Facebreaker, the new boxing game from Electronic Arts, is going to be released in North America and in Europe simultaneously, on September 5. The supported platforms include PlayStation 3, the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii. It is the first game to come out from the new Freestyle arm of Electronic Arts, headed by Peter Moore, which aims to produce games for a more casual audience.

The game is not taking itself very seriously - it's boxing, but boxing with a lot of humor thrown in. The fun begins when you look at the character roster. There's a rave dancer that has a special move which allows him to spin on the heads of his opponents and that's just the beginning. There's also a dancing matador called Romeo, Molotov, a demolition expert coming from the former Red Army and Ice, who's a bus driver by day and a DJ and prize fighter by night.

The developers say that the game mechanics are "simplified, easy to pick-up-and-play". You do not need to memorize varied combos and special moves since it's all about the experience of a quick and sometimes dirty fight. There are light and hard attacks that the player can combine with parries, throws and dodges.

The main new element in the game is the Breaker Meter that the player can charge up by landing consecutive hits on his opponents. The meter sports four segments and each enables one outstanding attack. The first segment gives you the opportunity for a Bonebreaker, the second lets you perform a Groundbreaker and there's also a Skybreaker and, of course, a Facebreaker, which can win you the fight instantly. The player will constantly have to think strategically and see whether he wants to go for one of the lower moves or charge up for the Facebreaker.