Whether you're into hip-hop or not, this may come as a guilty pleasure. *long*

User Rating: 7.9 | Def Jam: Fight for NY GC
By smbius | Review Date:
Def Jam: Fight for NY is the second iteration of Def Jam's fighting game series. When the series debuted, it was widely regarded as WWF with rap artists. However, the moderate success of the first game and its feedback made its way into the second game which has improved in some aspects. From a single player perspective, the game has a couple of gripes. The premise of the game is simple. You save D-Mobb boss from cops. Then, D-Mobb trusts you into his gang of hoodlums who are setup to take over clubs by how else? Fighting other hoodlums. This story also sets up your player created character. Overacting and the typical 'gangsta' style of dialogue is still around with a couple of girl fights in between. There are also too many plot holes in the story to be taken seriously but it is there as a small incentive to move on. Before and after fighing matches you usually get messages on your cell phone/pager. Messages are comprised mostly of pointless trash talking and vendors telling you they got new clothes at their store. Most of these tidbits you hear don't carry the story nor influence the character but it may annoy you from time to time. The only one you'll want to hear from is the featured Henry Rollins, your trainer, who'll tell you the tricks of survival in the fighting arenas. When you do get a chance to actually fight and beat someone, you'll be rewarded with one or more of the four things: Money, Development points (aka Dev Points), Unlocking a arena, and Unlocking a character Money gets you boots, clothes, pants, jewelry, etc. but it doesn't really do anything to improve your character in Def Jam except make the crowd enjoy your fights more - which result in higher purses - which result in money to buy more clothes and bling. Aside from unlocking new characters and arenas, Dev points will be your main mantra. With these points, you can learn a new style (i.e. kickboxing), update your fighting attributes, and learn more 'Blazin' finishing moves. Even though Def Jam does not have a place to practice moves, you really don't need too much skill to perform specific manuevers. Def Jam mostly rewards players with timing and unfair use of the environment. Players who've had experience playing wrestling games on the Gamecube will feel more at home with the control style. With a mix of different fighting styles integrated into the controler, performing combos and clinches takes some getting used to. This is partially the problem with multi-platform releases - they must work for all types of controllers but from this experience the Gamecube version of Def Jam's controls were adequate. There are a ton of animations used for doing counterattacks which is done really well considering the sheer amount of moves. Grappling and submissions are also useful moves that will help put your opponent in submission but it hardly equates to moves you use with the environment. Performing moves with the environment is a pretty cheesy way to do some serious damage on the opponent. You'll find yourself using the environment to your advantage alot, especially in team matches and all-out royal rumbles. Some of these moves range from stepping on your opponent's on the wall to crowds tugging, slamming the body face flat on the ground, or simply pushing you back into the ring. In the single player experience, your effectiveness in the ring depends on whether you can anticipate your opponent's one of two moves: grappling or punching/kicking. The game also leans towards fighting comebacks. In Def Jam, you can lose a tremendous amount of health in the first minute of the match but you can potentially recover most of your energy back by simply running around in the arena. Since the AI is not too smart, you'll find yourself doing this alot. In some cases, you'll have moments breathing sighs of relief when you realize the opponent kicked you down instead of ramming your head into the wall after a clinch. The AI also likes to do slow power moves that leave you a minute to think of a counterattack. The difficulty of the game doesn't really ramp up until you reach the later stages where you are fighting more than one opponent or fighting in a team - the pinnacle of the game's features. In matches with more than one opponent, you can perform 2 vs. 1 moves which look impressive on screen. Particularly, it is these matches that will give you an edge in later 1 vs. 1 stages since you will load up with Dev points if you complete a team tournament or free-for-all. In a multiplayer perspective, the game has pretty good value as long as you unlock most of the characters. It is even better using your custom characters against other players but it nothing new from what you'd expect from most fighting games anyway. In short, the multiplayer side of Def Jam holds well but its fighting styles are still unbalanced. If you're into some of the drama that goes into hip-hop, you'll definitely like this game more since it gives you the opportunity to whoop some ass on your most hated artists with your favorite ones...or yourself. radcastro.com

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