Kombo’s Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don’t waste your time. This is why we’ve split our reviews into four sections: What the Game’s About, What’s Hot, What’s Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.
What the Game’s About
Facebreaker is an EA Freestyle game that pits super exaggerated pugilists against each other in hyper exaggerated boxing matches. The game looks like it is a spiritual successor to Ready 2 Rumble boxing but goes the extra step in making the game be that much more unbelievable. There are 12 characters to choose from and create custom fighters to add to the silly boxing universe. The matches are quick and unapologetic and a few famous faces make cameos.
What’s Hot
Boxing games are more fun when they revel in wackiness. Facebreaker has its fair share of wacky. Not only are the characters off the wall and over the top, so are the rings like the pirate ring that features boxing crabs. It contributes to a fun atmosphere and it offers plenty of comic book visuals with a heaping helping of surrealism. The character design is fun. Each fighter has a vastly different personality than the next.
Just because the Wii is getting all the attention doesn’t mean that it is the only casual player friendly kid on the block. What Facebreaker does well is that it is a gateway for casual players. It will remind them of the classic Punch-Out!!! game but bridge the gap into this generation opening up other possibilities. The key theme is the over exaggeration with the hits and the boxers that drives home a distinct style that will resonate with just about anyone who plays the game. What helps Facebreaker over the hardcore hill is the inclusion of some celebrity faces to attract some attention. You have Peter Moore of EA Sports, Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt of The Hills and some legitimate sports stars offering their faces to be broken. As you can see, the game has something for hardcore gamers to get excited about and something for decidedly non-gamers to get excited about. Facebreaker is at its best when you play with a friend. You won’t have to worry about the unflinching AI and you can focus on the stylish, animated comic book action that the game excels in.
What’s Not
What doesn’t work, right off the bat, is the difficulty. I’ve played my fair share of video games and I struggled through the game. Trying and retrying to get past the rounds of fights was not an enjoyable task. I don’t know why in testing this wasn’t deemed too hard because Facebreaker could might as well be called Controller Breaker with all the frustration you’ll have trying to get all the title belts. And this is just the “easy” setting. Forget about trying out the harder difficulties unless you like inflicting self harm. I cannot underscore enough just how brutal the AI gets.
The too-hard-for-its-own-good gameplay might be a cover of the shallow gameplay. The foundation for some outrageous action was laid but the boards put on that foundation to build the walls are not that sturdy. Gameplay devolves into a weak system of blocks and punches but the characters move so quickly that you need world record reaction time to parry, counter parry or counter-counter parry punches to make any progress towards the end. Spending a considerable amount of time learning when to punch and when to block doesn’t have any reward because the AI will still find a way to kick the crap out of you.
It would be easy to bill more repetitive gameplay off as something for the casual crowd but by making the game so difficult, it alienated that base maybe in hopes to capture a more core gaming demographic. Whatever the reason for the design missteps, the game has style but for no real audience. Facebreaker ultimately seems like a pair of Zuba pants, flashy but lacking any real staying power.
Final Word
I love the character design and the over-the-top approach the taken but the dastardly duo of ridiculously hard AI to mask a shallow control mechanics doesn’t bode well when trying to get fans on board a new franchise. Playing with a friend is the best way to enjoy Facebreaker and if you can corral a friend for a round or two, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at what it can offer in terms of being social while gaming.
