FaceBreaker

If EA games are guilty of one thing, it has always been style over substance. In this, Facebreaker is no exception. Like many of the developer's titles, Facebreaker is shiny on the outside and easy to pick up, but with little durability or intelligent design.

In attempting to forge an easy pick-up-and-play title, EA have gone too far and as such its limited number of attacks and boringly basic special moves mean you've pretty much seen all there is too see very quickly. Track and field was occasionally more complicated than this.

There are plenty of characters and arenas to unlock. While the characters are well animated, the attempts at humour are too stereotypical—the romantic Italian, the fat nerd, or kick-ass girl—and bland to allow any genuine likeability. Worst of all is the scantily clad girl who flexes across the ring before each round moaning and thrusting her various assets towards the screen to such an extent that the game pushes the limits of misogynistic bad taste attractive only to 12-year-old boys and readers of Front magazine.

One positive note is the character creation, which is far more comprehensive than most others hanging around these days, allowing you to paste in a photo of yourself or others to create a surprisingly good likeness. This gives the game a little more life, but you are still restricted to existing characters' move-sets and the boredom quickly sets back in.

Worst of all is the single player. There are only two modes available, basic fight and the short lived belt campaign, but these aren't the real flaw. It's the AI. Even on easy you'll find enemies often impossible to defeat. Not only are they able to dodge and parry most of your attacks like you have two broken arms and depth perception problems, they can then assault you with a flurry of attacks so quick and unrelenting that you'll feel like you've just been beaten up by Bruce Lee on speed. This is not fun, or funny, it's boring, insulting and probably going to make even the most peaceful of zen masters throw his controller at the tv in an uncontrollable rage.

Facebreaker isn't so much mutton dressed as lamb, as a slice of mouldy bread marketing itself as a steak dinner with a beautiful, articulate companion.

If you really like arcade fighters then maybe its worth a quick rent, otherwise it's probably best to avoid.