Undisputed is no heavyweight boxing sim, but it still packs a punch

There once was a time where boxing video games were all the rage. Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! ushered in the trend on the NES, but games and franchises like Ready 2 Rumble Boxing and EA’s Fight Night kept the momentum going for a few decades. That changed somewhere in the 2010s, as every active series was knocked out. MMA and wrestling games carried on, but it looked like boxing players were down and out.

That changes this week thanks to Undisputed. The debut project from Steel City Interactive exits early access on October 11, and it’s looking to become the new world champion of boxing games — even if by default. It’s a carefully crafted simulation made by developers who clearly love the sport. Is that enough to make it the king of the ring, though? Not quite, as the limits of its scope ultimately reveal what’s ultimately a featherweight package, but we could be witnessing the start of a new legacy, so long as it can get back up after being knocked down.

Punch out

When it comes to the core boxing in Undisputed, Steel City executes a solid game plan. Each face button is mapped to a different punch style (jab, uppercut, etc.), and I can also throw attacks by using my right joystick instead. Holding R1 and pressing a button turns it into a power attack, while holding L1 turns it into a body shot. Guarding happens on the right trigger and it’s crucial to success, just like in real boxing. After a quick tutorial, I had the ins and outs down fast. That makes for an easy to learn system that peppers in nuance through techniques like countering and weaving.

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There’s a lot that Steel City nails in its moment-to-moment fights. Rounds perfectly capture the different dynamics between fighters and press players to balance their offense and defense. In one