Hands-On Preview: FaceBreaker
by Rangebar Merani on July 25, 2008 at 12:59 am
If you were ever a fan of the arcade boxing game that first hit the Dreamcast back in 2000, Ready to Rumble, you’ll want to check out EA Sport’s newest IP in five years, FaceBreaker. Created by EA Canada, the same team that developed Fight Night Round 3, FaceBreaker is an arcade boxing game with eye-popping graphics, extremely in-depth gameplay, and a fun presentation overall.
When I first got my hands on FaceBreaker, it didn’t take me too long to realize that this is a real boxing game. Don’t be fooled by its looks, because there is a lot of strategy to mastering the gameplay mechanics.
The controls weren’t too difficult to learn, with high and low punches, blocking, dodging, and a special attack that can be executed by mixing combinations of high and low punches. You’ll also be able to grab your opponent and shove them, causing a daze and allowing for a barrage of attacks.
From playing FaceBreaker, I learned that defense is the key. If you just keep attacking, your attacks are eventually going to get dodged and you’ll be open for repeated counterattacks.
Once you’re ready to knock your opponent out, and you’ve filled your combo meter up by stringing up a number of combinations, you’ll finally be able to unleash your facebreaker attack, instantly knocking your opponent out.
Of course, as an arcade boxing game, all of the attacks, special moves, and facebreakers are all extremely over-the-top and, sometimes, quite ridiculous. But that’s the fun thing about FaceBreaker: you’ll be able to enjoy kicking your opponent’s ass and deforming their face.
And the best thing about whooping up on a friend, whether you’re playing right next to them or online, is getting a facebreaker on them and then mounting their head onto the wall of your virtual trophy room. Yep, you read that right. Every time you beat someone a head mount with their name under it will appear in your trophy room, showing off all your victories.
Another big focus in this game is the cast of different characters, such as Romeo, a Latin Lover who’s popular for his pelvic thrusts, and Molotov, a gigantic Russian know for his dirty fighting style. Each character will have their own unique attributes, abilities, and personal style.
Along with the 12 outlandish characters, FaceBreaker gives you the option to create your own boxer, and, even better, upload a picture of yourself using the Photo Game Face feature. Well, you don’t necessarily have to upload a picture of yourself, but can upload a pic of anyone and create a look-a-like boxer. Want to pit Barack Obama against John McCain? Even better, how bout Master Chief against Mario? Go right ahead.
FaceBreaker was surprisingly one of my favorite games that I played at E3 and it’s definitely on my list of games for this fall. Make sure to check out this over-the-top and entertaining arcade boxer when it hits stores this September for both the Xbox 360 and PS3.
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on July 25, 2008 8:32 am
Just a question, I was wondering how good the picture importing is. Did you get a chance to test it? I am hoping for something good, like Tiger series. However, I’m thinking it might be closer to the crappy import that most games do (ala Rainbow Six series - ecch)
Thanks for writing back.
on July 25, 2008 10:48 am
naw, i didn’t get to try it but they did have an import pic of peter moore’s face and it was on a boxer. It looked really good too. And I think i heard that they were using the same or similar system as the Tiger series. I thought peter moore’s face looked just like him, so I’m pretty sure the system well work well.