Def Jam: Fight for NY

"Its a good fight, even for non rap fans."

I'll say up front that I for the most part dislike rap especially mainstream rap. Despite the fact that majority of the games roster is made up of rap artists, most of which I wouldn't know from Adam, it doesn't effect my enjoyment of the game in the slightest.

Graphics: The graphics are nice to look at with plenty of detail on the fighters designed for the game. Fighters get marked up during fights and blood splatters the arena floor. It isn't overly graphic in either area.There has been mention of framerate hiccups but I haven't noticed any. The one area of disappointment is the create-a-fighter. The only body type refinements are height and weight. The face options failed to offer anything unique and I was forced to play through the game with a street fighter that looked like a boy band reject. Most of the better hair options are unlocked as you play. It isn't bad but it could be better.

Gameplay:Its very solid, when you realize what you're doing. The game manual is a piece of garbage resulting in plenty of trial and err before you get the controls down for all the moves. Some people have complained about it being overly hard but I think this has more to do with frustration over the above problem. The computer does cheat some at the end of the game and it can be difficult to pick up weapons or do some of the wall jumping attacks. The matches get repetitive towards the end of story mode as you use the same tactics over and over. In four player match's it can be difficult to attack the fighter you want in some situations. For a fighting game there is plenty to do in terms of replay value.

Story: The story has been lauded in some places as being a cut above your normal game. Certainly its better than the drivel presented by the average fighting game but I'm not all that impressed. Lots of ominous threats followed by more ominous threats, trust me it gets old towards the end. The voice acting is top notch throughout and adds to the narrative.

Sound: As I mentioned the voice acting is very good. The soundtrack is rap which is a personal preference case. I don't like it but I doubt anybody cares. If you don't like rap and are interested in the game the music isn't overly annoying. One odd note, while the voice acting has very strong language, the music tracks have been edited of the same content.

Overall I'm very happy with it.

Score 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/25/04