Still playing the old, classic N64 wrestling games? It's time for an upgrade--Aki's Vendetta.
The biggest draw to Vendetta, aside from the actual wrestling gameplay, is the affiliation with Def Jam Records. The tie to Def Jam is obvious: Nearly the entire game features songs by Def Jam artists that are omnipresent throughout both the matches and menu screens, and many artists are playable characters as well. Some of the more red-letter artists featured in the game include DMX, Method Man, Ludacris, and Redman, all of whom have their own tracks in the game. Despite not being the biggest fan of these artists’ music, it didn’t detract from my experience in any way, and the music fits quite well with the environments you’ll be brawling in. Most would probably find it preferable to fight to DMX’s “Party Up” than total silence; past Aki games featured little to no music during the matches themselves. Still, though--not too turned on by Def Jam’s music or artists? Don’t worry; you can turn off all the music, and there are a host of non-Def Jam characters at your disposal. In fact, progression through Vendetta’s story mode is limited to a set of original characters made for the game. For some strange reason, however, a create-a-wrestler option was not included, though you are able to improve your character’s abilities, such as “strength,” “grapple,” and “defense,” by winning matches. Although the upgrading feature is useful, it’s odd that a popular wrestling game staple such as create-a-player would be omitted.
Again, for those not partial to the Def Jam association, Vendetta contains a wide cast of interesting characters for you to select from in the non-story modes: Moses, the Bible-thumping preacher who shares a few words of wisdom for you before a match; Chukklez, a heftier, more-demonic looking incarnation of Doink the Clown of WWF fame; Arii, an intimidating Russian grappler whose broken English is his only humorous characteristic; and Briggs, who strangely resembles Albert Wesker from the Resident Evil series. All the characters are well-detailed and healthily-built, much like you would expect real wrestlers to look. Moreover, the facial animations are incredibly well done and give the game an emphatically vivid, comic book feel. One character in particular, Manny (your friend and contact throughout the story mode), sports some excellent facial expressions during the cut scenes that you wouldn’t normally expect from a wrestling game.
Unfortunately, other animations in Vendetta seem to have been ripped directly from past Aki games, as far back as WCW vs. NWO Revenge for the N64. If you’re a follower of those games, you’re bound to notice some of the similarities, such as Arii’s choke maneuver; it’s almost identical to the same move performed by the Giant in older titles. Most of the other moves, from power bombs, grapples, and body slams, look curiously familiar, as well. Of course, one could argue that there simply aren’t many different ways to animate some of these moves, and that’s plausible; however, much of Vendetta unfortunately looks like an updated version of Aki’s Nintendo 64 games, albeit with much better character models and greater detail. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, as this is an Aki title of course, but with the extra graphical prowess of a next generation platform, it seems as if the developer could have taken a few extra steps to further set Vendetta apart from its past titles.
As much as Vendetta looks like past Aki wrestling games, it plays equally similar to those legends. Attacks are divided up into two types: strike and grapple. The strike button throws a punch or kick, while the grapple button locks the wrestlers up in order to set up a stronger attack, like a body slam. The computer is quite adept at blocking your striking attacks, so during most of the game you’ll be forced to use the grapple move to damage your opponent. From there it is a simple process of rinse and repeat, as you can easily knock down your enemy and use a submission-type attack to wear him or her down. As well as submission, there are two other ways to win a match: pinning and knock outs. While the pin move is more standard and well-known (simply hold your opponent down on the mat for a count of three), the K.O. move is new to Vendetta and is far more satisfying to accomplish. In order to knock out an enemy, you must first gain momentum, which is displayed in an on-screen gauge. Every attack you do increases your momentum meter; weaker attacks only raise it slightly, but stronger moves advance the gauge more quickly and in greater bursts. Similar to past games, you can initiate your special move in a grapple once your meter is full. A special move is the only attack you possess that is capable of winning the match by K.O., if your opponent has been damaged enough. Many of the special maneuvers are over-the-top variations of standard moves, but all look great and inflict significant damage. Oddly, though, you may have to pull off multiple special moves in a given match to weaken your opponent enough to even pin him; a K.O. is not guaranteed when doing a special move. It is during these moments that one of Def Jam Vendetta’s greatest flaws, the computer A.I., is readily apparent.
In order to increase the difficulty of computer-controlled characters, an artificial boost of momentum and strength is granted to the A.I. This is quite frustrating and is akin to “rubber band A.I.” used in some racing and traditional sports games. Rather than use sound strategy throughout the match, the computer opponents seem to rely on this fabricated strength, especially after special move attacks. Though this A.I. tactic may be used to emulate times in professional wrestling when a wrestler “finds one last bit of energy” (Hulk Hogan, anyone?), it’s still quite annoying. It is nearly impossible to successfully pull off a strong-grapple attack even after performing a devastating special move, a time in which you would think your opponent would be at his or her weakest, without the computer characters reversing it. Successfully countering certain enemy attacks, such as submission holds and reversals, forces you to rapidly tap the buttons and turn the analog stick; this button-mashing gets old fast and will likely wear out your hands if you find yourself caught in too many of these situations. Also, there are certain maneuvers that have been removed from Vendetta that were present in past Aki games, such as turning your opponent onto his stomach on the mat and other rope- and apron-based moves. Though indeed miniscule, they helped spice up the matches, which now can easily become dominated with simple submission holds. This may be nitpicking, but is nonetheless negative progress when compared to older titles.
That’s not to say that these shortcomings ruin Def Jam Vendetta, though. Where the computer A.I. comes up short, the other game modes step in. Vendetta contains three other modes aside from the previously mentioned story: battle, which includes singles, tag-team, handicap, and free-for-all matches; survival, which pits you against every wrestler in the game, provided you’ve unlocked them in the story mode; and a short but effective tutorial. Battle mode supports up to four human players and fills computer opponents in the slots not filled by people. Battle mode will inevitably be the mode you spend the most time with, as Vendetta is at its best when competing with and against human opponents, rather than beating up A.I. characters in story mode. It’s safe to say that if you enjoyed past Aki wrestling games’ multiplayer you’ll eat up Vendetta’s as well. If you have a few friends that are willing to spend time with the game, Def Jam Vendetta is an excellent purchase.
In light of Vendetta’s Def Jam-related subject matter, Aki seems to have skimped slightly on a few of the features that wrestling fans have come to expect from its games in order to appeal to a broader audience, and if you’re not a fan of the Def Jam tie in, you may be put off by that. However, if you’re still playing the old N64 titles, you may be ready for something new but not necessarily different; in that case, Vendetta fills that void nicely. Those interested in the game’s theme or anyone not impressed by the recent WWE games should at least give Def Jam Vendetta a solid weekend rental with a few friends.
Patrick Caldwell