
Face Breakers

Mashing Success: The most accomplished professional boxers possess a rare blend of speed, power, and agility. The most accomplished Facebreaker boxers prefer to rely on their ability to distort your facial features beyond dental record recognition. It's relatively simple: mash buttons, mash faces. The goal of EA's sub-brand Freestyle was to make sports games more accessible to a wider audience and Facebreaker, Freestyle's first release, will appeal to everyone with thumbs.
Kombat Ready: This game is not lacking in cartoonish brutality. The last step would be to add a "Finish him" voiceover and the ability to remove spinal chords. (Oh well, there's always the sequel.) The secret lies in the Breaker Meter. Pull off two consecutive jabs or body blows and your Meter will fill one level. Depending on how long your flurry of punches lasts, your Breaker Meter will help you unleash anything from a Haybreaker (a standard uppercut) to a FaceBreaker (a match-ending vulgar display of power). Just be sure to time your attacks accordingly. If you get hit before you release your breaker, you'll be caught on the wrong end of a beat down with your meter on empty.
X's and Blows: Boxing is still called the Sweet Science for a reason, and amidst all of the broken ribs and bloody noses you'll need to employ some strategy to get past the preliminary title belts. Dodging your opponent's punches is almost as vital as landing yours. The best way to turn the momentum of a bout is to parry. Catch your opponent's glove with one hand and smash his exposed chin with your free fist. The knockout blows provide the excitement, but you can't get to the final punch without a plan.
Sofa King: According to the instruction booklet, the "Couch Royale" mode will "ruin all of your friendships." Anywhere from two to six players can enter a tournament and face off for living room supremacy. Once you've created a character to compete in "Couch Royale," you can track vanity stats, like fastest knockout, amongst your group of friends. If you pull off a FaceBreaker against one of your buddies, you get to mount his character's head like a game hunter. And that's about the time the friendship ends.
Take It Online: While "Brawl For It All," the game's primary single player mode, is lacking in replay value, you can keep the game fresh online. Set up a league to run tournaments or pad your stats to so you can take on similarly skilled pugilists in a ranked match.
Video
Check out Kimbo Slice's Facebreaker ad:
Things We'd Change
Uncle!: Nothing feels better than jumping all over your rival with flying fists until they're practically begging for the bell to ring. But when you're on the receiving end of such a beat down, it grows increasingly frustrating. Like, scream-obscenities-at-the-TV-and-throw-your-controller-down-in-disgust frustrating. The fact is, no matter how much you play this game, you'll regularly run into a Breaker Meter-sapping combo from your opponent, and all the button mashing in the world won't get you out of it. Just be prepared to dust off the ol' "This controller needs to be charged" excuse.
Cramping Our Style: If you're lucky enough to make all that mashing count for something, it won't be without its punishment. After about three bouts, you'll find yourself feeling some ill-effects in your hand muscles. Make it past the first two belts in "Brawl For It All" mode, and you'll need someone to tie your shoes for a week. Most new boxing games rely on the toggle sticks
Review ID: 10000000011126084

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