Facebreaker Wiki

Welcome to the Facebreaker Wiki
FaceBreaker (also titled FaceBreaker K.O. Party for the Wii version) is a fighting game (contrary to popular belief of it being a boxing game) created by Fight Night developers, EA Canada. It was released for the PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360 and was announced on January 30, 2008 by 1UP.com. The game was released on September 4, 2008. As of October 2008, the game has sold 52,000 units in Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 combined. EA announced in January 2010 that they will close down online services for this game on 2 February 2010.

Gameplay
FaceBreaker has a "cartoony" artistic style (similar to Punch-Out!! and Ready 2 Rumble Boxing) and allows players to break their opponents faces as the game will feature 'real-time facial deformation'. The game also uses the same face-capture technology as Tiger Woods PGA Tour to allow players to capture their own image using peripherals the Xbox Live Vision Camera and the PlayStation Eye.The game also contains a Couch Royale mode in which you can play with your friends in a tournament type game mode.

Marketing
On February 9, 2008, GameTrailers released the World Premier Exclusive Debut trailer.

Reception
G4's X-Play gave the game a one out of five, citing the broken AI being so difficult to beat to the point where it makes the game basically unplayable. IGN.com rated it a 5 out of a 10. Game Informer however, gave it a rather positive 7.75 out of 10.

Aaron Thomas at gamespot.com gave the game a poor review, scoring it a 3.5/10. Thomas felt that the game featured "Cheap AI," "Very few game modes," and "Bad, button-mashing gameplay." He did say that of the game that "It looks pretty good, and the deep customization options mean you'll never want for new brawlers..." However, "Unfortunately, there's nothing fun to do with your boxer."

Matt Cabral in his Xbox 360 review of the game for teamxbox was overall favorable, scoring it a 7/10. He said that "the game actually becomes quite satisfying once you climb the steep learning curve." He did note of the games difficulty that "While the controls aren’t complex, FB’s AI boxers give you little room, especially early on, to learn them. Their endless pummeling will leave many frustrated far too soon." He ultimately stated that "There’s no question FB has style to spare... those willing to put up with the early beatings will find lots to enjoy both offline and over Xbox Live."

Games in the series
FaceBreaker

FaceBreaker (Demo)

FaceBreaker K.O. Party

Characters Let's get one thing straight, the only thing that makes Facebreaker – the first title to debut under the new EA Freestyle brand – a boxing title, is the fact that it takes place in a boxing ring and that the contestants are wearing boxing gloves. Everything else about it screams “arcade fighter” and developers at EA are fine with it. They refer to it as “laugh out loud gaming.” For those of you who only speak internet let me translate for you: LOL.

Facebreaker sports a host of kooky original characters who bash each other hilariously around a ring. At the recent EA Sports Season Opener editors day at EA Canada, we were shown most of the characters and had a chance to see some of their unique styles and special finishing moves. The cartoon pugilists we got to check out included:

Romeo: He’s the consummate Latin Lover, who may be a hit with the ladies, but in fact hits like a lady. His slap move will likely throw you into a rage, inciting you to rip off his moustache and feed it to him. Unfortunately, that move is not included in the game.

Kekoa: A Hawaiian surf bum who now lives in Jamaica. Hmm, wonder why he moved there? Are the waves really that much better, or is he perhaps more interested in the local flora?. (Disclaimer: that’s my joke; EA would never suggest, hint at or condone the use of mind-altering substances. Bummer, dude.) Kekoa has a special style called surf n’ turf. Because he’s a surfer. See what they did there?

Kiriko: She’s a Japanese rave girl with a fighting style derived from dancing. That’s all I have to say about that.

Ice: In his spare time he’s a bus driver. Considering the grief those dudes have to put up with, I wouldn’t be surprised if this guy was the most dangerous fighter in the game. So much pent up rage. Spin: A British DJ. Are all Brits DJ’s these days. I bet he’s got some really fit trainers on, mate.

Sparrow: Everyone loves a tough as nails chick with a fetish for military type tactics and weapons. Why do you think every male of my generation had a crush on Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2. We secretly wanted her to kick our ass. Just me? Fine. Sparrow is an ex-fighter pilot, so she’s killed people, guaranteed.

Molotov: A big Russian dude who is a demolitions expert. Hence the name Molotov. You know, like the cocktail? How come the Russians are always big menacing dudes? He and Zangief should start a “Russian video game characters with body issues” support group.

<p style="margin-top: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">Steve: Steve? Steve is you. A pudgy gamer nerd who loves him some D&D and kung fu movies. A cross between Chris Farley and Jack Black (America’s two favorite pudgy funnymen – sorry Frank Caliendo), Steve has a weird finishing move. He winds up real big like he’s going to smash you with a ton of bricks, then simply pushes you over with his fingertip. Can you say, anticlimactic?

<p style="margin-top: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">Socks: A crazed mental patient who seems vaguely French. I don’t mean that he surrenders the minute he steps into the ring or anything, but he seems to have a thing for puppets and whimsy. Get that dude some new meds.

<p style="margin-top: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">Brick: Seven feet of pure sculpted muscle, topped by the brain of a five year old. No, I’m not talking about Jamarcus Russell (oh man am I gonna get my ass beat by my friends who are Raiders fans).

<p style="margin-top: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">Voodoo: An enormous witch doctor with a skull painted on his face, if you don’t die from fright when he enters the ring, then you might have a chance. Watch out for his special ability though, he can summon a voodoo orb that will take over your mind and make you punch yourself. Stop hitting yourself!

<p style="margin-top: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">A Monkey: They wouldn’t tell us much about the monkey, but I think we all know how wily and evil most monkeys can be, so let’s leave it at that. We did confirm however that his special attack has nothing to do with flinging poo.

<p style="margin-top: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">Spin: A Kick-ass Dj. And yeah, he sure does kick ass.

<p style="margin-top: 0.5em; margin-right: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.8em; margin-left: 1em; line-height: 1.5em;">thumb|300px|right|Facebreaker - Character Trailer