It has been a while since we have had a decent arcade boxing title. Mike Tysons punchout and Ready to Rumble boxing are two good ones that come to mind when I try to think of any.
A long while indeed, can EA Freestyle bring a worthy entry into this lacking genre? Let’s take a look at FaceBreaker and find out….
I love boxing games, whether it is a simulation game like the Fight night series or a nice light hearted arcade boxer such as the previously mentioned titles, Mike Tysons Punchout or Ready to Rumble boxing. Some of my fondest memories were playing these games growing up and laying the smack down on a few friends. So you can imagine my excitement when FaceBreaker was announced.
There are a variety of fighters, each with their own quirks and styles. These fighters range from Steve the Ninja nerd to Ice Man the cool, calculating, perfect boxer. There is of course Brick, which is the oversized muscleman with no brain and the Socks the crazy man in the straight jacket. There are of course more boxers for you to discover as you progress through the game. Each with their own humorous intro and clip for when they are beaten or beat you in a match. However, while your playing the game it feels that the difference between the fighters ends there.
The graphical presentation is exactly how you expect it to be. Graphics are for the most part crisp and the variety in the scenery of the rings is ample. The damage to your player as he is pummeled adds over time but of course not as real as it is in Fight Night. The way the faces contort as you land a over the top bone breaker move is pretty cool.
Using the Xbox vision camera or the Playstation Eye, player can create a boxer to look like them in the boxer factory. This works similar to Tiger Woods and is fairly accurate. It does take some time to create one, just the imaging process takes around 20 minutes and there are plenty of options to tweak to your liking. So it could take your close to 30-35 minutes to create a boxer. Somebody making you angry? or just wanna beat on a celebrity? Well there is the option to use a photo to create a boxer. Hmm… political battle in the 
ring..could be fun.
With all that being said, the game play can be a bit frustrating at times. You have 2 basic punches and a haymaker button. Not a lot of variety in that respect but you can block, dodge and parry attacks. I actually found if you just held the block down and parried alot you could get through quite a bit of the first fighters. As you progress and fight harder boxers, you start to realize that the CPU has a definite advantage and the game really becomes a button masher. Your finger will start to hurt to be honest.
The music is the game has a decent variety but of course my favorite is the WolfMother Woman remix. Some of the songs do get a bit old or in my case were not to my liking but I’m just a bit picky in that respect.
The game really is its best when you have a live opponent to play against. Online or local, either way it is definately better when you have someone other than the CPU to play against. Especially if you both create your own boxers. It still is a button masher and whoever hits first and keeps going can string together a lot of hits and it can be frustrating still.
While I enjoyed the game for a bit, again I found myself wanted to play Fight Night,Ready to Rumble or even fire up the Wii and play Punchout. The game is priced at $49.00 instead of the usual $59.00 but still I really think that it should be rented or download the demo in order to see if it is something that you will continue to play.
Brian Says: ‘Rent It’
3 Comments
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Bag Of Mad Bastards 
I really dislike arcade boxing games, but I wanted to try this one out. Such a disappointment. The two punch buttons and block are all you ever have to button mash, and the hit collision is way off track. Graphics are alright, but nothing like Fight Night when Spot and I got our first knockdown and cheered. That was a good game, this is a lackluster button masher. Dodge it.
Hence the Rent it, fun for a day maybe two but not worth paying full price.
I hope that in a future Fight Night, they add the camera support. Would be nice to download all of us and pummel each other