Def Jam Vendetta

"You won't have a vendetta with EA after playing this!"

Well, once I stepped in the Blockbuster, I was having my hopes high, for one game in particular, and that game was Def Jam Vendetta. Now I have been hearing tons of things about Def Jam Vendetta. Some positive, some negative. But I was steering all those comments away, and I was hyped up and waiting to get home and pop this game in my PS2.

Now If you hadn't already known, this game features rap stars from the record label, Def Jam. Now I have seen many people put down this game because they hate rap music, but they are not judging it for what it is, a wrestling game, just with an addition of some of your favorite rap stars who you are able to wrestle with. Now being a fan of rap I had nothing but love for this idea, getting to kick ass with my favorite rapper Ludacris would own I said in my head. And fortunately, it did!

If you may not already know it, AKI, the developers of this game, have made many other wrestling games, but mostly known for their groundbreaking wrestling title, WWF NO MERCY, which in most cases to most people, is still the best wrestling game to date. Now, knowing that AKI was using the same engine they used in NO MERCY, I thought nothing but of good things for this game.

Now enough with my intro, and on to the actual review. Now the game play was near perfect to me. If your thinking this game is anything like the Smack down series, then get rid of that idea from your head right now! There are 2 types of grapples, a weak one, which is used to pull off quick, weak moves. Then there is your strong grapple which is to pull off your strong, longer moves, but has the tendency to get reversed more easily. Then, you have your punch/kick button, which you can just tap, to perform a weak attack that can start up a combo of more attacks. But if you actually press it you will perform more of a stronger, but more slower attack, which can't start up a combo.

But more on grappling. Most characters have around 20-25 grappling moves, including their ''Blazin'' moves, which are like special finishers you have to get by filling your ''Blazin'' meter up. You have 2 ''Blazin'' moves, your front ''Blazin'' move, and your back ''Blazin move''. Unlike No Mercy, there is no turnbuckle special, or ground special, which is pretty sad, since AKI should have naturally put this in. Now doing grappling moves isn't complicated at all. Once your grapple your opponent, which you can either tap X to perform a weak grapple, or press X to perform a strong grapple, you can perform moves easily. You either press Square or the X button along with a directional button to perform a move. See, not difficult at all!

And not to mention the moves are over the top, and crazy. But which is a good thing, since you won't be bored with stale and lame moves. And not to mention that your ''Blazin'' moves really, really, look painful. And don't forget you have all your basic stuff, like the Irish whip, and etc. You are also able to get out of the ring during a match, but you will only really do it to run from your opponent when he gets his ''Blazin'' meter up, which you will do a lot, since this game gets hard towards the end of story mode. Oh, and one more thing, you can't use weapons!!!

Speaking of game modes, which this game lacks of, there is a story mode, battle mode, which is basically a match of either, singles match, tag team match, or handicap match. Yep, no hardcore match, or ladder match, or cage match, or any of your other favorites. This also puts the score down, since this game doesn't have much of replay value once you unlock everyone. And story mode doesn't last that long, and you can unlock everyone with just one go at story mode, which kind of sucks since there isn't much to do after you unlock everyone. But what sucks more is that you can't use your favorite rap artists in story mode, and you only have 5 people to use from story mode. So this is another downside.

Now on to other things of the game. Now the soundtrack is all rap, of course, and if you hate rap, then tough luck. Although they only play the instrumental versions of the songs during matches, which means no lyrics. And only play the lyrical versions while you are in the game menus. So not that much to complain about even if you hate rap with all your heart. The sound effects are awesome though. To the bones breaking to the neck cracking it just sounds awesome. For some reason I just love the sound of someone slamming their opponent onto the mat.

The graphics are so/so. At most times they are great, but sometimes you can't deny that they are horrible. The cut scenes look great, but of course with jaggies. The background in most matches aren't really nothing eye catching, and the crowds look horrible, you can tell EA didn't put much time into the crowds in this game. I mean you could literally count the polygons in the crowd people. But other than these nit picks, the graphics are still nice.

Pros
-Outstandingly Great game play
-Puts all the other wrestling games on PS2 to shame
-Nice graphics
-Great sound effects
-The Ability to play with your favorite rap stars of the Def Jam label
-You'll love this if your a rap fan

Cons
-Not much Replay Value
-The soundtrack is a bit one sided
-Lack of Game Modes

Overall, this game is good. But for a 50 dollar game I say wait till it drops to $30 or lower. Not that much replay value to last you for your $50. If your a wrestling fan, get this. If your a rap fan, get this. If your an AKI fanboy, get this game now!!!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/01/03, Updated 07/01/03