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Facebreaker characters profiled

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?

Romeo avoid a fierce blow from Brick.

Tokusha: 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.

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?

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.

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).

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!

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.

It seems Romeo’s charm has won Brick over…

The wackiness doesn’t just extend to the characters, the arenas are a bit on the zany side too. You’ll fight in places like the zoo, an aircraft hangar, an arcade and the asylum, each with their own unique crowds and background action. Extra points to you if you can figure out which of the characters above calls each of those arenas home.

The fighting mechanic is intended to be very simple and easy to pick up even for those who don’t play a lot of videogames. Attacks are divided into your basic light and heavy and can be thrown low or high. Throw in block and parry moves and you’ve got the basics of the fighting down. Except for maybe the most important move of the game, the facebreaker.

Actually, the facebreaker is just the ultimate level of the special attacks, and is an instant finisher. There are four levels in the “breaker” special attack tree, in ascending order: Bone, Ground, Sky, then your Face. Pulling off the breakers is only possibly once you’ve built up your meter by punching the other dude and not letting him land any punches on you. So making it all the way up to facebreaker should be a challenge. On top of that, there’s a small window of opportunity for you to hit the combo, and if you fail you’ll leave yourself vulnerable and drain your meter.

Facebreaker will let you create a boxer from the ground up too, even letting you put your own (or someone else’s) face on the model by using the Xbox Live Vision camera. So you can put your face on the body of a monkey like you’ve always wanted too, or you can create up to thirty unique boxers and share them online. If you’re crazy enough to create the family from “Small Wonder” and put them in the game, more power to you. Facebreaker looks silly and fun, and that’s what the developers seem to be going for. It’s a game that’s meant to be a quick diversion and not some deep gaming experience. If that’s so, then it’s looking like “mission accomplished” for the new EA Freestyle label.

May 22, 2008 Posted by thox90 | Facebreaker | Facebreaker preview | 4 Comments