FaceFighter for iPhone

FaceFighter by Appy Entertainment is a funny kung fu-style fighting game that lets you beat your friends to a pulp without getting the cops involved.

The game comes preloaded with a few foes to fight, but the real fun is creating your own opponent. Just take photos of a friend or family member and select their face to be added to the body of your new foe. You can use either an existing picture from the camera roll on your iPhone or iPod touch or take a new one from within the app using the iPhone’s built-in camera.

FaceFighter uses some really simple and effective tools for turning pictures of your friends into foes. While creating antagonists, you’re able to zoom in and out, line up the eyes and mouth, and rotate the pic to get it all just right. The final product is a roundhouse to your funny bone.

As you punch and kick your foes in the face, they get black eyes, swollen lips and missing teeth. The gameplay in FaceFighter isn’t the greatest, but that’s not the point. Seeing your friends preforming kung fu moves and getting their faces busted up is well worth the $1 price tag. You can also give the game a test drive with FaceFighter Light before you buy it. The paid version offers head-to-head multiplayer functionality (at least if you’re using the iPhone 3.0 software on a second-generation iPod touch or iPhone 3G or 3GS); you can also share photos of vanquished archenemies via e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter.

Game controls consist of four buttons—left and right punch, kick, and block. Essentially, FaceFighter is a button smasher with little need for timing or strategy except for blocking. Tapping the block button causes you to throw up your hands and block your opponent’s blow, but you’ll need to time it just right since a block only last for two seconds. You can also use special weapons like a rubber chicken or a pipe wrench to pummel the enemy, and even finish them off with some comical fatality moves.

With great graphics, cool kung fu sounds, and a multi-player mode, FaceFighter is really entertaining. Add in the ability to create custom foes, and hilarity quickly ensues.

[Tim Mercer is a technology enthusiast, graphic designer, and blogger, whose blog, digital-artist-toolbox.com, offers free resources to the digital artist and graphic designer.]