EA’s newest fighting game Facebreaker hits stores this week, but with SoulCalibur being released recently, does this game have a fighting chance?

Facebreaker is a boxing game that has moved away from EA’s other well know boxing franchise and given it more of an arcade beat ’em up feel. In fact this game is very much an arcade fighting game more in the realm of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat than any boxing game I have played before.

The idea of Facebreaker is to knock down your opponents as quick as possible, you have three 90 second rounds to achieve three knockdowns or one brutalising Facebreaker. The controls are shockingly simple for a fighting game with just three attack buttons, high and low punches and a strong attack. You also have a throw button which pushes your opponent into the ropes giving you a chance to unleash hell on their face. Though the initial button set up is very easy to get to grips with, the combos really make the game more interesting, most combos are the same no matter what character you use, you have a Facebreaker Meter at the bottom of the screen with four bars, for every bar you fill you can pull off a different special, you pull off combos by using two high or two low punches, if you follow this by a strong punch you then do a Bonebreaker, a Groundbreaker, a Skybreaker or the game winning Facebreaker.

Whilst the controls and very limited combos may put people off, the skill in this game is really found in the pattern of each fighter, its not a matter of just going in and hitting the opponent and using blocks, doing that will cause you to get beaten, very quickly. The first 30 minutes I had my ass handed to me on almost every fight, even on easy. The real skill is watching your opponent to learn the attacks, dodge and parry moves. The dodge moves are pulled off by holding either high or low punch and parry at the same time but also holding down the right trigger button. When an opponent dodges it will throw you out of rhythm, allowing them to start a combo on you, what you need to do is counter their attack with another dodge or parry and continue building up your Facebreaker meter to hopefully finish the fight as quick as possible. Once you have mastered this you can finish fights in less than 20 seconds.

There are twelve characters to play and unlock, each with their own caricature-like personalities including Steve who is an asthmatic overweight Ninja who fights in an arcade or Ice who is a bit cooler and is better suited for beginner players. Each has their own signature stun move, like a smoke bomb, which gives the attacker a chance to gain the upper hand and get a few cheeky hits in before the opponent can recover themselves.

There are a few modes included in this game but in reality its a bit light, there is  practice mode and simple one on one mode, Brawl For It All is the main mode where you unlock new characters, then you have the multiplayer Couh Royale where you pass the controller to other players in the room, of course having more than 2 people helps in this round, but at least it accounts for the larger gaming parties. Online works well but again is a bit light with just the basic quick play, custom or create options that you find in any online mode. You are able to upload some of your game highlights and characters for others to view and use. This adds a great community feel to the game and there are already some good characters there, check out the Joker from the recent Batman movie, a really good likeness. Do make sure you have a good connection though as any lag whatsoever renders the whole online game useless as you heavily rely on twitch reaction dodging.

Facebreaker is one of those games that takes ideas from many fighting genre’s and tries to make something of its own, and it very nearly does it. The collecting of heads as you pull off a Facebreaker is a cool addition and the characters look great as you pummel them, but in the end the fighting fans of games like Soulcalibur and even Street Fighter may be left a bit disappointed by the lack of overall moves.