Def Jam: Fight for NY

"One of the best fighters this generation"

Def Jam Vendetta introduced the idea of rappers fighting each other wrestling style. At first, the idea seemed pretty dumb. Being a fan of music and hip-hop, I had to give it a shot though. The game surprised everyone by featuring a great AKI wrestling fighting engine and a cool urban story. Def Jam returns with Fight for New York, but this time it's not just a wrestling game, its more of a dirty street fighting game.

First off, people will want to know how this game stacks up to the original. Don't worry folks, it surpasses the original game. Not only does the game feature more than double the fighters that the original had, it also sports very impressive graphics and arenas. The game also appeals to more audiences this time. You want to play a wrestling game? Sure you can. You want to play kickboxing? Go for it. The beauty of this game is that you can choose from five different styles of fighting. These styles include wrestling, kickboxing, martial arts, submission, and street fighting. These styles can also be combined with others to give your fighter a mix of three types that you like.

There are many different modes in Def Jam to choose from. You have a quite lengthy story mode, one on one, team matches, free for all, window matches, cage matches, ring out matches, demolition matches, inferno matches, train matches, and more. The story mode lets you create your own fighter to take through the story, since the story is all about you. This feature is lacking in the body creation department, but there are tons of clothing, hair, tattoo, and jewelry options to deck your character out. All clothing are licensed by actual popular clothing companies such as Sean Jean, Polo, Ecko, Joker, Rockawear, and more. You also obtain jewelry from Jacob the Jeweler, who is a popular real life jeweler to the stars. Dressing your character up with the gear and the bling will give you a bigger charisma rating in the game.

The gameplay consists of two people duking it out for a Knock out (KO) in order to win a match. You can also win by submission if you can take out a health bar for a specific body part by using Submission moves. The way you fight depends on the arena. There are wrestling arenas that play like a wrestling game, there are also areas where crowds surround you and interact with you by holding people, pushing them, or giving you weapons. There are many other types of arenas too that can knock people out of windows, into oncoming trains, and more. Some of these arenas offer different objects you can throw your opponent into and interact with. The game really feels like an all out dirty fighting match in some dark alley in the street. You will not play another game that gives you the feeling of a real street fight ever.

The moves are usually over the top, but the feel still feels genuine. Blazin moves are easily the most off the wall moves in the game, but they are fun to watch. Blazin moves are special attacks you earn by filling a Blazin meter up. When you earn a blazin move, you can hit the right analog stick in any direction to activate your blazin mode. While in this blazin mode (which is temporary) you can then grapple your opponent and perform a devastating attack by hitting any direction on the right stick again which will cause a knockout if the health bar of your enemy is red. You can customize your character with up to four blazin moves, which are mapped to different directions on the right analog stick. These moves are bought within the story mode.

Speaking of Story Mode, this is the most interesting aspect of Def Jam. You have a menu inside of your “crib” that has access to a cell phone (which is used to get messages from people), earned trophies, wardrobe room, and options. You also have a map, which is your key to every match and upgrade in the game. You have a shopping location where you can buy clothes, jewelry, hairstyles, tattoos, stats, and learning extra blazin moves. Also, this map shows every fight you have access to in the game. As you progress through the fights on the map, cut scenes will be triggered and show you what's going on in the story. You will also come across boss style fights against big time rappers. The story is interesting enough to keep you interested, even though there are several giant plot craters that kind of prevent the story from having some depth.

The game supports up to four players as well. If you have three other friends willing to play, you will easily have a blast playing Def Jam. There are over 70 fighters to chose from (including your custom ones) and plenty of modes to keep you busy. The soundtrack also sports a nice number of tracks (some of which need unlocked) with a lot of good hip-hop tunes to fight to. Some of them feel out of place, but most of them fit very well within the game.

The only complaints I really have about the game is the crappy manual that comes with it. It offers next to no help what so ever. Also, the training portion of the game does not teach you everything you really need to know. Due to all of this, the learning curve can be kind of steep. Also, there is a bit of slowdown in the framerate when you first pop the game in, but after awhile you won't even really notice it. There are also some obvious fighters that should have been included, like L.L. Cool J, Lil' John, DMX, and Funkmaster Flex.

Overall, Def Jam: Fight for New York offers one of the best fighting experiences in this genre of gaming. This title ranks high up with Super Smash Brothers and Soul Calibur. If you are a fighting fan and a fan of wrestling games or UFC style kickboxing games, you will love Def Jam:FFNY. The game offers hours upon hours of entertainment for both single and multiplayer gamers.

Rating: 9/10

Pros:
+ Great arenas
+ Impressive player models
+ Appeals to many different gamers
+ Tons of fighters
+ Tons of unlockables
+ Nice create-a-fighter mode
+ Impressive number of options
+ Nice story mode

Cons:
- Horrible game manual
- Bad training portions
- Can have a high learning curve
- Noticeable slowdown
- No L.L. Cool J or Lil' John

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/23/04