Undisputed – PS5 Review

1 0
Read Time:6 Minute, 50 Second

It’s been a long time coming, previously released in Early Access in January 2023 on the PC, Undisputed has finally been released on consoles with a full 1.0 release on PC. Developed by Steel City Interactive and published by Deep Silver, Undisputed aims to deliver a haymaker to the boxing genre.

Let’s Get Ready To Rumble

With it being so long since a decent boxing game was released (shout out to Fight Night Champion, 2010) the worry is that boxing games just don’t have a place today. Undisputed wants to help you smell the salts and realise it’s not all over.

Gameplay

I’ve been following this game for quite a while, even playing it in Early Access on the PC. So, finding out that the full release was around the corner got me excited. Firing up the game for the first time and you are put straight into a tutorial. Giving you the option to use either the sticks to throw punches or the face buttons. Being a bit more old school I opted to use the buttons. Learning to throw basic punches, jabs and straights, as well as hooks and uppercuts. Then learning to string them together for combos, all of the tutorial was a lot of fun to play through.

image of a gym in Undisputed with people in the background and a punching bag
Time to hit the gym

Eventually, you are released into the game mode screen. Outside of the usual online and offline quick fights, you have a pretty deep Career Mode. This is where I went straight away!

Career Mode

When you head into career mode you are given the option to either create your own fighter or play through as one of the licensed fighters available. If you choose to create your own fighter you are then greeted with a pretty comprehensive creation suite. All the way down to some pretty hideous tattoos. I would have preferred to have had a layering system like we see in racing games, only so I could create my own intricate tattoos.

image from Undisputed showing the tattoos in the game. To highlight how silly some of the in game tattoos are the game character has had a smiley face tattoo enlarged to engulf their head.
Yes, that is exactly what I wanted!

After you’re happy with your appearance, you are thrust into an amateur tournament just to see how you start your journey. The career mode helps you along the way with some great tutorial moments. Explaining decisions that you are about to make, like which coach or cut man to pick. With each fight you take on you get experience towards a specific skill, whether it be towards your jab or maybe even towards your movement speed. Gradually levelling up your fighter to take on the top-tier opponents.

Picking Your Opponent

Once you are ready to pick your next fight you can advance time and get ready. Picking your next opponent isn’t an easy decision, with each opponent coming with a specific purse value as well as a number of fame points. The more fame that you have the better opponents will come up and take notice of you. You can also negotiate your percentage of the total purse, ensuring that you get as equal prize money should you best your opponent.

Once you’ve decided it’s time to hit the gym, you head off to Fight Camp. How much cash and fame you have will dictate where you can go. The more money and fame you have, the better the Fight Camp will be. Just make sure that you get some rest before the fight to be in top condition!

Fight Night

Next up it’s fight night, heading to the ring action and this is where the game starts to show what it’s really made of. The ring of the bell goes and you start the subtle dance of the fists. Throwing jabs to get your range is good fun, but not as much fun as throwing some power punches. My top tip? Play this like you would if you were actually boxing!

Balancing your stamina bar as well as ensuring you don’t get tagged too much is a fine art. I usually end up coming out a bit battered and bruised, I really should learn to block more. Keep piling on the pressure to your opponent and eventually, you will either daze them or just knock them to the floor. If they become dazed it is then down to you to try and get the final blow, your stamina temporarily becomes unlimited as the adrenalin surges through you.

screenshot from Undisputed showing an opponent knocked out with their coaching team around them
We Hit Hard!

As you get better at Undisputed you will start to deliver more and more knockout blows. I really enjoyed the extra little feature whereby you feel the punch connecting. You can sense the weight behind the hits. Add to that the slow-mo camera angles that you get to watch, it’s things like this that elevate the game. Now you probably won’t spend a lot of time looking down here and instead concentrating on the on-screen action. However, if it shows that the head bar is low and red, I’d be hitting that power punch button and getting in close for a nice left hook. Dropping my opponent to the mat.

Choosing The Right Fighter

The one thing that will make or break a boxing game is the line-up of fighters to choose from. Undisputed not only has 70+ licensed boxers across 10 weight divisions, but also has boxers from the women’s division as well. The line up is pretty incredible, and while I won’t list out all the fighters in the game I will name a few: Canelo Alvarez, Tyson Fury, Frank Bruno, Eddie Hall, Nigel Benn, Amir Kham and even Joe Calzaghe. Obviously, there are so many more fighters available.

screenshot of the heavyweight division in undisputed showing two fighters either side of the lineup
Hall vs Ali, what a dream match

Honestly, the line up is incredible. That being said here are a few obvious omissions however if you are a boxing fan you will probably be aware of the reasons for these omissions!

Graphics & Audio

Undisputed obviously makes the claim of being an authentic boxing game, so for me, it needs to look the business. Thankfully it does that and more. Graphically I think it’s stunning. Character models are brilliant, even when it’s the same fighter but from different eras of their career. The environments are good, although more care and time have been spent crafting the fighters. Each fight develops into a slugfest and with that comes cuts and blood. Both of these are beautifully rendered, especially when you first open up a wound on your opponent. I’ve even managed to get an Injury Stoppage!

screenshot from Undisputed showing two fighters in the ring, you can just see a cut above the eye on the left hand fighter
Time For A Slugfest!

On the audio side, the soundtrack is what you would expect. With each track designed to get you pumped as you play the game. All the sound effects are incredible, even down to the impact sounds when you land a devastating blow.

Longevity

It’s a sports game, right? So the longevity of the game will depend on how much you want to play. If you want to take your fighter to the top of the ranks it’s going to take you over 10 hours to build and grow your fighter. Want to prolong the game, then you can head online and start taking on other players from all over the globe.

It’s so hard to give a definitive answer on this one.

Final Thoughts

Steel City Interactive have crafted exactly what they aimed to do. An authentic boxing experience that allows lovers of the sport to take to the ring and fight with their favourite boxers. With great graphics and fun gameplay Undisputed definitely is a welcome return to the ring for the genre. Will it be the start of a great franchise, or will it just be updated constantly with new boxers? Only time will tell I guess, hopefully the bell doesn’t ring too soon on this one.

Undisputed receives the Thumb Culture Gold Award

Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.

Thumb Culture

YouTube | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Discord | Podcast

About Author

Average Rating

5 Star
25%
4 Star
0%
3 Star
0%
2 Star
0%
1 Star
75%

4 thoughts on “Undisputed – PS5 Review

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *