A few weeks ago, we brought you an early preview of FaceBreaker, the latest boxing game from the folks at EA's Vancouver-based studio. The game eschewed the painfully realistic style of boxing seen in Fight Night Round 3 in favor of colorful, arcadey gameplay, populating its lineup with offbeat stereotypes (the Latin lover, the gruff busdriver, a brainless killing machine, etc.) and rewarding quick combos. Given that boxing is largely about timing and precision, we weren't really sure what to think of the game since we hadn't played for ourselves. Now that we have, we can report that FaceBreaker is a promising title that still needs some fine tuning before it can become the champ.

FaceBreaker is all about pummeling your opponent into submission as quickly as possible, sometimes before they can even react. The controls are pretty simple, although really using them effectively takes a little practice. In the PlayStation 3 version of the game, the X button punches low, Square is used for high jabs, and the Triangle throws a powerful haymaker. When you're close to your foe, you can grab him and throw him into a corner or against the ropes. Just hitting buttons won't (usually) win the match for you, so it pays to block with the R1 button when you start getting hit.

The game focuses heavily on the use of "Breakers" of differing power that can be unleashed when you've successfully strung together combos of landed punches. While the Haybreaker will just knock your foe into the air, the Bonebreaker will follow it up with another hit, and so on with the Ground and Sky varieties. The ultimate Breaker is, naturally, the titular FaceBreaker, which can knock an opponent out with a single hit. Your Breaker meter will reset if you're hit even once. This means that you'll have to choose to either chip away at your opponent's health gradually, or risk it all in holding out for one big hit.


While that works very well when two equal players are competing, it can be a bit tough on inexperienced foes. After playing a few matches, I was able to beat one of my opponents with a flurry of punches right after the bell sounded, finishing him off with a FaceBreaker in less than 20 seconds. Granted, the rest of the matches went a bit longer, but it seemed like it was still a bit too easy to pull off quick combos. I didn't really even use the strong punch very often, as it was easier to just tap away with the high- and low- jab buttons. Although FaceBreaker is shaping up to be an entertaining game with imaginative designs and characters, it still needs some fine-tuning.

It's also got some fun character customization options, as you can scan your face (or those of famous people) onto a character's body, and it actually looks surprisingly good. In addition to online play, you'll also be able to track your stats online for multiple boxers, so we're interested to see how that works. We're hopeful that FaceBreaker's balancing issues will be worked out, as we're always happy to break some cartoony faces!