Def Jam: Fight for NY

"As for my final review of 2K4, is a game in which you'll do some fighting yet spend an awful of time in the store."

Even though this series has only one sequel so far its already been highly praised for being able to fully entertain all sorts of gamers even if their not into their marketing range. (Namely the musical genres that are Rap & Hip-Hop obviously...) And let me start off that I won't argue with that. It has great gameplay structure with about 5 different fighting styles, a somewhat strange yet cool concept, very above-average graphics and overall a good presentation that leads to an overall satisfying experience. And its also one of those "anything goes" kind of games in which you can use weapons and the audience can get into the action. Pretty much think of "Pit Fighter" but with vastly superior production values and gameplay. However if anyone has played fighting games before plenty enough times might've had this experience. Ever played a Fighting game in which most of the other gameplay modes are made just fine its just that the quality of its main 1-P mode is a bit... questionable. If so then I think you know where I'm getting at about what I'm feeling about this game.

Like most other fighting games its main 1-player mode is a "Story Mode" of sorts. You play a man that you customize his overall bodily structure and voice (and even with about different 5 voices to boot) and he hatches an attempt to rescue Mob-D from getting sent to Prison. In gratitude he lets you join his posse while you battle other various opponents as you get more & more money for shopping. So you get to show off your masculinity by buying all sorts of flashy clothes and pretty jewelry, isn't that sweet huh? (Though to be fair you can also get Tatoos, stylish haircuts and work out in the Gym as well.) And of course battling the various other rappers and the like would get you to be able to unlock them to use in other modes and various other little goodies as well. There are a few other little twists such as getting certain girls as your girlfriend like Carmen Electra (though sorry guys despite the M-Rating and implications there is no Nudity but hey theres always Google.) And that the main bad guy of this whole title is a pimp-styled black man in black by the name of Crow played by Snoop Dogg. (Basically picture his role in the recent "Starsky & Hutch" movie if he were a villian and if the movie was set in this century.)

The concept of being able to customize your "Hero" character is very nice. You can get in all sorts of bodily tones and overall types of structure here. The variety of possibilities are indeed plenty however one of the most intresting aspects is the voices you can pick for your man. There are 5 in all and 2 of them are done by known voice actors. The "Street Smart" voice is done by Matt Hill whom you anime fans in here might recognize in certain english roles such as Kira Yamato of Gundam Seed and Ryo of Ronin Warriors. (And certain roles in N. American Animation such as Ed of Ed, Edd 'n Eddy and Captain N himself.) And the "Cocky" voice is done by Scott McNeil whom is very well known in both anime (Gundam Wing, DBZ) and NA animation (Beast Wars, New He-Man). And if you want to know how that one is like well here is a joke quote from him about it "The Cocky voice is pretty much EA's nice way of saying 'Scrawny-Ass White Guy' ". The other 3 were done by newbies in the VA work which are alright but you can tell that their newbies. One truly intresting note of detail here is that regardless of which voice you pick the tone is altered a bit which is naturally based on bodily size. The character you play as may not say a lot but this kind of detail is still a bit nice huh?

There doesn't seem to be much of anything wrong with the main 1-P mode huh? Well one would think that at first but while for the most part it seems to be just fine in style there is one thing that it surprisingly kinda lacks in namely substance. Oh sure the gameplay structure is still good but once you actually get into playing it is a bit of a different story. Your character is absurdly slow, awfully easy to receive punches and the control is even rather questionable in responsiveness. Sure I know that once you start yourself in a game in which you eventually level of course you won't be obviously too strong but still this is a bit much here. Even in "Easy" mode the game is still pretty difficult to handle through, don't get me wrong its not one of the hardest games ever but still. Sure your "Hero" character does get a lot better the more progress but lets just say patience is a pretty darn good requirement. Though the fact that there are infinte continues in the battles and that selecting "No" on a rematch will only get you back to your own crib and you can start again will probably help you out a bit. Even in style the game is still not seemingly perfect either. For starters playing as a guy you can customize is nice but playing as an actual playable character might be intresting and it could be cool to play as a customizable woman as well. (Course that could potentially lead into plenty of perversion but hey I doubt that it would really stop them.) But hey it could just simply be potentially good material to work with in a rather inevitable sequel that this game will have.

While the gameplay in "Def Jam II: Fight for NY" has a wide range the music is pretty much as "for fans only" as it looks. Lets just say if your not into rap and hip-hop this obviously won't change your mind. However there are modes of one-on-one, tag-team and survival matches. Gameplay is a LOT easier to get into and the control is vastly better right from the start as you can play as any of the men & women you've collected in story mode. They are all voiced pretty well by the actual people in the rap industry you play as and just about all of them play rather well too. (Some of them can be surprisingly very good such as Carmen Electra for one example. She may seem like this game's token large-breasted sexual fleshy eye-candy yet she is a more effective fighter compared to a very good portion of the guys in this game.) Most of the characters are deemed as the people themselves but some of them tried to play off as certain characters by names however aside from certain exceptions they are still pretty much playing themselves. If there was ever a game I wish I could give a 7.5 to this would be it cause there are aspects that make me feel that I'm being a bit harsh. But not really enough to make me really want to change my mind. Overall this is just simply a very above-average that is defintely worth a rental but might not be a worthwhile buy to everyone unless you can get it at a lower price. So while I admit it does leave some room for improvement its still a very competent piece of the Fighting game Genre thanks to the guys most known with the Sims, Madden Football, Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings games. Who knew this could end up being as a good thing huh?

+ Highly Above-Average Gameplay that'll satisy many a Fighting game fan.
+ Genuinely good graphics and well-done character customization concept
+ The regular one-on-one, tag team and survival battles are genuinely well done and are very easy to get into.
+ Custimization upon your character's dress style is also very nicely well utilized.
+ Voice acting is generally well done all around.
- In story mode your character might be a bit TOO sluggish to control for some people.
- You just might get a feeling that more character custimization one way or another would be nice.
- Not a fan of Rap or Hip-Hop music? Then trust me this won't change your mind...
- Aside from certain exceptions such as Snopp Dogg those whom supposedly aren't just playing themselves pretty much are doign that in this game.
- This is a surprisingly good 3D fighter but it doesn't hold a candle to the likes of Soul Calibur II and the like...

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/28/04, Updated 01/03/05