Grupo: Facebreaker

Álbum: Dead, Rotten and Hungry

Año de salida: 2008

País: Suecia

Género: Thrash/Death Metal

Os presento el que para mucha gente fué el mejor disco de Death Metal de 2008 junto con el Rotting Paradise de Coldworker (lo subiré en breves, hoy será un día goloso). Facebreaker finalmente ha conseguido la perfección técnica propia del death mezclado con el thrash que perseguía tras su álbum debut, sacado en 2005, Bloodred Hell.

Formado por Robban Karlsson (Pan.Thy.Monium, Edge of Sanity, Devian), y en el que éste hace el papel de vocalista, acompañado por Janne Ivarsson a las guitarras y Mika Lagrén a las guitarras y las voces de acompañamiento. Jonas Magnusson se encarga del bajo y de las voces traseras y, finalmente, Kniven Wassholm se pone las botas con la batería.

Death metal de la vieja escuela. No sorprenderá a nadie que busque algo de originalidad en el estilo, pero sí sorprenderá a todos aquellos que busquen un trabajo con un panorama clásico dentro del género, y a la vez de una gran calidad.

Dead, Rotten and Hungry es un trabajo tan corto como intenso, con sus más y sus menos (demasiado contrastados). Tiene canciones buenísimas, y aunque la calidad musical del grupo y de la producción no decae en ninguna, hay canciones que resaltan mucho y otras bastante monótonas y aburridas casi a la par. Al menos para mí.

Aún así, siguen resaltando las geniales voces de Karlsson, que plasma el compás rápido y agresivo de este death muy influenciado por el thrash con sus voces graves, rudas y brutales, que de vez en cuando se salen de la línea y nos deleitan con largos gritos muy, muy remarcables (como sería el caso de la parte final de Consumed), y que, sin embargo, se perfilan muy bien por encima de todos los instrumentos y se hacen muy comprensibles.

El LP empieza con un pequeño calentamiento de dos minutos, Slowly Rotting, que se apunta a las grandes canciones del cd, y nos familiariza con el resto del trabajo, una atmósfera dura, potente y acelerada, que forma un muro infranqueable de bestialidad, gracias, en la mayor parte, al juego que da el dinamismo de la batería y al trabajo de las guitarras, ambos imparables. Y, por si no es suficientemente evidente la portada y el título de éste, la temática del mismo es basicamente la muerte y los zombies.

La canción que le da título al álbum, Dead, Rotten and Hungry, es indudablemente tanto lo mejor del disco como lo mejor de Facebreaker. Es de ese tipo de composiciones que te dan ganas de gritar, saltar, y destrozarlo todo. Tan pegadiza como caótica, con un estribillo muy pegadizo y desgarrador. El mejor recuerdo que puedes llevarte del trabajo, con un solo demasiado bueno, que deja a atrás a muchos de los que he escuchado. Absolutamente sobresaliente.

En segundo puesto tras Dead, Rotten and Hungry, va Consumed, que se extiende de la duración general para darnos un par de minutos más de gozo. Consumed es una composición que resalta por los frenazos que da, además de por las guitarras muy sincronizadas, y el una vez más pegadizo estribillo, en el que se juntan todas las voces dándole un toque todavía mayor de brutalidad. Remarcable también el solo, muy bueno, aunque sea un tanto corto.

Para no enrollarme mucho más, el resto de canciones que más valen la pena son Night of the Burning Dead, Soul Eater, Devoured By Decay.

Tracklist

1. Slowly Rotting (02:27)
2. Dead Rotten And Hungry (03:16)
3. Night Of The Burning Dead (03:02)
4. The Awakening (02:53)
5. Walking Dead (03:58)
6. Burner (03:38)
7. Consumed (05:25)
8. Unanimated Flesh (03:16)
9. Unlock The Horror (03:02)
10. Soul Eater (03:19)
11. Devoured By Decay (02:40)

Duración total: 36:56

Página oficial de la banda:

http://www.facebreaker.com/

Link

http://rs348.rapidshare.com/files/105083955/Facebreaker_2008_-_Dead_Rotten_And_Hungry_Refusal.rar

Si te gusta, ¡compra!

http://cgi.ebay.com/FACEBREAKER-Dead-Rotten-And-Hungry-GRAVE-ENTOMBED-NEW_W0QQitemZ270308416912QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMusic_CDs?hash=item3eefa31d90&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116

Link to interview

Continuing with our exclusives with EA’s Artwerk label, I got to interview post hardcore band From First to Last, featuring on some of EA’s hottest titles new and old, the group are sure to bring some awesome tracks to future games.

I got hold of their bassist Matt Mannings to have a quick catch up on the band and what’s in store for EA games to come.

Mechanical R: Most people are probably more aware of From First To Last back with the Heroine album and Sonny on the vocals, since that’s changed, your music has taken a massive turn. The music itself and lyrics are a lot more positive and approachable by more music fans than before. Do you feel this change is a large reflection of the changes within your band and have your ideas and directions for FFTL evolved?
Matt Mannings: Yes I think so, we are pretty happy where things are and where we are going I think that reflects in our music.

MR: Can you tell us more about the new album?
MM: That record is mostly us just being bare bones about everything. We got to work with some heroes of ours like Ryan Williams and Josh Abraham and Brendan Obrien so we just stripped everything down and created music from the ground up.

MR: As a personal fan of Wes Borland’s guitar work, what was it like to play along side him during the live shows? Did he write any parts for Heroine or contribute anything to the new album?
MM: WES IS A WIZARD. He definitely wrote a lot and it shines through he has
such a distinct style its hard to miss.

MR: 2008 has seen the release of the new self titled album, what’s in store for 2009?
MM: A lot of different things going on along side the band. Travis and Derek have a band called the Color of Violence with a new record coming out in the spring and I have a clothing line called Get Free rolling out this year so we are trying to do as much as we can in 09

Artwerk/EA Trax

MR: What does being under Artwerks label mean for the band?
MM: FREE VIDEO GAMES!! And working with amazing people who know how to put your band in places other people don’t.

MR: How did you get involved with EA and getting your songs into the games?
MM: we did a pub deal with them and have just worked side by side with those guys at EA and Artwerk. They have done more cool stuff for us than I would have ever imagined could be possible. I will forever love EA!

MR: Would you say getting your material heard through games is a suitable way of promotion?
MM: I think it’s a badass way to promote. Video games

are huge and only getting more popular. Its almost as good as getting coke a cola to put your band name on their cans!

MR: What’s it like to be able to play a video game and to have one of your own songs pop up in game?
MM: hahah that’s the reaction, just a giggle. It’s funny to me. It’s kinda awkward if you’re playing games with your friends though.

MR: What does it mean to you as a band to have your tracks heard by thousands of FFTL fans and new people?
MM: that’s the most important part all we want to do is get our tunes to more and more people. Growing is the best part of being in band.

Gaming

MR: Do you guys play a lot of video games?
MM: non stop always! Literally… always

MR: If so which are you all finding yourselves glued to currently?
MM: Call of duty world at war online. I’ve logged in days on that game. I’m waiting on skate 2 to get here cause I’m prolly going to shred that game like there is no tomorrow.

MR: Who’s the biggest gamer out of you all?
MM: our drummer Derek. i haven’t actually ever seen him not playing video games.

MR: Are any of you looking forward to any releases coming soon?
MM: resident evil! The previews look so amazing I can’t wait to play that game.

MR: Are there any games you feel one of your tracks would suit perfectly?
MM: I would like to have a tune in a badass motocross game or something. That would be sick.

Catch From First To Last’s tracks in EA titles including Facebreaker, Need For Speed Undercover, NHL 09, NASCAR 09 and Madden NFL 09.

From First To Lasts latest Self Titled album including ‘Two as One’ and ‘Worlds Away’ is available via Suretone Records.

Finallly the video for Facebreaker from their second album Bringer of Plagues has been released. Here it is:

Sorry LOL, the link isn’t the one from Century Media because their video is out of sync with the audio, it’s really odd, because something that simple could damage the image of the band and the label, ’cause the first impression really matters!!! XD

In terms of Facebreaker, the song is really cool. Divine Heresy is choosing a bold strategy. In the history of Metal, there has been some bands that based their sound on Technical Death Metal, some of them where really important for the genre like Death, considered the mother of Death Metal, and Necrophagist which continues carrying the flag for brutality in it’s purest form \m/. Divine Heresy can become the next generation of a mixture between the technicality of the genre and the influence of Industrial/Alternative Metal, which Dino Cazares knows pretty well, since the mighty Fear Factory was founded by him.

On the other hand, this second album was the cornerstone for DH and the path they are gonna pursue for the rest of their career, choosing a more complex sound for really hardcore fans and true metalheads than a more mainstream Alt. Metal act. Tim Yeung’s drumming and Dino’s rapid fire tremolo picking guitar riffs, patterns and fills really excell the expectancies of any listener and keep the song really dinamic without forgetting that the kids NEED to mosh their asses off on a live performance.

I’m definitely getting the album ASAP ’cause I wanna try to get inside their heads when they wrote it. Century Media has proven itself as a rolemodel for other labels, allowing the band’s creative liberties, a quality that other labels don’t have with their signed artists.

My Rate:

Facebreaker by Divine Heresy 4.5/5

Written by:ChillBilly

Ok let start this babby off with Fallen Earth! This is a MMORPG that is kinda crossed with an 3rd preson shooter. After downloading the whole 5.10 gigs i finally jumped into gameplay! The only game i could think to compare this to is Fallout 3. The level of character customization is unbeliveable for it to be in beta, and the gameplay is strong! The best perk of this game is that all the text is voice acted out! Also since i didn’ t get very far, maybe last mission towards the dam, but still was good. Also the story isnt half bad, You play as a lab rat who wants to escape the hover dam (kinda like the vaults in Fallout 3) and your being helped by a tech from the  Whitehorse(i believe thats what its called)company. now how this all started is simple. The shiva virus developed and killed millions, after countrys started accusing on another, the what do you know Nuculear Warfare! So its a Waste land. Overall once this game comes out i think ALL should try it, but note this game is in CLOSED BETA, (i just so happened to get in! )

Ok Guys and Gals, i know i haven’t been posting alot lately only due to my personal life, and many other things. But Gaming Sigma is getting back into the game! There will be more Reviews, Previews, And everybodys favorite PODCAST!!!! so looking forward to a good summer of Gaming!

1 VS. 100

Written By:   ChillBilly

Alright as we all know the 1 vs 100 beta came out last week, and its pretty cool. First lets jump into the amount of detail that they put into the avitars. They run exactly as you would expect. Also they give all the avitars different emotes, or actions. From clapping, to dancing, and of course clapping. Now on to gameplay, since there are LOTS of people playing, it somewhat easy to get into a game. But there are times where you would think you will never play! Also, the question vary from many different subjects, as you would expect. All in All, from just playing the beta i think everyone should try it. Young and Old, Hardcore or Causal, Everyone can have a good time! Oh yea and before this ends, when primtime channel comes out and 1 vs 100 is full, you can play to win actual prizes! (MS points, Games, ect)

Title: FaceBreaker
Region: NTSC/USA, NTSC/J
Ixtreme: Yes
Stealth: Yes
Game Size: 7.29gb
Server: Megaupload
Links: 6×999mb y 1×558mb
01 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=N5GDNHO0
02 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=V5TN7VZO
03 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=PXIG5Y91
04 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=ROBT3TYV
05 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9KV2TAWJ
06 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AD36G0QG
07 http://www.megaupload.com/?d=77XWES6B

In what can only accurately be described as an “awesome” move (yes, we tried to go for another adjective but this seemed the most apt) for fans of electronic gaming the folks at EA have gone and shaved off some serious gold coins from the RRP of a slew of last years triple A titles.

Among the games getting the credit crunch treatment are Battlefield: Bad Company, Facebreaker, FIFA 09, Mass Effect, Mercenaries 2, Mirror’s Edge, NASCAR 09, Need For Speed Undercover & The Simpsons. PS3 & Xbox 360 versions of the aforementioned titles will set you back no more than AED119, PSP & Wii have dropped to AED99 and Nintendo DS & PS2 versions are only a cool AED69.

Definitely a good time to catch up on anything you may have missed during the Huge Christmas Games Rush of ‘08.

Happy New Year All!

We look forward to providing you with the very best video gaming experience that you have ever seen.  We will announce the launch in the right after the new year.  This is a membership based company that provides CT gamers a chance for regional recognition, as well as the chance to win some cash, prizes, scholarship funds and more.  This event is exclusively for Connecticut residents at this time.

Until Next time gamers,

Game Over

Good Morning Gamers,

I’m proud to announce that Connecticut has a new video game tournament that is about to sweep the state in 2009. If you are a serious “gamer”, then you will want to be a member of this tournament.

The great thing is that it’s not a one time event like many of other tournaments that you may have seen. Our registration period with kick off on January 11, 2009 from 9-am-11am at Liedles Caterers in Stratford, CT.

Once the registration period is complete video gamers will have a chance to compete for cash prizes (visa gift cards) trophies, bragging rights, and many other perks as a member of our company.

For more info on the hottest tournaments in CT, please respond to this post.

Until next time,

Game Over

Army of Two (played on: Xbox 360): A decent co-op game at first, but as the game went along, and nothing new happened, it became redundant.

Call of Duty: World at War (played on: Xbox 360): Just can’t get back into the WWII scene. Been there, done that, Pacific or otherwise. Bring on Call of Duty: Nam already.

Castle Crashers (played on: Xbox 360): A great Xbox Live experience the first bunch of times through, but a complete version of this game, with tons of maps to battle through, would have been much more ideal to anyone looking to level their characters up.

The Club (played on: Xbox 360): The least common denominator of shooters. “Let’s go kill a bunch of people in a warehouse for no reason whatsoever!” No thanks.

Condemned 2: Bloodshot (played on: Xbox 360): A first person game that asks for more than shooting, and while the puzzle portions are a bit of fun, and the atmosphere is creepy, the replayability and combat are lacking too much to warrant a purchase.

Devil May Cry 4 (played on: Xbox 360): A great installment into one of the great on-going action series. Dante returns halfway through the game, but the real star is Nero (Virgil’s son/clone?). Non-stop monster battling fun in this great next-gen sequel.

Fable 2 (played on: Xbox 360): If you like a game holding your hand through everything, and only having to tap the A button anytime your character is supposed to be doing something different, then this game is for you!

Facebreaker (played on: Xbox 360): What didn’t everyone learn from Ready 2 Rumble boxing? Boxing games built towards the arcade and not simulation equals fail… Unless it’s Punchout!

Fallout 3 (played on: Xbox 360): Experiencing Fallout 3 for the first time this year was a lot like experiencing No Country For Old Men in theaters for the first time last year. Few experiences in my life standout as more enjoyable. Fallout 3 is everything I could want in a post apocalyptic shooter/rpg.

Far Cry 2 (played on: Xbox 360): Cliche’, Cliche’, unbalanced gunfight, take medicine, drive forever. Rinse. Repeat.

FIFA Street 3 (played on: Xbox 360): Street games just don’t have the longevity of regular sports games because of the lack of players in the games, and no franchise features. FIFA Street 3 has gameplay at a pretty fun level, now to load up on the roster and features.

Jman and Friends debate the existence of Gold Flamethrowers

Gears of War 2 (played on: Xbox 360): An upgraded campaign, an online mode that doesn’t involve playing against a team of cry babies, but a weakened online versus. It’s hard to call Gears of War 2 a downgrade on the first Gears, but the ridiculousness in EPIC removing the stun on people holding their chainsaw in an attacking position, has made online versus broken at best. Still a fun game, but hardly the GOTY candidate I was hoping for.

Geometry Wars: Retro evoled 2 (played on: Xbox 360): The sequel to possibly the most addictive game on the XBLA. Sorely lacking in Online multiplayer, and hard to warrant a purchase for anyone who already owns the original. The added game modes are merely just dressed up training missions for the real game (Evolved).

Grand Theft Auto IV (played on: Xbox 360): This game stepped the GTA free roaming up with no loading different areas of the map, rag doll physics, and cab services. The lack of weapons, different kinds of vehicles, and doing the same missions over and over keeps this game from being perfect, but it’s still leaps and bounds ahead of games like Saints Row 2 (which after viewing at length, I avoided a playthru of).

Guitar Hero: World Tour (played on: Xbox 360): Activision further robs Harmonix of all the greatness it creates. There are a good number of bands on here that I enjoy, that Rock Band doesn’t have (The Mars Volta!), but the presentation here is too dull to keep me coming back.

Left 4 Dead (played on: Xbox 360): Zombies everywhere! I can’t think of a shooter that lived up to the hype better than Valve’s Left 4 Dead. It brought everything it promised (Director A.I., Online multiplayer fun, tons of zombies to kill), which is more than I can say for pretty much any other game this year. If you like a quick pace with your shooting, look no further.

Lego Batman (played on: Xbox 360): A fine installment in the LEGO series, but still not a great game. These games are as face value as they come, and while I love the Batman license more than most any other, this game still didn’t do it for me. A lot of characters in this one to play as, but since they all feel pretty much the same, they’re more like re-skins. Play if you enjoy the Lego series, avoid otherwise.

MLB 08: The Show (played on: PS3): The best baseball game to come out in ages. Next step is getting the Road to the Show mode online. If they did that, MLB 09: The Show could be a system seller for Sony.

Madden NFL 09 (played on: Xbox 360): See: Last decade of Madden games…

Mario Kart WII (played on: Wii): Mario Kart proves to be one of the greatest video gaming series of all time again by re-inventing the wheel, so to speak. Possibly the only game on the Wii that I truly enjoy besides Wii Sports, Mario Kart Wii is an upgrade in the franchise. The implementation of the Wheel controller is perfect for the system and series.

Mirror’s Edge (played on: Xbox 360): Free running the game. If that interests you, that’s cool, but I found nothing redeemable about it. The action stinks, there aren’t enough colors I feel like a lot of the time, and don’t even try getting into the story.

Jman checks on Salcido’s victim

NHL 09 (played on: Xbox 360): NHL 08 + Be a Pro Mode + Stick lifting + way “crunchier” checking animations + EASHL = The best sports game ever released… By far.

Ninja Gaiden 2 (played on: Xbox 360): Some of the least fun you’ll ever have partaking in Boss battles. Ninja Gaiden brings a good bit of fun through the platforming and fighting off other ninja, but when it comes down to the Boss Fights, instead of being fun like DMC 4, they’re quite tedious. Not a better game than Ninja Gaiden for the original Xbox.

PixelJunk Monsters (played on: PS3): The sleeper of 08. Released in late January, this game is the only reason I could ever understand for owning a PS3. If you enjoy a good game of Tower Defense, this game is just for you. The only console TD game I’ve ever played (still haven’t tried Lock’s Quest on DS), and I hope this leads to more releases in the genre.

Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 (played on: Xbox 360): Rainbow Six: Vegas with a sprint button, and a sweet leveling system. An upgrade for sure, but nothing worth an extra 60 dollars.

Rock Band 2 (played on: Xbox 360): Practically the exact same game as far as in song play goes. The new music store option is pretty sweet, and makes purchasing DLC a lot clearer (no more sitting in the XBL Marketplace waiting for the sidebar to scroll up so you can see the name of the band whose song you’re looking at). The ability to port over the majority of Rock Band’s songs makes this game a pretty perfect sequel.

Soul Caliber IV (played on: Xbox 360): I’ve never enjoyed games about character wielding dull swords, axes, and the like, and Soul Caliber IV is no different. If I’m going to play a sword fighting game it’ll start with Bushido and end with Blade.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (played on: Xbox 360): This has the same problem as Soul Caliber IV to me, a dull Lightsaber is not a Lightsaber at all, and taking more than one strike to down an enemy goon makes these some dull ass Lightsabers. The story is kind of cool if you are still down with ignoring George Lucas-sized plot holes, and wielding to force to smash TIE Fighters into each other rules, but that’s about it.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (played on: Xbox 360): I eagerly awaited this one, and was not let down by the results. I was mad that you can only play the demo with another person, but a demo isn’t really needed when it comes to this classic series. The gameplay is great, but the XBOX 360 remote still blows when it comes to fighting games, so getting lucky and finding an arcade stick would greatly improve gameplay.

Too Human (played on: Xbox 360): Silicon Knights can sue Epic Games all they want, and blame the Unreal Engine for this game’s failures, but none of it takes away from the fact that this game isn’t good. Some people can look past Too Human’s flaws like those who enjoyed Two Worlds last year, but like that, it’s a lost cause. Fallout 3 came along and showed everyone how Action/RPG’s are to be done, but this game probably stole sixty bucks from a lot of people.

That’s it as far as I can tell. I missed out on some big games due to not owning a Wii, PS3, PSP, or PS2. Hopefully next year I can double the amount of this list, but we’ll see. Maybe I’ll get Gamefly or something like that. Be back with GNS’s, the Gaming Never Sleeps 08 awards, within the week.

The Living Room [TLR] has been on my ‘must visit’ list for the last one month. And I am not talking about ‘the living room’, ‘the bathroom’, ‘the kitchen’, ‘the bedroom’ kind of exhibitions that one sees Kanteerava Stadium playing host to. So, this Sunday afternoon when AL called up to confirm our plans for the evening, I suggested we check out TLR.

The Living Room is an ultra-modern Xbox gaming lounge, which consists of eight ‘living rooms’ made up of plush sofas, coffee tables and large flat panel TV’s connected to Xbox 360 gaming consoles. These are also connected through LAN to enable group play. The exposed brick walls, dim lights, black sofas and wooden floors lend a very New York feel to the entire place.

The place was quite empty and only one living room was inhabited. We were greeted by Mohan, the co-owner of the place, and I told him point blank, if we were expected to sit quietly I would do a right about turn and head straight out of that place. He assured us that we could make as much noise as we wanted and noisier the better…. that set the tone for the evening!

I haven’t been on the gaming scene for a long time and let AL pick the games. The first one that we played was ‘Unreal Tournament’, a FPS [first person shooter] game and I quickly realized shooting was not among my better skills and in dire need of some familiar grounds, promptly switched to NFS [Need for Speed], hoping to take that smirk off AL’s face. Bad choice! The “Duke” controllers don’t quite behave like the PC keyboard, and I had absolutely no control on the cars and went around blaming my cars for being ‘drunk’. AL had started to enjoy himself, and being the magnanimous gamer he his, allowed me a few handicaps and still beat me in all the rounds.

One hour gone and I hadn’t done enough screaming and shouting and, more importantly, hadn’t drawn any blood; I was feeling quite depressed. Then came Rohit, the other co-owner, and suggested we try Soul Calibur IV. I had nothing to lose so I promptly agreed.

Soul Calibur IV is a fighting game and the goal is to defeat your opponent by depleting his or her health bar or knocking the opponent out of the “ring”. For the first game AL chose to be Yoda and I was Tira. I KO’ed [knocked out] AL in two consecutive rounds and the screaming and name calling started in earnest. We were beginning to really enjoy ourselves. After twelve rounds, with different characters, we were tied and played a decider in which I beat AL…Whoopeeeee!

We tried a couple more games; Kung Fu Panda and Fight Night and ended our evening with a few rounds of FaceBreaker. The cartoon style boxing game that allows one to break the opponent’s bones had us in splits and screaming for blood in equal measure. Sparrow [Me] beat Kekoa [AL] in all the three rounds, and now I couldn’t keep the smirk off my face!

So, if you are bored of the malls, cafes and movies, grab a few friends, put your feet up, order in burgers and pizzas [Yes! They allow you to do that], get gaming and feel right at home in ‘The Living Room’.

Official website: www.thelivingroombangalore.com

This game looks quite interesting… Kimbo Slice is a scary looking dude, but he makes this ad very effective.

EA distribute its own games in Singapore, so Maxsoft never showcase EA games. There were some hidden crap at EA booth, including MySIMs Kingdom, Monopoly, Celebrity Showdown and Facebreaker. If you wonder why EA has been losing money recently, you can understand just by looking at the games.

I managed to come face to face with Facebreaker, a boxing game to break the face of your opponents. In the video you can see how a lady was trying to work out with Facebreaker. Her husband was beside her, maybe she wanted to vent out on the virtual opponent.

The controls are almost totally the same as Wii Boxing. The graphics are cartoonish, similar to MySIMs, as the game is targeted at kids.

I have to take some video, to show the disparity of game quality between EA and those of other publisher.

Even Dokapon Kingdom by Atlus, wins hands down over Monopoly. The graphics of Monopoly is mediocre.

And who will want to play Horse riding in Celecrity Sports Showdown when we have Mario Kart? The same goes for Facebreaker and MySIMs. I really want these games to fail hard to teach EA a lesson.

Since I saw this release the other day, I’ve been hoping for a Wii version, but instead, here is the NTSC version of FaceBreaker released by KFC. This was released for the PAL consoles just a couple days ago.

An arcade-styled boxing game developed by EA Canada. Created by the same team that developed the award-winning Fight Night Round 3, FaceBreaker offers irreverent fun, immersive gameplay and eye-popping stylized graphics. In this in-your-face, arcade world full of ego-wielding characters, each boxer comes to life with unique attributes and distinct personal style, including Romeo, a Latin lover known for his pelvic thrusts, and Molotov, an oversized Russian demolitions expert with a penchant for fighting dirty. Laugh out loud as you pummel your opponent with a barrage of blows to the face and watch in satisfaction as your progress is illustrated by real-time facial deformation. With haymakers, face shots and body blows, wait for the right moment to drop a super punch to make your presence known. Taunt your adversaries and flaunt your talent, by tying one hand behind your back to add ultimate humiliation to your bout. In FaceBreaker, it just feels good to rearrange your opponent’s face.

Release name: FaceBreaker_NTSC_XBOX360-KFC
Size: 6.63 GB
Region: NTSC/USA (Region Locked)
Language: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian
Genre: Sports
File Name: kfc-fba

Links: IGN, Gamespot
NFO: Here
Download: NTi – TPB – NZB

  It has been a while since we have had a decent arcade boxing title. Mike Tysons punchout and Ready to Rumble boxing are two good ones that come to mind when I try to think of any.  

A long while indeed, can EA Freestyle bring a worthy entry into this lacking genre? Let’s take a look at FaceBreaker and find out….

I love boxing games, whether it is a simulation game like the Fight night series or a nice light hearted arcade boxer such as the previously mentioned titles, Mike Tysons Punchout or Ready to Rumble boxing.  Some of my fondest memories were playing these games growing up and laying the smack down on a few friends.  So you can imagine my excitement when FaceBreaker was announced. 

There are a variety of fighters, each with their own quirks and styles. These fighters range from Steve the Ninja nerd to Ice Man the cool, calculating, perfect boxer. There is of course Brick, which is the oversized muscleman with no brain and the Socks the crazy man in the straight jacket. There are of course more boxers for you to discover as you progress through the game. Each with their own humorous intro and clip for when they are beaten or beat you in a match. However, while your playing the game it feels that the difference between the fighters ends there.

The graphical presentation is exactly how you expect it to be. Graphics are for the most part crisp and the variety in the scenery of the rings is ample. The damage to your player as he is pummeled adds over time but of course not as real as it is in Fight Night.  The way the faces contort as you land a over the top bone breaker move is pretty cool.

Using the Xbox vision camera or the Playstation Eye, player can create a boxer to look like them in the boxer factory. This works similar to Tiger Woods and is fairly accurate. It does take some time to create one, just the imaging process takes around 20 minutes and there are plenty of options to tweak to your liking.  So it could take your close to 30-35 minutes to create a boxer. Somebody making you angry? or just wanna beat on a celebrity? Well there is the option to use a photo to create a boxer. Hmm… political battle in the ring..could be fun.

With all that being said, the game play can be a bit frustrating at times. You have 2 basic punches and a haymaker button. Not a lot of variety in that respect but you can block, dodge and parry attacks. I actually found if you just held the block down and parried alot you could get through quite a bit of the first fighters. As you progress and fight harder boxers, you start to realize that the CPU has a definite advantage and the game really becomes a button masher. Your finger will start to hurt to be honest.

The music is the game has a decent variety but of course my favorite is the WolfMother Woman remix. Some of the songs do get a bit old or in my case were not to my liking but I’m just a bit picky in that respect.

The game really is its best when you have a live opponent to play against. Online or local, either way it is definately better when you have someone other than the CPU to play against. Especially if you both create your own boxers. It still is a button masher and whoever hits first and keeps going can string together a lot of hits and it can be frustrating still.

While I enjoyed the game for a bit, again I found myself wanted to play Fight Night,Ready to Rumble or even fire up the Wii and play Punchout. The game is priced at $49.00 instead of the usual $59.00 but still I really think that it should be rented or download the demo in order to see if it is something that you will continue to play.

Brian Says: ‘Rent It’