FaceBreaker, Madden demos on Xbox Live

By Robert Purchese Published 31 July, 2008

Cartoon boxing and American football.

EA Sports has shuffled FaceBreaker and Madden NFL 09 demos onto Xbox Live.

FaceBreaker is boxing, but boxing in stylised trunks with cartoon muscles. Slick, humorous, and fun, we concluded in our May preview. And with plenty of Super Punch-Out panache.

The only lingering question is whether there will be enough substance behind the novelty to hold our attention, which we will address when the full game shows for Xbox 360 and PS3 this September.

Madden NFL 2009, on the other hand, is about as relevant here as football is in the US, which could be confusing.

Still, this game is as key to EA Sports in America as FIFA 08 is in Europe, and so is lavished with equal care and attention.

Both are around 1GB and available in any Xbox Live region around the world.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (32) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Santino #1 4 years ago

    holy shit facebreaker is unexpected, i hope it has fight night controls!

  • Darren #2 4 years ago

    Hmmm, I'll be having Madden NFL 09 I think... I'll leave it downloading in the background while I check out Soulcalibur IV and SBK 08! :)

  • miiiguel #3 4 years ago

    have you played that SBK ? if so, is it good?

  • Darren #4 4 years ago

    I played one 3-lap Instant Race of Valencia this morning before work and first impressions are that it's a solid racer which might take a bit more getting used to than MotoGP 07. Cornering is hard even with the default Basic handling - I kept messing up every corner and lost the race - but that's probably because the game is trying to be more realistic. Graphically the bikes look great but the scenery and textures aren't quite up to MotoGP standards but it runs smoothly at 60 fps with 22 bikes on the screen. There's no tearing either. There's a lot of modes to check out and loads of options to tweak so it could be the deepest console motorbike racing game yet and could give MotoGP 07 a run for its money. Check out my thoughts on the game in the SBK 08 thread in the General Games section over the next few days. I think SC IV will be getting most of my attention tonight and SBK 08 might have to wait until the weekend.

  • miiiguel #5 4 years ago

    k, thx, I'll do that. I don't play a motorcycle game for ages. Too bad I wont be getting SCIV, we could play it online. I had a blast with an EGer, last saturday when we did UT3 coop from start to finish.

  • the_jamaster #6 4 years ago

    The Madden demo was supposed to be released tommorrow but we get it today. Awesome.

  • miiiguel #7 4 years ago

    I don't understand american football...

  • monkie_king #8 4 years ago

    American football lends itself quite well to videogaming, mixing strategy with bursts of action. Playing defense can be a bit dull, though. Are the Maddens the best ones of the current generation?

  • HolyJebus #9 4 years ago

    "holy shit facebreaker"

    That's what they should have called the game

  • miiiguel #10 4 years ago

    plz don't mock (too much) but are the rules (goal) the same as rugby ?

  • Santino #11 4 years ago

    lol peter moore looks hilarious in this game

  • grantc7 #12 4 years ago

    Am I the only one that is getting mauled in facebreaker? I haven't one a single round yet! (medium difficulty)

  • ronuds #13 4 years ago

    @ Monkie King

    The Maddens are the only NFL games of this generation...EA bought the rights.

  • BBIAJ #14 4 years ago

    @ grantc7:

    Nope, I'm getting mullered even on Easy!

    The training part of the Madden demo is cool, but once you're past that, you only get a single play attempt at a Madden Moment from the last SuperBowl, not even a quarter!

    Damn stingy in that regard, grrr...

  • miiiguel #15 4 years ago

    thx zero, I only started to (try to) watch NFL this since last year, as our cable sports channel here in Portugal started to broadcast a few games but it's quite confusing. That thread seems to explain the basics. Gonna give the demo a try as well.

  • cyber_nicco #16 4 years ago

    Anything you want to know about American football, feel free to ask me.

    I've been a fan for about 35 years... :)

  • captainrentboy #17 4 years ago

    Facebreaker is fucking dire. I don't know if it's just that I'm not 'getting it', but my 20 minute first impression is not remotely positive :/
    Unlike what the Fight Night 3 demo done many moons ago, I am not even slightly interested in buying this game.
    Edited by 1 at 31/07/08 @ 20:49

  • Santino #18 4 years ago

    yeah apart from the peter moore character this was pretty bad. deleted it after about half an hour.

  • Slurmseh #19 4 years ago

    Madden looks good this year. Haven't played it since 06 so I'm happy with the changes I've seen. Stingy they only give you a set piece to play and not even a quarter.

  • DAL9000 #20 4 years ago

    I'll also cheerfully answer any questions you might have about American football -- I'll actually be coaching it this year, although it will be my first ever year of coaching so I'm hardly an expert. Still, I can certainly answer any basic questions you might have about playcalling, terminology, and the rules of the game.

    If you do in fact have any questions, feel free to ask in this thread or by PM -- no question is too stupid or too basic for an answer.

    In the meantime, lemme offer up a general thought on Madden: as monkie_king mentioned, playing defense in Madden is incredibly boring. Now, while you CAN just skip past all of your defensive plays in single-player games (thanks, SuperSim!), I'd much rather the developers go out and find a way of making defense fun.

    But I can't deny that the meat of the game is on offense, and the offensive side of Madden is a blast -- fast-paced and rewarding if you play it casually, and slow-paced and VERY rewarding if you're willing to pause frequently to watch replays and figure out what just made your play succeed or fail. Especially for a beginner, there's just something very satisfying about watching a replay and going, "Oh jeez, this guy on the other side of the field was wide open. How could I have figured that out and gotten the ball to him?" -- and then, two plays later, taking advantage of that insight to score an 80-yard touchdown.

    So, oddly enough, if you're the kind of person who likes logic puzzles, I'd strongly recommend you give Madden (or NCAA Football) a spin -- running different plays and watching replays to figure out what makes them tick is like a game unto itself, if you're into that sort of thing.

  • the_jamaster #21 4 years ago

    I enjoy playing defense. I still find it satisfying laying the big hit on the opponent or grabbing the interception returning it for a touchdown. As for the demo I think this is going to be the most accessible Madden ever and will be great for first time players.

  • miiiguel #22 4 years ago

    hey cyber, sent you a fr so I can maybe bother you with some stupid questions regarding NFL suff.

  • BBIAJ #23 4 years ago

    Is it just me, or is finding the Hail Mary passing play in any Madden since 07 bloody difficult?

    Have yet to find it in this demo, and I keep forgetting where it is in 08!

  • DAL9000 #24 4 years ago

    In NCAA 08, at least, there's actually a Hail Mary formation. Typically it's right in there near the goalline and special teams formations.

  • Clive_Dunn #25 4 years ago

    I've heard interesting things regarding people no longer being able to scramble around with Vince Young before throwing hail marys every down.

    /glances at earlier post and sighs.

    Play sim for gods sake.

  • Darren #26 4 years ago

    This year's Madden NFL looks to be the best yet if this demo is anything to go by. Shame that EA decided to use a Moments mode game, where it ends if you fail to pass/run with the ball or the ball is intercepted, rather than the usual Exhibition mode game. I like the Madden I.Q. thing though, that could be a genuinely innovative addition to the game. For the first time in years I'm actually excited about Madden rather than just looking forward to it being the usual yearly update with tweaks (and bugs!!!).

    Didn't like FaceBreaker at all though...

  • OllyJ #27 4 years ago

    Just tried Facebreaker.....:( Rubbish methinks, maybe it'll get better as you learn it but it's no fight night.....

  • Darren #28 4 years ago

    Facebreaker and Madden NFL 09 demos also up on the US PS Store too (typically European users have to wait)... didn't bother with the former but the latter seems to be upto scratch this year in that it's now running at the same 60 fps framerate as the 360 version. It's seems a bit more stuttery between plays (due to loading?) and the visuals looks jaggier but otherwise it's identical to the superb 360 demo. Good news for PS3 owners then. :)

  • BulletTheory05 #29 4 years ago

    Any idea when these will be on the PSN Store??

    My bad, just saw that they're on the US store
    Edited by 1 at 01/08/08 @ 10:35

  • DAN.E.B #30 4 years ago

    really liked ready 2 rumble so i had high hopes for face breaker
    however it would appear to be total shit.

  • ronuds #31 4 years ago

    If you have the Madden demo, all you have to do to complete the "Madden Moment" is wait for Plaxico to get 1 on 1 coverage. Once he does (which is about ever 2nd play), just send him on a go-route and it's almost a guaranteed touchdown.

    I thought Madden would've fixed this issue after the 10 years it's been in the game? They'd rather add some other "stick" I guess than fix the core mechanics of the game.

    Also, don't try throwing a pass to anybody but "maybe" Shockey or Plaxico because they'll likely drop the ball. Ridiculous.

  • Connobi #32 4 years ago

    Facebreaker is crap - its not even as deep or fun as ready to rumble on the dreamcast!!! Shame, I was really looking forward to it too. :o(