Def Jam Vendetta should not be passed up by any gamer looking for fun.
Creating a game based on the music, attitude, and likeness of hardcore rappers would usually narrow down a games audience and create a very limited appeal to gamers. But AKI has cleverly designed Def Jam Vendetta by staying focused on one thing and one thing only, the wrestling.
Even as the title (Def Jam Vendetta) suggests though, at heart Vendetta is all about the wrestling. And the wrestling couldn’t have been done better by anyone other than AKI, the Japanese developer who is famous for the better wrestling games on the N64 (No Mercy and Wrestlemania to name a few).
The combo system is easy to master and very deep, there are a truckload of grapples, kicks, punches, and slaps you can dish out on opponents, and they all handle excellently. There are two different types of grapples you can perform, a quick grapple and a strong grapple. Tap A to perform a quick grapple, which can then be followed up with the quicker less damaging attacks. Or hold A to perform a strong grapple, which can then be followed up by the stronger more damaging moves.
Vendetta isn’t only filled with excellent combos and grapples; Def Jam also comes equipped with some outrageous special moves that only the guys at EA BIG could think up. They’re reminiscent to the special moves found in SSX Tricky, except a bit more violent and cruel. You can build your special meter up to “Blazzin” by punishing your enemy and not taking too many hits. Once blazzin, you have a limited amount of time to perform your characters unique special move which will most likely K.O. an opponent if they’re in the ‘danger’ section of their health.
The best aspect of Def Jam apart from the excellent wrestling engine, is it's intriguing story. You start off fighting in underground fight clubs for your buddy Manny who has injured himself and "Need's your fists". You kick, grapple, and occasionally groin punch your way through a number of respected rap stars, gaining cash which can be spent on attributes and collecting “girl friends” which all have un-lockable photo galleries (6 girls in total). The way you’re rewarded cash in clever; If you end the fight quickly you will be rewarded with a time bonus, or if you K.O. your opponent you will be rewarded a knock-out bonus. It also works the opposite way; if you continue to run from your opponent, you take a lot of hits, or you win by submission (You can continue to grapple an opponents body part until it breaks) you won’t get paid as much, because you’re fighting in a cheap manor.
Oddly enough, Def Jam lacks in the department it shouldn’t, music. And it’s not for the lack of music, but for the amount of music. For a game that’s just dripping with hip-hop culture and rap stars, there are only about 16 songs to compliment the intense fighting. And while fighting, the lyrics are muted so you’re stuck having to listen to repetitive hip-hop beats during the majority of the game, because that’s what rap mainly is without the lyrics.
The visuals in Def Jam Vendetta are on par with any other wrestling game out there, there’s a particularly nice amount of detail on character models. The camera also does a modest job at following the action, and it rolls into replay mode on most captivating grapples so you can watch it more than once. Each level has a good amount of spectators to keep the action flowing and the locations you fight at are interesting and fit the mood. You’ll fight at a number of different locations including a strip club, on a rooftop, in an underground cave, a warehouse, and plenty more thugged out locations.
The story mode in Def Jam is surprisingly intriguing. It’s not often you see a wrestling game with such an interesting story backing it up. But the story seems to go by too quickly if your playing on the default difficulty, so up the ante at the beginning to pose a challenge to yourself or the game will be over fairly quickly. Though the action doesn’t start and end in story mode, so there are numerous multiplayer modes to play through and there are 4 different characters to play through story mode.
Def Jam Vendetta should not be passed up by any gamer looking for fun, unless they truly despise rap or hip-hop. I personally do not listen or enjoy listening to rap but I found my self easily entertained with Vendetta. I just hope this success of Def Jam Vendetta doesn't give the green light to other record labels to start pumping out titles (because they'll more than likely be garbage. Wu Tang anyone?).