Stepping Up To The Fight And Going Gloves-Off In Boxing Underdog

Boxing Underdog recently landed a knockout punch on the Quest store with its early access release. Read on for my impressions of its high-detail character models, next-level body tracking, and AI opponents that learn from your every move, setting this game apart from other contenders.

Humble Beginnings

You start by dropping into a highly detailed, though slightly run-down-looking, practice gym. Here’s where you’ll find the menu system, a jukebox with some original tunes loaded up, a lifelike sparring dummy that lets you sharpen your skills and see how much power you’re putting behind each punch, and the leaderboards. All while your personal trainer gives you tips and encouragement between fights. You can also customize your in-game character, purchase upgrades, and swap between the game’s VR and mixed reality modes. The training environment also lets you change the time of day, though no further customization options are currently present.

Learning to Float Like A Butterfly & Sting Like A Bee

From the first bell, the thing that hit me beyond a flurry of fists is how fluid and natural my in-game avatar’s movements feel. Monologic Games has done some magic here with the game’s IK (inverse kinematics) and tracking. Everything feels fast, responsive, and fairly accurate. From mimicking simple head and arm movements to full-body crouching, Boxing Underdog shows a level of detail rarely seen across Quest games. Usually when I see this amount of precision, it’s in PC VR titles, so experiencing fidelity like this for both graphics and physics on Quest 3 is very impressive.

The precision IK mirroring my real-world movements adds a deeper level of immersion that I rarely feel anymore after 25 years of playing games in virtual reality, and at this point I am still just sitting in the game’s menu.

To control your virtual fighter, Boxing Underdog offers either controllers or hand tracking. However, at the time of my testing, the hand tracking was broken. Monologic released a statement warning players of the issue, so it’s controllers only until they can internally test a fix. The possibilities of hand tracking have me intrigued but also concerned that the Quest’s cameras won’t be fast enough to accurately predict the very rapid and varied hand movements occurring at any given time during gameplay. It’ll be interesting to jump back in and test the hand tracking support once Monologic fixes this.

Single Player That Fights Back

Boxing Underdog’s single-player AI refuses to become just another virtual punching bag. Even during the early rounds of my first fights, it already has me keeping my guard up. These NPC opponents feel like they’ve started reading my mind in a way and know how to counter each jab and cross with surprisingly varied blocks and sometimes even taunts, depending on how the fight is going.

These AI opponents make every single-player match feel less scripted and more like an actual sparring session with a real partner. Unlike other boxing games such as Creed or the Thrill of the Fight series, these virtual opponents seem to take on their own personalities with little repetition in their patterns. This really makes me pay close attention to the fight I’m in and not just rely on learning the timing of each match to win. In Boxing Underdog, it really comes down to your skills in the ring if you want to earn a title belt.

Boxing Underdog offers both local and online multiplayer options, so you can bring a friend into the ring or go a few rounds with contenders from all over the world. As someone who prefers a more solitary gaming experience, I’ve only tried a couple of multiplayer matches to test them. Performance is surprisingly good on my dedicated Wi-Fi 6E network, but there are still a few noticeable dips in FPS at times. Nothing game-breaking, just more of an annoyance when I’m trying to land a haymaker and those dips cause me to misjudge my timing. There are also some weird IK issues with the other player’s animations, and I frequently find them to be too close to hit. Multiplayer has some issues, but it’s impressive nonetheless to know that I was boxing with an actual player somewhere else in the world.

Graphics That Punch on Quest 3

Quest 3 owners are in for a visual treat in Boxing Underdog. Monologic has presented a game that, even though still available for the aging Quest 2, doesn’t seem to be held back on Quest 3 and 3S like so many other games I’ve seen available on both headsets lately. What you get here are crisp and clean-looking graphics with minimal aliasing or motion blur during fast movements as you dart around the ring.

Mixed reality is also available and while you lose those impressive, high-detail environments, you gain some amazing-looking, life-sized digital humans appearing in your playspace to spar with. This mode feels unfinished and rough around the edges, but as an early access launch, that’s not completely surprising. The models look great projected into my space, but the illusion was lost when the game didn’t want to map to my scanned playspace very well. I sincerely hope that Monologic continues to push forward with this mode because sparring with life-sized, highly detailed boxers in my space feels great.

Also impressive are the real-time shadows that follow every action happening in the ring. Since my eye kept tracking to them, the detailed shadow mapping caused me to take a few punches when I faced my first few opponents. It’s not that the shadows were distracting; I’m just mesmerized at how well they worked. I’ve only ever seen shadows this good in one other Quest 3 title, our pick for 2024 game of the year on the system, Batman: Arkham Shadow.

Another striking detail is the level of detail in the game’s gore system. This is something that players who are sensitive to blood may want to turn off, but for those who aren’t, you’ll see the damage that can come from the brutality of fighting. The lacerations add up even faster when fighting in a bare-knuckle match, and admittedly this is a bit tough to stomach, even for me.

Don’t get me wrong, I can take another player out with a sniper rifle in Onward or Population: One and actually get a sense of satisfaction from it. That said, there is something different about standing there beating a highly detailed model representing another human to a bloody pulp with my own virtual bare knuckles. I found myself taking a second to back off after seeing the AI’s face cringe in pain while I opened up another can of whoop-ass on it.

Stacking Up Against the Competition

While providing a very similar experience in comparison to Thrill of the Fight 1 and 2, Boxing Underdog punches above its weight class in terms of strategy and sense of immersion. The collision system, character fidelity, and smarter AI keep things fresh in a way I don’t feel while playing Thrill of the Fight on Quest. Both games have rough edges, yet there’s a fluidity to Boxing Underdog that stands above the competition for me.

Currently, though, Boxing Underdog is still an unfinished early access title that still lacks a single-player campaign mode. With Thrill of the Fight 2 also still being in early access, the original Thrill of the Fight or Creed is where you’ll want to land if you’re currently looking for a feature-complete VR boxing game.

The Final Bell

Boxing Underdog presents a compelling early access release and feels like a foundation for something much bigger to come from Monologic Games. While tournament mode is in the works, it’s already worth the ticket price. If you want a challenging, immersive virtual sparring partner that won’t just stand in place and take a beating, single player is the way to go. Should you want to climb the leaderboards, there are plenty of players waiting in the ring. For the future of VR boxing on Quest, Boxing Underdog might just be where it starts.

It’s out now in early access for Quest 2, 3, 3S, and Pro, with all early purchasers set to receive the full release. PS VR2 and Steam ports are planned, though the latter uses the game’s old name, and a PC VR companion app is also coming. Once we hear release date news for those platforms, we’ll let you know. Until then, keep your guard up and jabs tight, and don’t get suckered into a rope-a-dope.