Def Jam: Fight for NY Updated Impressions

The new version of Def Jam: Fight for NY shown at G4's G-Phoria (airing August 6 on G4TechTV) includes a single-player mode as well as a versus mode, which features characters and stars like Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, Sticky Fingaz, Redman (as Doc), and Method Man (as Blaze). Needless to say, we were quick to put this demo through its paces.

Def Jam: Fight for NY will be more like a fighting game than its wrestling-style predecessor. Click "stream" for a larger view.

The story mode starts out with a cinematic sequence that shows your character pulling up in a car with a battered Blaze (played by Method Man) in the pasenger seat. The cinema sets up the storyline, which basically involves rescuing a young female who has been abducted and is currently being held by an opponent named Sticky.

When the cinema sequence shows your character approaching Sticky, the baddie throws a Zippo lighter that ignites a single line of fire, which reaches out in a large ring of fire that serves as the fighting arena.

Within this ring of fire, gameplay begins. You can use various punches, kicks, and grapple moves to injure your opponent. In addition, you can also knock your opponent into the fire to sap his health meter. Once we depleted our opponent's health, the brief demo ended with a montage of stats that detailed what the final version of Def Jam: Fight for NY will include, such as number of fighters, levels, and more.

While the version shown didn't seem radically different from what we reported after EA's recent press event, it did give us another opportunity to see that the designers are, in fact, putting a great deal of effort into the game's look, feel, and storyline. Def Jam: Fight for NY is currently slated to ship this fall for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. Look for more on the game in the coming months.