Def Jam: Fight for NY

"Much improved from Vendetta, but still an acquired taste"

As a fan of both rap and wrestling games, Def Jam Vendetta was something of a dream game when it came out. This sequel largely drops the wrestling theme and focuses more on other combat styles in a streetfighting setting. The game has the typical EA polish that you'd expect and is presented in a very good manner. The graphics are very clear and most of the real life characters are designed very realistically. The soundtrack is amazing for fans of East Coast hip-hop especially but there are also representatives from elsewhere, including Canada's Bless whose 2 tracks featured sound superb. (Maybe we'll be hearing more from this guy in the future?). A fair selection of West Coast and Dirty South rappers too so its safe to say that any hip-hop fan will find someone who they are a fan of.

The gameplay is most important and it doesn't disappoint. It seems a lot easier to pick up and play than the original game and matches don't tend to last more than 3 or 4 minutes usually. The fighting styles of the massive 70+ roster of characters is varied enough, but perhaps the variety of moveset is not in the league of a WWE Smackdown game, for example. Still, each fighter has their own unique Blaze finisher which is often spectacular. There is plenty to unlock but the story mode isn't specially long or hard and any half decent gamesplayer should finish the game without too much hardship. The story is quite exciting though; it does add atmosphere to what is essentially a fairly linear path through 90 odd matches.

The Create a Fighter mode is new for this game, something sorely lacking from the original. This mode is superb for appearance with a good set of facial designs and REAL LIFE clothing labels to unlock and buy. I guess you can knock up a decent replica of 2Pac and Eminem here too if you are so inclined! Other than your blazing moves, you can only choose your fighting styles though, which is a slight disappointment, especially for those accustomed to the vastly more in-depth WWE style Create A Fighter.

I'd highly recommend this game for rental because you can probably beat it in a week and unlock most of the secret stuff. You might like to play on after that in multi-player mode and the variety of match-types is pretty entertaining still, even after you complete the game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/18/05