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'

Facebreaker

Viva Pinata 2: Trouble in Paradise

Esse é o Ryunokenco, um personegem feito com a captura de fotos no FaceBreaker de Playstation 3. No vídeo não dá pra perceber direito, mas a semelhança entre a pessoa capturada e o personagem é impressionante, quem me conhecer pessoalmente vai notar.

Como eu usei a versão demo, não pude salvar o personagem nem escolher um corpo mais condizente com minha condição física, ou vocês acham que eu sou bombado desse jeito?

E atenção: muitas novidades no blog nos próximos dias! Fique atento!

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Buen modo de creación de personaje.

También utiliza la misma cara de la tecnología de captura como Tiger Woods PGA Tour para permitir que los jugadores a capturar su propia imagen a través de los periféricos de Xbox Live Vision Camera y la PlayStation Eye.

Video de Facebreaker

Nuestra web: La magia de Salva y Reyes

Nuestro foro: El mejor foro de descargas

Audio Análisis (Review): Demo de Facebreaker

En caso de que no soporten mi voz, un pequeño resumen:

• Facebreaker es la nueva entrada de EA al género de boxeo. Desarrollado por EA Canada es un enfoque muy distinto a su trabajo pasado: Fight Night Rounds 3.
• El juego busca atraer a los jugadores casuales con su estilo arcade, las diferentes dificultades se ven opacadas por un sistema de controles sencillo. Es un juego enfocado a una audiencia más casual.
• El demo solo ofrece la posibilidad de una pelea corta, a duras penas logras disfrutar de lo que la experiencia puede ofrecer, sin embargo, es visible que puede tornarse repetitivo.
• El demo está enfocado hacia la opción de crear un boxeador. Es una de las características más interesantes del juego; Puedes subir una foto frontal tuya a www.easportsworld.com o tomarte una con la cámara Xbox LIVE Vision y el juego construirá un jugador, bastante cercano, a imágen y semejanza tuya que podrás implementar en las diferentes peleas.
• La versión de prueba te deja usar 3 boxeadores en el juego o la creación de uno propio, también puedes usar dos diferentes arenas.
• Visualmente es decepcionante y no está a la par de otros juegos de la nueva generación. Incluso, si esa era la intención el resultado es decepcionante.
• Aclaración: Cuando digo que el juego no llegará a muchas estanterías me refiero a que no será muy comprado, pues ya sabemos que EA logra poner un juego suyo hasta en los países más alejados del mundo.
• Conclusión: El demo debe ser descargado para probar la posibilidad de crear un boxeador, pero como estan las cosas, Facebreaker no llegará a mi colección.
• Nota: Si, estoy al tanto de la ironía de usar YouTube para publicar un audio análisis pero es el medio de transmisión más sencillo que encontré. Evitemos suspicacías.

Mira más Audio Analisis y no dudes suscribirte a nuestro canal en Youtube.

[Jkrincon Out]

----->Laz

After the break we talk about some PlayStation news and get in a good debate on whether lead development on the PS3 will create better games on the PS3.  We also take a look into Q1 numbers for Sony and how they may be finally making money in their games division.  Also we talk attach rates for PSP games and why some of us love the PSP or hate it.

Gran Turismo  5 Prologue is getting an update and will be allowing you to purchase and download HD video.  Find out if we like the idea or hate it.  We then talk a little about some of the customizations that are being done in Soul Calibur IV and if playing as Kratos or Snake is cool.

Also we talk about the announcement of a Final Fantasy XIII demo in the Blu-Ray Edition of Advent Children and the new PSP Final Fantasy XIII Agito game.

We finish up with a new game called Buy, Rent or Sell and we give our impressions on what you should do with the new Greatest Hits games for the PS3.  And then we give a moment of silence to the PSP camera.  This looks like it may not be coming to America and we say our peace to the fallen peripheral.

The PlayStation Show Podcast Episode 10

20 years and still going strong

Sometimes franchises with a great brand feel like they can slack on the actual content of a demo because people will buy the game anyway. This is the case with this year's Madden 09. In the demo, you get to play through and see how this year's all new "My Skill Level", works as your run through some drills using holograms and then the game custom builds a skill level just for you which will change with every game you play. That was great. Then you get in and it says hey do you wanna play a Madden moment, you click yes and now you are the Giants on that last drive that they used to beat the Patriots. You get to see the big change they made as far as graphics this year, you get to run your offense and then either you score and successfully beat the madden moment or you don't score and don't beat the Madden moment. After you beat the Madden moment, you come back out and I was hoping to get maybe a 3-6 minute quarter of an actual game, nope. That's right folks what I just described to you was the entire demo, you don't even get to play defense. Now of course I have Madden on reserve and will buy it anyway but the demo takes that leave them wanting more thing to a whole other level.

I felt the same way about Facebreaker, EA's version of Mike Tyson's Punch Out meets Ready 2 Rumble. I have been hearing about it for months and seen some video and screen shots. I started it playing it and before you know it, its over. You only get 90 seconds and thats it. I mean seriously you blink and its over. I heard their is all this cool stuff you can do and the way the face's change but did I see any of it, nuh uh, so since this isn't an established franchise like Madden does it make me want to run out and get it, not really.

Save yourself $30 and just buy this instead of Overlord

But you know this demo thing isn't that hard, I mean I think back to games that were less than great like Overlord: Raising Hell and Conan which had great demos, the kind that would make you want to go out and buy them which is the whole purpose of a demo. Now I am sure that less than great games realize this and go through a lot to make their demos good but I just wish the more established companies would take the same amount of effort. Am I the only one that feels like this?

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FaceBreaker is EA Freestyle's first outing and seemed quite promising. It looked like a throwback to the old arcadey boxing titles like Ready 2 Rumble and with the team behind one of the best boxing games ever, Fight Night Round 3, what could go wrong? Well in a word Loads.

First of all the thumbstick controls of Fight Night are gone, replaced by the PS3's face buttons, which put a downer on things right there. The controls are clunky compared to those of FN and on face value it seems like a button masher with no skill to it whatsoever. Now obviously, with the little time I had with the game I can't give a rounded opinion. In the 20 minutes I had with the game I found the controls unbearable and really wanted the thumbstick control back ASAP, but that's not gonna happen is it.

The art style is nice and looks great on the PS3, the only thing I can see wrong with it is that people wanting to play a boxing game usually want realism and this dosen't deliver. The art style might be nice but the characters seem pretty lacklustre. EA have obviously tried to tie the cartoony graphics to bad humor and made a right balls up. Seriously, who needs an overweight, ninja boxer?

There are some really nice touches though. The first one I saw was that, as promised, Peter Moore is in the game as a pre-created character which is quite nice. Secondly, the photo scanning thing is cool too and i'd like to see this implemented into more games from now on.

So it seems that the bad outweighs the good here, which is a shame because I really did want this to be good. EA have gone for humour and 'family friendly' graphics and from what i've seen and played it looks like it hasn't paid off.

Obviously, the retail build could be different and could have a few tweaks to make the game better to play but at this point it's doubtful. God I can't wait for Fight Night 4

PixelJunk Eden has been released, as promised last week by Dylan Cuthbert on the PS blog, in the UK and US. The game, the 3rd in the PixelJunk series, was released today on the PS Store for £4.99 or for our friends in the US, $9.99.

The game features some very nifty features such as Trophies (The 2nd game to have it plus the first game to launch with them) and a great bonus of uploading videos onto YouTube as well as the XMB, the first game to do not just for the PLAYSTATION 3 in Western Europe & North America anyways but also the first game in Western Europe & North America to do so on any game for any platform.

And to give you an example as such, here is one I made earlier, after the jump.

Also included in the store update for EU was a PSP demo of echochrome, some new stuff from Sony's free music show on the PS Store which was announced at PlayStation Day in May, Movement, as well as trailers of Prince of Persia (I havent downloaded because its the E3 trailer and I already have it but still, download it) and The Last Guy, which sees you...as a zombie trying...to save humans from other zombies but the game does use Google Maps for locations around the world such as LA, Tokyo and London.

Finally, a wallpaper of Bionic Commando: Rearmed was released.

Full list (EU):

PixelJunk Eden - £4.99
PixelJunk Eden (Demo) - Free
echchrome Micro - Free
Movement - Free
Prince of Persia (E3 2008 Trailer) - Free
The Last Guy (Trailer) - Free
Bionic Command Rearmed Wallpapers - Free

As for our good old Yankee Doodle Do friends in the 'States, they get PJE but also get 3 (Yes count them) 3 demos! Madden NFL 09, Facebreaker and Lego Indiana Jones for which you wanna try before you get the game which is out now.

As well as that, you get the usual Rock Band DLC updates which come every week as well as the first DLC coming for Soul Calibur IV (Which is out today) with Customization Equipment Pack 1 and the soundtrack to the game. Also, videos of the AST Tour, gameplay videos of Bejing 2008 (Quick point for nobody in the know, it starts Next Friday), the making of Bionic Commando Rearmed, Vampire Rain as well as The Last Guy.

Themes and wallpapers wise, you get a Killzone 2 theme, 2 PixelJunk Eden themes, 2 Siren: Blood Curse wallpapers, 2 Soul Calubur IV wallpapers and a Street Fighter IV wallpaper.

Full list (US):

PixelJunk Eden - $9.99
Soul Calibur IV (Customization Equipment Pack 1) - $1.49
thenewno2 - Yomp [Rock Band] - $0.99
Staind - This Is It [Rock Band] - $1.99
Scars on Broadway - They Say [Rock Band] - $1.99
Testament - Electric Crown [Rock Band] - $1.99
LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Game (Demo) - Free
Madden NFL 09 (Demo) - Free
FaceBreaker (Demo) - Free
The Last Guy (Trailer) - Free
Vampire Rain (Trailer) - Free
Bejing 2008 (2 Videos) - Free
Bionic Command Rearmed: Making of - Part 2
AST Dew Tour (4 Videos)
Killzone 2 (Theme) - Free
PixelJunk Eden (Theme) - Free
Siren: Blood Curse (2 Wallpaper) - Free
Soul Calibur IV (2 Wallpaper) - Free
Soul Calibur IV OST (Downloadable Music) - $0.99 Per Track, $14.99 Full Set

Esta manhã a EA lançou um demo de FaceBreaker na LIVE, sendo 954MB que prometem fazer sucesso; lute com três personagens diferentes em duas arenas distintas, além de poder colocar a foto do seu próprio rosto e ver como você se sairia numa luta de boxe. Aproveite e vá correndo para o seu console para baixar este imperdível demo!

No soy muy dado a los juegos de boxeo pero EA ha estado trabajando bastante bien con sus más recientes franquicias y le daré una probada a Facebreaker. Pesando 954 MB, el demo promete usar tres diferentes boxeadores en dos diferentes arenas y poner el rostro de tu oponente (si tienes LIVE Vision) en el juego gracias a un sistema desarrollado por EA. Un audio análisis pronto.

[Major Nelson]

[Jkrincon Out]

Hey everybody, you didn't think that just because PlayStation LifeStyle is refocusing our content that we'd get rid of one of our most popular (and accurate) features, did ya?  As we've mentioned over the past few days, PlayStation LifeStyle will continue to BREAK news - just not LEAK news.  This info is ALWAYS backed up with sources and is never based on insider information.  Just some of our hard work and independent research.

With that said, this week is going to be pretty solid for everyone.  The highlight of the week is definitely the release of PixelJunk Eden with full YouTube uploading support and something else...I forgot.  Oh yeah, trophy support!  Sports fans should have two demos from EA, including Madden NFL 09 and their new boxing title - Facebreaker.  NASCAR 09 fans (both of you) may find some new DLC this week and we all might be surprised with some cool Soul Calibur IV DLC.  Mix in the ubiquitous Rock Band DLC and a gaggle of new themes, and we have a great Thursday for the PLAYSTATION® Store.

NOTE: We had expected Life with PlayStation to be released this week, based on Jack Tretton's announcement at E3 and the new, ambiguous PS3 Firmware 2.42... but we haven't received any more information from SCEA leading up to the release.

Check out all the details, based on my thread at the PlayStation.com Forums:

Disclaimer: This post is based on thorough research and always links to other sources.  However, these rumored new content posts are never the full release lists (including movie trailers, game videos, etc.) and are subject to change at any time.

• The Madden 09 demo will be out August 1.  If you are in the Southern Cal area, make sure to check out Maddenpalooza at the Rose Bowl on August 11.
• The FaceBreaker demo will be out July 31.  You can already prepare for the FaceBreaker Photo Game Face feature by uploading your pics to EA Sports World.  Once the demo comes out, you can put your face on a created boxer.  Hopefully people prepare for this feature early to avoid a catastrophe similar to the one that occured during the Tiger Woods 08 release.
• Here is a new Tiger Woods 09 blog on the new courses in the game.
• According to pastapadre.com, there will be a Community Day for NCAA Basketball 09 in the coming weeks.
• A patch is coming in the next few weeks for NASCAR 09.  It will address the performance points issue and likely the profile corruption bug.