Def Jam Vendetta

"Little Depth, but great fun anyway"

Def Jam Vendetta is an enjoyable game by EA Sports BIG (SSX) and AKI (WWF No Mercy), two proven names in video game sports entertainment, combining AKI's proven wrestling engine with a cast of popular rap artists and a strong hip-hop theme.

Though the game refers to underground street fighting, Def Jam Vendetta is at its core a wrestling game, and a well-designed one. If you have played any of AKI's wrestling games for the Nintendo 64 (especially No Mercy), you'll feel at home with the controls right away. The analog stick (or the digital pad) move your character, the B and A buttons can be tapped or held for light or heavy strikes or grapples respectively, the L button counters grapples and the R button blocks strikes. It all feels very fluid and natural. Each character has several variations of strikes, holds and slams from the back and the front, as well as running, ground and turnbuckle attacks. They even have unique (and quite painful looking) special moves that can be executed when the character enters ''Blazin''' mode (when the momentum meter is full). It's slightly easier to win matches in Def Jam Vendetta because the special attacks don't require a strong grapple to be executed (unlike No Mercy), but in my opinion that serves to make the game more fun. There is a tutorial mode that explains in brief but excellent detail how the controls of the game works, which is good since they cannot be changed.
Players can progress through the ranks of the game's 40-plus fictional fighters and Def Jam rap artists (who portray the Story Mode's ''bosses'') in order to unlock additional characters, costumes, fighting arenas and other goodies. You'll also earn money in Story Mode which is used to improve your character and purchase other items. There's a battle mode for one-to-four players which includes tag team and battle royal, and a survival mode. There are quite a few ways to enjoy this game, but players planning to purchase should know it doesn't feature quite as many match options as traditional WWE-based wrestling games boast. There are no ladder matches, cage matches, hardcore matches or hell-in-the-cell melees. There aren't even any weapons. Furthermore, because this is a deciding factor in many players' plans to purchase a wrestling game, I should note Def Jam Vendetta does not have any kind of Create-A-Wrestler mode.

The meat of Def Jam Vendetta is its story mode. Without giving too much away, you are a fighter standing in for your friend in order to make some cash in an underground fighting circuit. As you proceed through the story mode, you will come up against the game's fictional characters and rappers-made-polygon models such as Scarface, N.O.R.E., Method Man and more, who apparently work for the kingpin running the underground fight circuit. The Story Mode never gets tedious or boring, and the cut-scenes that play between matches can be entertaining.

The graphics in Def Jam Vendetta are above average. The models used for the wrestlers are full of polygons and well-detailed, but I think the few women are a little too narrow. While the wrestling arenas are a bit bland with their somewhat dark and lightly-detailed backgrounds, they do well to resemble what an underground fighting arena might look like.
The sound on the other hand, is top notch. A game featuring rap artists simply has to have a decent hip-hop soundtrack, and this game does not disappoint. It has tracks by all the rappers featured in the game as well as some other songs (18 in all), including some very recent hits like DMX's ''X Gon' Give it to Ya'' from the Cradle to the Grave soundtrack. Unfortunately, all the songs are radio edits (the foul language is edited out). Also, during matches the songs that play are merely instrumental versions without lyrics, and I found it strange that the game did not have a sound test that would allow me to actually listen to the songs at my will.
The voice work is well done, too. Each rapper lends his voice to the game and doesn't overact; each one speaks like they would in real life. The fictional characters have voices too, except the character you choose in Story Mode; he's always silent. All the voice work is done realistically; no one sounds like they're overacting.

As far as replay value goes, Story Mode isn't that hard or long and it should only take two or three times through in order to unlock everything. But countless hours will disappear in Battle Mode, especially with four players. This is a game that will stay playable as long as any other fighting or wrestling game, especially with the ability to fight as the rappers.

I definitely recommend buying Def Jam Vendetta. It's great looking, has a solid hip-hop atmosphere, enough characters to keep you coming back for more, scores of moves to see and do and plenty of things to unlock. It isn't as deep as other wrestling games (I would have liked some background information at least on the four characters you get to pick from in Story Mode), but once you get in the habit of playing with friends, the fun will never stop.

Final Score: 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/04/03, Updated 04/04/03