Def Jam Vendetta

"It could of been so much more...."

With EA already taking sports games into the streets, it was only a matter of time before wrestling made an appearance in the streets. Only this time, you won't be using professional wrestlers from the WWE. You'll be fighting against popular artists associated with the Def Jam label, such as DMX, N.O.R.E, Method Man, Redman, Scarface, Ghost Killah, and much much more. Fans of the legendary AKI styled engine will be pleased to know Def Jam Vendetta makes great use of it.

In the story mode, you'll take the role of four different wrestlers, leading them to the top to battle against D-Mobb, the antagonist of the story, in the Def Jam tournament. There isn't a specific story for each wrestler, so you'll mainly pick a wrestler based on their stats. D-Mobb has taken your girl, and you want revenge for what he's done to you. You'll be building your way up, fighting in local clubs to earn your spot in the upcoming Def Jam tournament. That's pretty much it for the story, so those looking for a decent storyline will be really disappointed with what Def Jam has to offer. The story is simply an excuse to progress you through the game.

Though it's the actual matches you'll be looking forward to. The gameplay is extremely fast paced compared to Yuke's WWE games, and it's much more addictive. Like most wrestling games, you'll be able to perform various strike and grapple attacks. Quickly tapping the grapple button will perform a weak and quick attack, while holding it down will cause much more damage to your opponent, but is much easier to counter. The shoulder buttons are used for countering; the L button for grapples, R for strikes. There's a momentum meter that will allow you to use your special attack if filled up. Your special attack can instantly KO your opponent if their health meter is low.

The health bar is quite compared from other wrestling games; unlike the blue, green, red meter many are used to seeing in WWE games, the health bar here is like the ones you see in fighting games. The difference between the two is that you won't automatically die if your health is at zero; it simply gives the opponent more of a chance of winning. Your health will slowly replenish every time you're not fighting. For submissions, another health bar will be displayed, indicating your health for that specific body part. If that bar is depleted, you'll loose.

Def Jam Vendetta can get frustrating sometimes. When you're knocked down, and you're picked up by the opponent, it's impossible to counter because you're unconscious. In reality, it seems normal for this to happen, but situations like these occur much to often. Tag team matches are also frustrating to play. When your opponent is beaten badly, and you know you're able to finish him off with a pin, it'll almost be impossible, because his partner will come in and knock you out. If you try knocking him out, your main opponent will then gain conscience as well.

But the most disappointing part of Def Jam Vendetta is that outside the story mode, there aren't many modes to play in. They're all tag team or regular matches. On top of all that, the story mode is short! I've completed it in a span of 3 hours, including all the matches I've lost in. However, the gameplay is so addictive; you'll keep replaying and replaying the same matches over and over again, because they're that fun. Though you wish there were more modes and the story had an actual story.

A game based on the Def Jam Records will certainly include songs from it too. You can expect a handful of songs from DMX, Redman, Method Man, N.O.R.E, and others. However, they're all instrumental, so you won't be hearing any lyrics to go along with the songs. The graphics aren't any better. The cutscenes are edgy, and overall look unimpressive. The in-game graphics are much worse; you feel like you're playing on the N64 again. The only good thing about the graphics is that the wrestlers look like themselves rather than generic play-dough men dolls.

While the audio and graphics department are behind their times, the gameplay is definitely top-notch, surpassing all other competing wrestling games on the system. The fast paced action will fool you to believe this is a fighting game instead of a wrestling game. The wide variety of wrestlers will entertain many rap and wrestling fans a-like. Def Jam Vendetta is currently one of the best wrestling games on the Gamecube, and it doesn't even carry the WWE license.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/25/05