Let me start off this review by saying that I have a touch of the carpal tunnel (I blame Blanka’s SF2 electric charge attack), but it is usually not that big of a deal.

But “Facebreaker” hurt me. Physically.

I love mashing on buttons as much as the next guy, but after a couple of bouts of Facebreaking some fools, I was on my knees trying not to curse, as my arms became a mass of pain and torture. Read on to find out if my suffering was worth it.

The first thing that you notice when firing up the game are the character designs. These are not your typical boxing game characters. Most of the characters are at least somewhat amusing, although they all have the vague feeling of design by committee. As if the proverbial “suits” mandated their creation.

Like many EA games the character creator is pretty nifty, and with support for the Vision Camera and the Playstation Eye, you can put your own face on a character, so your friends can beat the heck out of it. The game also comes with a strange assortment of extra characters including Peter Moore, Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco), that dude from the Hills, and that dude from the Hills’ Girlfriend.

There is a rather surreal quality to punching Peter Moore in the face. Although if your 360 has bricked a couple of times, this might be your only opportunity for revenge.

The game falls along the arcade spectrum of boxing, although it is definitely more a Ready 2 Rumble game than a Punch Out. Meaning that, although it has its own charm, it is a much more forgettable experience than an all time classic like “Punch Out!”. The basic gameplay is broken down into an almost rock paper scissors formula, only played out over and over again at ultra fast speed.

It is nice to see EA trying to break away from the yearly sports updates and sequel grinding. The cartoony style and funny characters seem designed to appeal to a younger audience. The only problem is, the game is actually quite difficult.

After watching several younger kids play the single player game, it seems to be way too advanced. The A.I. is psychic on even the easiest settings, and can easily dodge or counter your random flailing. Over time you do learn to overcome some of this initial difficulty by utilizing the games Facebreakers, which are over the top moves that result in instant victory. Most multiplayer matches I witnessed rarely went past the first round. People would simply wail on the buttons until they built up their Facebreaker and then unleashed it for an instant victory. As much fun as this is for the winner, the loser is left with the feeling that something very unfair has just happened.

It does bring me hope that a sequel can fix many of these problems, but the game would need a complete overhaul since the very foundations are built on sand. The concept of a wacky boxing game with outrageous characters can totally work, but unfortunately this is not the game to pull it off. Maybe next time.

The Breakdown

The game is too frantic to be strategic. It may be fine for a couple of laughs at your next adult beverage party. Or better yet, save your money and get more adult beverages or a piñata (people like smashing things, and piñatas have candy).

Also the game hurt me. A lot. And no, it was not worth it.

In keeping with the total disregard for numeric scores, I have to give Facebreaker an Eric Roberts in Best of the Best 2.

Tags: boxing, Facebreaker, fighting games, ps3, Xbox 360

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 at 9:50 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.