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Calling all button bashers! Going back to the glory days of cartoony boxing games like the original Punch Out!!! Or even more recent titles like Ready 2 Rumble, FaceBreaker is EA’s effort to bring us back to some of the best boxing titles in the genre. While the game does a fine job of adding some interesting elements to the mix like the new facial damage system and has an interesting stock of characters, the only complaint I have is the lack of characters. There’s plenty of room for customization but what the game needs is more pre made characters that are accessible from the off. There are also some balancing issues, and a dearth of gameplay modes, making it not as fleshed out as cartoon boxer fans would’ve liked. Game modes are few and far between that leaves you feeling slightly short changed.

FaceBreaker features a bare roster of interesting boxers, each with their own unique personalities and special moves. They all follow a certain archetype, and include British DJ, a Latin fruit, a Jack Black-esque ninja master, and so on. There are 12 boxers in total (not counting the custom crop of facially imported fighters) , as well as the ability to create your own character, determining their fighting style and look, and even use your Xbox LIVE Vision Camera to import your face into the game to get broken.

The single-player gameplay modes are pretty few and far between, as you can either do a simple one on one exhibition, or do the Brawl for it All Mode which allows you to take on each and every boxer one at a time in order to unlock new characters and unlockable features.

The breaker special moves are the biggest mechanic of the gameplay. By building up your breaker bar, you’ll be able to perform Bonebreakers, Groundbreaker, Skybreaker, and the most powerful, the FaceBreaker. Each one will successively cause more damage to your opponent (the Facebreaker will knock them out with one punch, winning the fight by stepping, punching and mashing your opponents face into the ground), and as a result will require more of your special meter. Keeping your meter raised requires you to attack your opponent while avoiding getting hit, which is easier said than done and making the FaceBreaker increasingly difficult to pull off but once you do, you’ll be in oar of the bone crushing finisher.