Well, it’s been a while since EA gave us a game based on Queensbury Rules and when it happened before it was the very well rounded Fight Night Round 3, which was a polished and very enjoyable title then. So when the makers of said brawler got together after a lengthy absence and unleashed another pugilistic effort, we all got excited and thought towards more tactical battles of body and mind.

Then you look carefully at FaceBreaker and realise you need to put that thought back in the box and save it for a rainy day. Serious this is most certainly not. EA Big has been and gone and is replaced with a new Freestyle label, which isn’t particularly much different to the rest of the more light-hearted sports games we’ve seen over the years…but is it any good?

First impressions are optimistic, as graphically it rates amongst some of the higher end visuals seen on the current gen with some really eye-catching cartoon styling taking the place of EA Sports’ simulation authenticity and it works for some unknown reason. The most noticeable area for this is when you see the faces of combatants getting battered, bruised and punched out of place as if they’re made of Play-Doh. Throw in a rainbow’s worth of colour and Batman style THWACKS and BLAMS and we can see it’s aimed for a younger market. The second reason for this is a lot easier to explain.