I have been waiting to write about Facebreaker at length since E3, not because I didn’t have anything to say about the game, but because I didn’t want to just do a basic like-dislike-fact-fact-dislike preview. That’s not to say I won’t be doing that in this article to an extent (it was my sports game of the show after all), but I waited to write about this game because I truly think that Facebreaker is EA’s most important sports title this year.

The most obvious and clear-cut reason why Facebreaker is an immensely important title deals with the fact that it’s tied-in to the freshly launched EA Freestyle sub-brand. Freestyle is at the surface simply a re-envisioned EA Sports Big; however, with a fresh start this label has a chance to be so much more.

EA Big was a brand that came along at a time when “alternative sports” were still new to the mainstream, thus EA was attempting to put out over-the-top titles, trying overly hard at times to be “edgy.” Recently, Skate has proven that you don’t need to slap a “Big” label onto an alternative sport title, and something like skateboarding is taken seriously enough at this point that it doesn’t need to be portrayed as zany and over the top.

After All-Play was launched a few months back, and more recently when Peter Moore showed off All-Play, it made me realize that All-Play is never going to be as successful as EA hopes with the adult crowd.

If you know about the Big brand, then you probably associate it with SSX and the Street series of games. SSX did a great job of launching the brand, but somewhere between FIFA Street 2 and NFL Street 2, something went wrong; slapping “Street” onto a title became more of a detriment than a positive. The “Street” games were also still primarily for the “hardcore” since there were still lots of buttons and mechanics to understand in terms of combo meters etc. As the brand lost some panache, a relatively recent title like NBA Street Homecourt unfortunately got overlooked by both sets of gamers, and NFL Street was rebooted away from the Big brand -- NFL Tour was awful though, so that was just one misstep followed by another.

Regardless of how the brand floundered over the years, I always thought of EA Big as the SSX and NBA Street brand. And that’s what people do: connect titles to brands. This is where Facebreaker enters the ring. Regardless of quality or where Freestyle goes post-Facebreaker, many consumers will already have made up their mind when it comes to the Freestyle brand.

The “casual” fans that grew up on Tecmo Bowl weren’t lost over the years simply due to complicated controls; rather it was the minutiae that scared many more people off.

Don’t get me wrong, All-Play does seem like it will be a good “gateway drug” for children (that just sounds sinister doesn’t it?) because children may not be old enough to handle all the controls, or simply don’t realize they aren’t doing as much as their siblings or parents. Adults are another story though.

The “casual” fans that grew up on Tecmo Bowl weren’t lost over the years simply due to complicated controls; rather it was the minutiae that scared many more people off. People enjoyed being unstoppable with Bo Jackson, picking one of three plays, and taking part in simple two button controls. Five-on-five mode in All-Play Madden isn’t going to be the Tecmo Bowl killer that makes everyone come rushing back to football games.

This brings me back to the importance of Facebreaker. EA isn’t going to hit a big enough “casual” audience with traditional sports games, and at the same time, EA can’t abandon the millions of people that have bought all of its games over the years. I think Facebreaker has the opportunity to please both crowds.

In the game, it’s enjoyable enough to just pound on your opponent and initiate some goofy animations when you first pick up the controls, but there’s also that below-the-surface depth for the more serious folks. At a controls level, the depth is in the parry button. Combine the block button with the punch button you believe your opponent will use, and you can pull off a parry, followed by a counter-punch when timed correctly. But, your opponent has the chance to parry your counter as well, which could amount to some Zen-like back-and-forth moments when both gamers are in the zone.

You can’t change the game plan 10-years later and decide EA Sports is now going to be for everyone -- that’s a battle you can’t win

At a strategic level, you need to know when to use the third punch button. (Basically a meter fills up as you hit punches and avoid your opponent’s; as the meter fills up you can use a “GroundBreaker” for example, or if you fill it all the way without being punched, a finishing “FaceBreaker.”) Usually it makes sense to try and use the third punch button well before you combo high enough to pull off a “FaceBreaker,” hence the risk vs. reward when trying to climb towards the fight-finishing maneuver.

Finally at a character level, there’s another level of strategy -- one that essentially all fighting games have, but is important in this scenario because the Freestyle brand has to hit various types of consumers. Every boxer has strengths, weaknesses, and certain signature moves. I won’t delve into this too much because it’s not revolutionary or anything, but I really think people will latch onto certain fighters and master them -- something you will need to do against other good players.

My guess... this guy is not getting up after this.

Now most of the strategy stuff appeals more to the “hardcore,” but outside of the gameplay mechanics, it also seems like EA wants to initiate another Spore-phenomenon of sorts by releasing a demo of the game with the create-a-boxer function in place. You will also be able to upload the boxer for everyone to see. I think having the capability to take a picture of a celebrity and slap it onto a boxer who is about to be pummeled is something almost anyone can get behind. Embracing creativity is an easy way to get everyone involved because there’s no competing at that level, it’s all about doing something unique and interesting. It is something any gamer can get behind.

And that’s who EA has to cater to with Freestyle right from the get-go: everyone. You can’t change the game plan 10-years later and decide EA Sports is now going to be for everyone -- that’s a battle you can’t win, no matter how much you try and market it otherwise.

At the end of the day, if everything is executed properly, EA should bring over a good portion of the loyal EA Sports fans with Facebreaker, and at the same time open it up to gamers who have grown tired of traditional sports games. I do question how many gamers out there are like me: people who enjoy fighting games but are intimidated by traditional ones; and at the same time I wonder how many gamers like me will be informed enough to know about the nuanced nature that Facebreaker possesses -- so clearly there still are humps to get over. Perhaps though, if the demo is received warmly, those curiosities will be moot points come release day.