FaceBreaker

Now that the company is shutting down its EA Big brand line, the company has recently announced their latest brand, EA Freestyle. The Freestyle brand will be more of a casual brand, with an aim to bring certain genres to mainstream audiences and get more gamers playing. Their first title in the new line is FaceBreaker, a boxing title influenced by games like Ready to Rumble and Punch-Out!!! FaceBreaker was recently on display at EA Sports’ Season Opener event, and showcased the company’s direction towards accessibility.

In FaceBreaker, you can choose from several different boxers, each with their own unique style and backstory, including Sock, a crazy guy who talks to himself and boxes with socks on his hands, Spin, a British DJ, and Tokuschu, a J-pop girl. Personalities come to the forefront when it comes to the characters in the game, and each of them brings something new to the game and its unique sense of humor.

The gameplay is meant to be fun without being overly complex, as the controls and fast and simple and combos are easy to execute. The game utilizes a rock, paper, scissors system of checks and balances when it comes to moves, so certain attacks can overpower others and so on. You’ll even have the ability to fight with your hands tied behind your back if you’re feeling particularly cocky.

One of the biggest features in FaceBreaker is the ability to import your own image into the game and create your own boxer out of it. The game’s facial deformation elements will still work with custom characters, and you’ll also be able to import boxers saved onto EA’s servers, giving you access to tons of new characters on a regular basis.

Graphically, the game looks pretty good, capturing the feel of old-school cartoony brawlers. Additionally, there are some great facial deformation effects when you or your opponent takes a beating, which look pretty realistic.

FaceBreaker is a fun and fast boxer with some cool customization elements and easy to grasp controls. Fans of old-school arcade boxing games like Punch-Out!!! and Ready to Rumble should keep an eye out for FaceBreaker this fall.