City’s been slowly revealing Undisputed’s features on OperationSports, a well-regarded online community where devs and their core customer base exchange ideas, create gameplay sliders and custom rosters. OperationSports remains a favorite of the hardcore 2K and Madden pack, also a must for indy sports title publishers looking to find testers and establish a user base.

Undisputed’s formal launch finally came on Steam to mixed results. Many on OperationSports and beyond lauded the sharp presentation and roster (combining historical and current, also women), while others nitpicked the absence of realistic fight flow. All the while, Steel City continued to tweak and build toward Undisputed’s inevitable console release. And here we are.

First thing that stands out is Undisputed gorgeous and WBC authentic. Commitment to fighter presentation, ring gear and boxing style is perfect. Every fighter looks and plays uniquely, backed by core attribute badges indicative of such. Weight classes are properly distinguished in power, speed and AI tendencies. It’s neat to watch realistic impact of body shots also swelling/cutting (which have their own meter).

As an actual kickboxer myself, I personally love the authenticity of the gloves and shorts. I can almost smell the leather on those Reyes 10oz in classic white! There’s also oodles of different fight venues and types, a pretty neat visual treat. This is a welcome contrast to traditional boxing and MMA offerings, limited to but a handful of places to spar.

Career mode offers both a traditional path of a created fighter (fully customizable with selectable weight class and attributes) also one of a legend. Both are sadly too grindy, as early-mid career fights (until skill points and opponents leveled up) are slow motion tap fests with occasional oopsy KO’s. This is a bane of every sports game’s existence, where suffering through low talent schmucks on paths to glory is a staple of this mode. It’s especially painful in boxing, where limited stamina and hand speed is snooze worthy across several rounds.

Undisputed’s overall gameplay needs work. Camera angles obfuscate often, and many punches can pass through air as a result. Lean backs are overpowered, as opponents can’t do anything to break them (jabs can’t reach such stances, players can’t cut angles to break the distance). Undisputed also strangely allows punches en masse after a round bell, the ultimate no-no in a fighting title.

Pushes are overpowered, stunned opponents stay on their feet far too long even after getting hit by hook after hook, and there’s no real way of trapping a stunned individual on the ropes or in a corner. Body shots are difficult to land even when unguarded and jabs don’t feel like jabs (in setting up crosses or hooks), which removes a lot of the fun at lower weight classes. Strike timing is likewise a bit off, which ends up in the same punch accidentally being thrown several times in succession. This also means combos lack feel and need to be entered prior to being thrown.

Each round somewhat realistically accounts for the situation, whereas successive head shots will lower a fighter’s ability to continuously withstand them. Ditto for punches landing in the same spot increasing swelling. Still, these situational items recover far too quickly and disappear near-entirely into the next round.

Undisputed’s audio is sadly below average. Punches aren’t truly audio distinct in type and power (in contact sound). There’s no coach feedback in between rounds, commentary is boring and typically gets it wrong, and crowd noise doesn’t adjust based on in-ring action or venue size. Fight entrances are just not interesting.

I do like the right stick option which resembles a fighter’s stance when throwing punches. What I don’t like, however, is the confusion inherent since this is a behind perspective when one is facing mainly sideways in the ring [and ends up confusing]. Blocking and slips work well enough, but are plagued by the slight strike delay. There’s also no parry advantage from a perfectly timed block, a massive oversight for counter-strikers. Finally, throwing power punches through a shoulder button modifier is a nice concept, but it doesn’t drain enough stamina or leave the fighter vulnerable enough following a miss.

The problem with a boxing game is there’s so much that can go wrong as the barrier of entry is so high. I applaud Undisputed for bringing the sweet science back to consoles, but it seemingly needs a year of additional development. As an example, round scoring is broken and often wrongly favors those who end up on the canvas. Much like when Gran Turismo reappeared, there’s just so much tweaking required, Undisputed will likely sadly fail to get the audience it deserves when everything is finally in order. Also, and ironically, rumors of a Fight Night reappearance run rampant.

Final Thoughts?

Undisputed is the long overdue return of a traditional boxing title on consoles, one with a great license but lacking in execution. Perhaps a bit over ambitious in what it was trying to accomplish, the game could benefit from some more gameplay testing and a true identity.