Def Jam: Icon

"A matter of time"

It will only be a matter of time before EA makes a game that I would enjoy. Until then, I can look forward to the next movie license or sports game to buy. EA at times seem like they have the capabilities to produce a very refined video game, but unfortunately, Def Jam Icon isn't one of those times. In fact, it hardly resembles any fighting game that you would associate with the thought of an excellent title. Simple button mashing and little turntable tricks simply don't do the job at trying to simulate a successful fighter. All the nice little effects simply won't cut it if the mechanics are broken.

Who ever thought that E-40 can start busting out flips and throwing kicks reminiscent of something out of a Jet Li film? The very fact that Paul Wall is throwing kicks is kind of funny to me. I've never played the previous Def Jam games, but I hope the old ones are far better. The mix of hip hop and pseudo martial arts didn't seem like a good blend. With rap playing in the background, and some rap artist busting flips and jump kicks seemed like a weird combination. The game modes for the most part didn't really incorporate the rap aspect that well either – leaving both the hip hop and fighting aspect as poor standalones that were melded together. With a lineup of Method Man, Sean Paul, Redman, E-40, Young Jeezy, and many others, the game certainly isn't lacking any stars.

Age old question – Method Man or Redman – Who ya got boy?

From the fighting perspective, the control scheme and combo system is fairly generic. During battle, the 360 controller's face button acts as attacks. By blending these buttons together, one can pull a combo off. The combos are easy to obtain. At times, it feels like simple button mashing because you're throwing different combos together to try to obtain different attacks. Unfortunately, there isn't much variation, as the attacks aren't varied. The fighting system as a whole felt lackluster and shallow. Combinations started to rely heavily on button mashing.

One mode that tries to mix things up a bit is the career mode. Unfortunately, the career mode was poorly done and only acted as a disruption to the flow of the game. Instead of getting straight to the point that fighting games should do, EA opted for a lot of filler material. In the career mode, you pretty much beat people up to get new artists under a label. You see you're trying to create a brand image around your label, and it requires some top notch artists to do so. When you do this, you can buy some bling bling and all that good stuff.

This was a neat idea, but like I mentioned before, it felt like it interrupted the flow of the game. Normally a nice story can enhance a game, but in fighting games, the game needs to move along quickly and get to the point. Aside from that, the game play mechanics felt sluggish. The controls didn't respond very well. It ruined the flow and pacing of the game. The game also implemented a throwing game, but the throws in the game didn't respond very well. This is mainly due to the game's awkward pace. At times, the controls responded slowly and ruined the timing of what I tried to do. EA also threw in some exploding objects in the environment to try to spice things up. In the end, it ended up ruining the game's pace. When you were getting into a rhythm, there was some explosion that ruined it.

The musical soundtrack consisted of hip hop tracks from various musicians. For this game, it certainly matched what EA was going for. I wasn't particularly fond of the songs, even though I enjoy rap every now and then. The songs were used to set a tone for the game because of the environment the developer was trying to build. On that basis, it worked to some extent. The graphics on the other hand look very good. The best graphical aspect of the game was the character models. Each of the character models looked fairly realistic when compared to the real life counterparts. The explosion effects also provided some eye candy for the player – though it did disrupt the flow of the game. To top it off, the game ran exceptionally well. Unfortunately, that's about as good as it gets.

Ease my pain…

The game doesn't hold up for extended minutes – mostly due to the poor combat system. Online doesn't change this fact either. When it comes to fighting games, Def Jam Icon is lacking severely. As a game with a hip hop style environment, it exceeds on some levels, but ultimately that doesn't hold up too well either. Both of the most important aspects of the game don't really perform to pique efficiency. This was certainly not what EA was going for. EA probably banked on the name being a main selling point, because I don't see any incentive to get it for the content it contains. I'd recommend a rental, but even then I might be giving it too much credit. This was surely a forgettable experience.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 07/09/07