EA Sport's Freestyle brand, meant for a "more casual sports gaming audience," suffered a beating as its first title, Facebreaker, sold 52,000 units in September. The game's over-the-top nature, originally giving the impression of being a modern day Punch-Out!!, apparently didn't click with consumers ... or critics, receiving an average Metacritic score of 54.
A Wii version of Facebreaker, which may (?) perform better than its Xbox 360 and PS3 cousins, is expected in November. Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter says the poor sales aren't really that big of a deal for EA, considering how well it's doing with Mercenaries 2, Spore, Warhammer and Dead Space.
Reader Comments (36)
Posted: Oct 17th 2008 5:59PM (Unverified) said
The game was just flat-out ugly.
And I'm not talking about the graphics, either.
Reply
And I'm not talking about the graphics, either.
Posted: Oct 17th 2008 4:38PM (Unverified) said
"A Wii version of Facebreaker, which may (?) perform better than its Xbox 360 and PS3 cousins"
Translation: Facebreaker is a crappy game and should sell better on the Wii where the fanbase doesn't know any better.
Reply
Translation: Facebreaker is a crappy game and should sell better on the Wii where the fanbase doesn't know any better.
Posted: Oct 17th 2008 4:38PM The Man with a girls name said
how were the reviews on this anyways?
Reply
Posted: Oct 17th 2008 6:05PM darkinchworm said
Right in the article: "...receiving an average Metacritic score of 54"
Need glasses?
Reply
Need glasses?
Posted: Oct 17th 2008 4:53PM (Unverified) said
Because, as stated above, the wii's fanbase is borderline retarded and they don't know how to pick a good game out even if someone put one in their hands.
Reply
Posted: Oct 17th 2008 5:03PM Mr Khan said
As others said, it was relegated to a button masher, so waggle in this case might serve for a more fun experience. Equally, as i stated above, its a stylized game, and this works better on the Wii than on the other consoles
The wii userbase is attracted to fun, irregardless of "quality"
Reply
The wii userbase is attracted to fun, irregardless of "quality"
Posted: Oct 17th 2008 4:48PM (Unverified) said
I thought the demo was crap. The face mapping alone took about 30 minutes (no joke). Gameplay was less than fun. All around, a crappy game.
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Posted: Oct 17th 2008 4:50PM meatee said
I think where they went wrong with the whole "modern day Punch-Out!!" idea is the gameplay mechanic. Sure, Punch-Out!! has some wacky characters, but what makes the game fun is the gameplay. This game ended up being nothing more than a button-masher, which is just garbage.
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Posted: Oct 17th 2008 4:57PM CheesecakeJones said
"This just in! Crappy game sells terribly!"
This goes to show you that a bad demo and an unproven formula can sink a game before it's even released.
Reply
This goes to show you that a bad demo and an unproven formula can sink a game before it's even released.
Posted: Oct 17th 2008 5:10PM Pipp said
I saw this game on clearance at Target the other day. I huge stack of them. I had to do a double take as I walk past them because the game just came out!
I played the demo and it wasn't fun at all. I don't know what they were thinking, anyone could have played this game earlier in its development and saw that it wasn't going anywhere.
Reply
I played the demo and it wasn't fun at all. I don't know what they were thinking, anyone could have played this game earlier in its development and saw that it wasn't going anywhere.
Posted: Oct 17th 2008 6:22PM (Unverified) said
I was one of the few that bought Facebreaker...it lasted a week before I traded it in for Armored Core For Answer!
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Posted: Oct 17th 2008 9:49PM Mr Khan said
You're a veteran of VGChartz, aren't you? I browse their forums sometimes
If so, yours is a much more pro-Nintendo environment, though its an environment that also sees the merits of PS360
Here its much less balanced in that regard. Shitting on Nintendo has been cool since E3. Proclaiming "I've sold my Wii" is as fast a track to 3 hearts as any other individual statement, unless its an aptly-placed Futurama reference.
Reply
If so, yours is a much more pro-Nintendo environment, though its an environment that also sees the merits of PS360
Here its much less balanced in that regard. Shitting on Nintendo has been cool since E3. Proclaiming "I've sold my Wii" is as fast a track to 3 hearts as any other individual statement, unless its an aptly-placed Futurama reference.
Posted: Oct 18th 2008 12:15AM (Unverified) said
I've sold my Wii.
20 dollars says i wont get ranked down, or up. Nobody gives a flying penis.
Reply
20 dollars says i wont get ranked down, or up. Nobody gives a flying penis.
Posted: Oct 18th 2008 11:44PM BurntMeatloaf said
That's because flying penises are in short supply.
Reply
Posted: Oct 18th 2008 11:45PM BurntMeatloaf said
And, no, I don't care if that's the correct plural form of the word or not.
Reply
Posted: Oct 17th 2008 10:40PM Hunter141072 said
WHAT??? AN EA GAME THAT WAS ONLY AVAILABLE ON THE CONSOLES AND NOT ON THE EVIL PIRATE-STORM P.C. DIDN´T SELL????????????? how´s that possible!!!! if EA decided to leave the sports game for the consoles only!!! maybe people finally woke up and showed to ea that they only make GARBAGE, not original games but versions of the version of the old version of the old version.
well, let´s go back to wait for left 4 dead
Reply
well, let´s go back to wait for left 4 dead
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