Undisputed Review (Xbox Series X)

STAFF REVIEW of Undisputed (Xbox Series X)

Wednesday, October 30, 2024.
by Brent Roberts

What started back in the 1980's with mike Tyson's Punch Out has created a number of boxing games that are determined to bring the same joy and excitement as originally felt. While blending it with modern day interface and graphics to enhance the realism of the game, very few have since delivered a quality product, in fact, it was back in the Fight Night series that we really saw any quality from a boxing game that tried to develop the same excitement but in a more modern day package. Today though, developer Steel City Interactive has laced up their boots and stepped into the ring with Undisputed in an attempt to take the belt and show why it's pound for pound, the best boxing game available by combining Boxing with some RPG elements. Time to put on our best Don King and see what Undisputed has to offer.

The absolute focus of any boxing game has to be the gameplay. While classic games like Punch Out had a very simplistic gameplay mechanic, modern games with their controllers offer a greater in-depth control mechanic that, when working smoothly, can deliver a truly enjoyable experience. Your fight controls are defaulted as this:

X - Jab
Y - Straight
A - Left Hook
B - Right Hook
RB – Give your punches more power at the cost of more stamina.
LB – Aim your punches towards the body.
A+X - Left Uppercut
B+Y - Right Uppercut
LS - Move
RS - Punch activation.
LT - Hold Weave
RT - Block upper body (combine with RB to block the body)

This means that when you push these in various combinations of non-power / power, you can deliver quite a devastating punishment in a short period of time. The movement with the sticks however and when combined with LT, allows you to duck and weave punches rather than just stay there linear to your opponent and get pummeled. You have to be careful though. Should you weave in the wrong direction and your opponent counters it, then it's almost an instant knockout guaranteed. There were some issues though with the gameplay. During every round there was a moment in time where the action would freeze for about a quick second and then never again. It almost was like the game hadn't finished loading all the resources for the round and started prematurely. This took you out of the flow of the fight and that's where another issue with the gameplay resides.

Undisputed wants to be smooth and silky but it's very sluggish and lumpy, even with your boxer stats all at level 100. There will be times when I push the LS forward towards my opponent and I'll start strafing around the sides. I originally started playing this game on the new PDP Victrix Pro BFG controller with the Hall Effect upgraded sticks and my character couldn't move at all. Literally no movement with the LS which is odd because you could use it in the menu system. I tried both wireless and wired connections and none of them would produce any movement, so I switched back to the Elite Series 2 controller and I can move just fine. Other times when I would be in the middle of the fight, I would go to throw a hook, and my arm would go through some weird seizure type motion and not throw the punch. This got especially frustrating when trying to piece together combinations as there was a different rhythm to the fights.

Normal fighting games you have rapid button inputs that come down to the very frame of animation to pull off and split-second timing. Undisputed is the complete opposite and will require you to get accustomed to the feel of the movement. This was a big learning curve, as you would think your boxer would swing as fast as you could press the button itself, but once you get the 'flow' of the boxing down, then you should find yourself settling in for some brutal and devastating fights. This isn't so much "button mashing" as it is a chess game but with rhythm. There are other issues as well. For example, the animation for your opponent getting up is broken down into only 3 different types: Instant KO, Knockdown, and Take a Knee. All of these, however, somehow magically take place in the center of the ring. So, if you're in the corner of the ring and you land a vicious uppercut that sends your opponent down to the canvas, they somehow magically appear in the center of the ring and the refs count begins. If you're looking for realism, this is where that goes out the window.

Undisputed is broken down into several menus but ultimately there are only two of focus: Career and Online. This is done through the main hub which offers the following menu options: Quick Fight, Career, online, Prize Fights, News, and Store. This is your centralized focal point where your primary playtime will be focused. At the top you have several menu choices such as Local, Career, Online, Profile, Create. Your local menu offers you the ability to jump into a Quick Fight, a Prize Fight, or go through the Tutorial to learn the mechanics of Undisputed. Your career is exactly how it says. It allows you to continue an ongoing career, start a new one, or begin a licensed career with an established fighter. Your online menu is centralized on your online experience and it's here where you can jump into a quick fight, have a ranked match, check out the leaderboards or form a lobby. Your profile is where you can check out your player stats, customize your player card, adjust any settings you may want and check out the credits of Undisputed. Finally, the Create section is where you can either create a new boxer or browse what you've already made.

Some issues I have with Undisputed's stable of boxers come down to not what was included but what boxers were not included. Icons such as Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield and even Mike Tyson are nowhere to be found. While I'm presuming this is due to funds and lack of money to acquire the license to use the boxers’ images and likenesses, you can't help feeling that the roster of talent feels diluted, not just in the heavyweight division but in all boxing divisions as well. Hopefully, this will be updated with future DLC content, especially when you think of some of the legendary moments in boxing that some of the greatest talent in boxing has provided.

The meat of Undisputed is hands down the career mode. Over the course of several dozen fights you will work your way from the Amateur ranks to the Professional standings and hopefully on your way to a unified championship. The Career mode has you hunting 6 total belts, 2 are in the amateur rankings while 4 remain in the professional league. The Career mode is broken down similarly to what you find in the main menu. Your career hub is where you can advance the week towards the fight, negotiate the next upcoming fight (when it becomes unlocked), check out your boxer's stats, and browse the media feed or your notifications.

Selecting the “My Boxer” menu will allow you to see your stats, but you can also take a look at your career and your wardrobe, but the primary goal to focus on here is your traits. Traits are unlocked through your coach, and each coach has unique traits that can offer both passive and active abilities for your boxer. So, for example, if you have a trait that actively increases the chance the ref will stop the fight because of cuts and swelling, the passive ability is that it's easier for your character to become cut and swell. This is the type of 'give and take' balancing you find throughout Undisputed's trait system. Personally, I focused on uppercut power and hooks and would hold off on changing my coach as I ranked up until I found coaches that had traits that improved my gameplay. As you go throughout your fights you will get graded at the end by your coach, and the higher the grade equals the higher the points you get towards your coach's max level of 100. This is important because it's through this process that you unlock more of your coach's traits which you can then equip back onto your fighter.

Circling back now to the career, your next option is your Gym, and this is broken down into two simple choices, train or cut weight. You have a max ability that you can train to and that is 70% pre-fight training camp, so it's in your best interest to toggle your gym to train until you hit 70% (should be about 3 weeks of time) and then focus on cutting weight. This will ensure that as you train and gain weight in your fight camp before a fight that your boxer remains healthy and in prime condition when the bell rings for that first round. You can also choose your gym that you wish to train in, however you will have to unlock them through your reputation and money. Get enough reputation and you can buy your membership to the gym, and some offer bonuses as well. Bonuses such as no minor injuries during training and all the way up to providing you with a +3 boost to all your stats.

The ranking menu just will simply allow you to see where you stack up in the world rankings but also allow you to see you opponents and check out their strengths and their weaknesses. So if someone has a soft mid-section then you can plan your upcoming fight with them to target the ribs and belly and chop them down like a tree. The My Team option allows you to see your coach, cut man, and manager all in one location, and gives you the ability to either break a contract, hire a new team member, or renew their current contract. It's important to note that as you progress in your fights you will earn coach XP, which you can use to upgrade your coach's abilities, which then translates into you getting bigger bonuses in your training. One word of advice though is to stockpile your coach XP until you start signing an A or B class coach because you will advance quickly through the ranks and unlock more coaches, so don't waste your XP on a D class coach when you can save them for a B or A class.

The section of My Objectives will show you where you stand in your progress throughout your stats, pro career, and challenges. Your stats include defense, heart, speed, stamina, strength, and vitality (each one has unique challenges that provide certain rewards as you progress through the tiers. For example: level 4 - Block power punches to the head = +3 to chin resistance). This is a way to level up your stats, you cannot train in the gym so keep this in mind as you get through the fight. There are a total of 5 tiers per challenge with each tier providing a bigger bonus when you unlock it.

Your pro career objectives pertain to your career such as training activities, your staff, negotiation, and resources. These also help level up your stats that you can't train for in a gym, so finding bonuses here can be relatively easy given the activities needed to advance these challenges. Finally, you have your challenges themselves and these are fight specific. Objectives such as entering a fight with 100 energy and fight sharpness or win a fight by KO. Again, as the levels increase, so do the bonuses paid out by these challenges that are permanent unlocks which you can't advance through gym training. This is Undisputed's way of making sure you focus on these objectives so you can really maximize your fighter instead of just hitting the gym every single day and twice on Sunday.

The Injuries section will allow you to see your injuries that are both minor and major. Minor injuries you can continue to fight but with a stat deduction. If it gets worse, it can become a major injury where you have to rest until it's healed. You can attempt to heal the injury with your cut man but if you fail you lose money and still suffer the injury. This honestly makes your cut man's most valuable stats to focus on are surgery for major injuries and physio for minor injuries. To accelerate the process, you can also press the X button to bypass the weeks of waiting if you want and jump right into not having an injury. This will allow you to save money by not trying to heal quicker and risk having the injury get worse.

When the bell rings in Undisputed it's time to set up your fight, and that means it's time for your manager to negotiate the details of the fight. This starts out by picking your suggested fight from a choice of three options. Once you have selected your fighter, you will go into a deal where you can negotiate the terms of the fight. The items you can negotiate on are:

- Purse Cut - how much money you get (careful if you get too greedy, they can counter and/or outright refuse
- Venue - where to fight
- Fight Insurance - this is to protect you if you get hurt training and are unable to fight or for being overweight in your weight class (this doesn't apply to heavy weight although you'll still get the disadvantage if you're overweight).
- Training Weeks - how long do you have to train (I find the best numbers of weeks are 8 and 10 to allow ample time to recover in your training.
- Rematch Clause - right after the match the rematch is already booked so you can just advance your weeks to the next training session.
- Fight Promotion - how much money from the purse is going to be used to promote the fight.
- Media Activities - various activities that may have to be done to increase the fame from the fight (ex: go on a podcast, promote a product, etc.)
- Home Fight - boxers that fight away are going to get a 5% purse cut bonus as they will cover expenses for themselves and their team. Home fighters earn more fame for the fight.

Then you'll see staff costs, injury insurance costs, and weight limits. Once you set these options up you can negotiate, and based off your manager, will either be accepted, countered, or denied. As you can see there is a ton to negotiate over and as you advance up the rankings and your fame increases then you'll unlock better managers who can earn you bigger and better paydays and fights. There is an Objective though to setting up your own fights without a manager, so that may be something to consider doing early on in your career.

Once the fight is agreed upon you go into your fight camp where you can choose the gym that you will use to train. In this camp you have three primary options: Train, Media, and Recover. The media are just actions that you can do for the week to increase your fame and reputation in the ring. The training aspect however is where you will primarily develop your fighter. There are several training options, and each will cost a certain amount of energy and train your fighter a certain percentage. Each one of these activities will also specifically focus on various aspects of your fighter. The punching bag for example, will focus on your Power Punching, Uppercuts and Hooks. These stats can be raised to a maximum of 100 and then after that you will stop having a bonus on your fighter's stat. For example, if you have power punching at level 98 with a +2 boost, then your stat is boosted to 100. Once you naturally hit 100, you will no longer receive that +2 bonus. Also, if you get your stats to 100, they do not stay that way.

So, when you get your stats to 100, and you go back into training, your levels show that, after weeks off of training that you lose some of your stats. Now, I'm not saying that these are major drop offs (the least was +39 and the most points needed at a time was +984) this point drop means that every fight you have to train for and this is fairly realistic because if we don't keep pushing our talent and our bodies then we will naturally lose some of its abilities. I have found that usually even numbered weeks of training camp before a fight allowed for maximum training and recovery so that your body is at full stamina and your skills are dominating at 100.

It goes without saying that Undisputed tries to wrap all this content up in a nice graphical bow, and it does a wonderful job of that. The licensed fighters look almost identical in their likeness and even their ring attire is period and person specific, and this also applies to the physics of Undisputed as well. When you have a fighter that is weaving around and trying to avoid getting hit and a power punch rocks the side of their head, you'll see the individual beads of sweat fly off in dynamic fashion. Cuts, bruises, and swelling are done tastefully and realistically, and even the blood on the canvas and gloves apply perfectly to the environment and add a great sense of realism. There are a few gripes though about the graphics and that involves the scenery.

With legendary arenas you don't get the sensation that Undisputed brings these iconic settings to life because they're not there and you start to wonder why? My personal theory is that the company had so much money to spend on this title and they opted to use what money they did have to bring certain boxers into the game while utilizing already existing gameplay models that they don't refine, and they just ignored the venues all together. I wish all this negativity though could apply to the lack of characters, gameplay issues, and lack of venues, but unfortunately I have to talk about the audio of this game as well. Bottom line the music is so bad I turned it off as are the ring announcers who have what seems like 10 lines of script for a fight. When you hear "a shot from the gods" about 30 times you can almost do your own commentary verbatim on this game yourself. In fact, I found more enjoyment playing the game hearing the impact sounds of the punches mixed with the ambience of the game rather than hearing the same canned dialogue over and over and over again.

Undisputed steps into the ring and I've decided to look at this as the foundation for a great boxing series. Not even close to perfect though, though there are a lot of good redeeming qualities about this game that should serve Undisputed well moving forward. Is Undisputed good enough to take the crown from Fight Night Champions? No. Is it the worst boxing game of all time? No. Undisputed does a good job incorporating some RPG leveling elements into a boxing game, and does so with a surprising depth of quality. While it may seem simplistic on the outside, once you dive into the heart of Undisputed you will see the wealth of content that this game does provide. Now, the big question remains, is it worth the full retail price of $59.99 good? Sadly, no. With the issues and lack of content I couldn't justify spending $60 on what would easily be a $30 game.

**Undisputed was provided by the publisher and reviewed on an Xbox Series X**

Suggestions:
Improve the gameplay. Bring in more licensed fighters from all weight classes. Include more realistic venues and iconic settings. Improve the sound and announcers.

Overall: 7.0 / 10
Gameplay: 7.0 / 10
Visuals: 8.0 / 10
Sound: 6.0 / 10

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