KI is to wrestling games as Miyamoto is to platformers. That may be extremely high praise, but it’s true. After the Yuke’s WWE titles lulled everyone into thinking gameplay should be secondary to flash and storylines, EA BIG has brought the showstoppa back to the forefront to develop this game.

Vendetta’s engine is tight, and it’s the game’s best asset. It’s easy to grasp, while being relatively deep at the same time. I’ve always liked the hard/soft concept, which lets you launch more devastating offense when you hold down a button longer. Defense involves trying to decide whether the computer is going to try a strike or grapple, and hitting the corresponding counter button.

The moves are creative with stunning animations. They remind me a lot of the tricks in the Pro Skater series – based on fact, but stretched to fantasy. Finishers look especially brutal, and regular attacks are easily linked together. Emulating NBA Street, you’re given style points for combos – which is an added incentive to get in the flow. Submission holds bring up a bar that reveals the strength of a certain body part (arm, leg, etc.). Unfortunately, the size of the wrestlers – while being a focal point of Vendetta’s great graphics – makes rope breaks happen too often, forcing you to release your hold or pin attempt. Most matches end in KOs, which shows that EA BIG didn’t set out to make a straight-up wrestling game.

Even without Kurt Angle or RVD, Vendetta’s cast is full of talent and personality. Each wrestler’s got a unique look, style, and selection of exclusive moves. Having the 12 Def Jam-signed rappers shouldn’t deter wrestling fans, as they’re just characters like everyone else. Other EA BIG personalities make cameos, but again, they’re regular grapplers first. Maybe it’s the chauvinist pig in me, but I like the side fights between gorgeous women vying for my affection.

I do take slight issue with some of the cheapness in the more important bouts. In a score-based game like NBA Street, when the CPU gets an unfair advantage, they may take the lead. In a fighting/wrestling game like this, however, it can be much more costly.

I imagine the idea behind Vendetta was to make a great wrestling game for non-wrestling fans. While I wish EA had omitted the non-wrestling part of the mantra, I have to admit this game fulfills its goal. It doesn’t give you wrestling staples like table matches or a wrestler creator, sadly, but it does give you what most next-gen WWE titles can’t: stellar gameplay.  

ANDY MCNAMARA   8.5 All I have to say is that it’s about damn time. I was beginning to believe that no game was ever going to top 1998’s WCW/NWO Revenge as the best wrestling game ever made, but Def Jam Vendetta has finally usurped the long-time champ. Not surprisingly, it’s from the same developer, AKI Corporation. In fact, you can even feel Revenge in Vendetta’s controls. With Def Jam, the whole package is taken to a new level with smoother animations; detailed character models; and tighter, more intuitive play control. Even better, Vendetta does away with the steroid-filled men in tights and gives us rap’s greatest thugs, pimps, and players to control. Wrestling games will never replace fighting games as king in my book, but Def Jam Vendetta is certainly the most compelling wrestler I’ve seen in almost half a decade. It’s got the attitude, the play, and most definitely the rhymes to get my vote as the greatest wrestling game to date.