f Jam Vendetta, although it didn’t bear the WWE license, was one of the best wrestling games to come down the pike in a while. Apparently, EA Big and Def Jam wanted to distance it a bit from the genre, as Def Jam: Fight for NY is going farther away from its roots, and has been crafted as more of a comprehensive Fight Club-inspired street brawler.
The biggest changes have taken place in the game’s Story mode and frontend features, which now rival almost any fighting or wrestling game on the market. You start by creating a character in a "police sketch," filling in details like head shape, haircut, eyes, facial hair, and so on. You can then outfit him with a wide variety of the flyest gear, at retailers like New York’s legendary Jacob & Co. (home of Jacob the Jeweler) and Syndicate Urban Streetwear, which stocks many popular urban clothing brands. To be honest, these "dress-up" features were probably the most compelling part of the game to me. More importantly, you can also use earned points to upgrade your fighter’s stats, buy new moves, and even learn new fighting styles. The career mode has been greatly expanded, now encompassing a large number of venues and even adding in gimmick events, like cage matches and a bout where you must smash your opponent’s car into scrap metal.
The game’s also got a host of hip-hop star power, including Snoop, Method Man, Slick Rick, and Ghostface, as well as actors Omar Epps and Danny Trejo. There are over 70 characters both fictional and real to unlock, and I think most people will be thankful for the long and eventful story mode that’s been implemented here.
As for the action itself, this is some very fast-paced and brutal – very brutal – action. Although the control scheme is relatively simple, you’ll quickly learn that there is an exact science to administering grapples and harsh environmental moves at just the right moment. You’ll learn this lesson the hard way: by getting your brains bashed in like overripe squash by the challenging computer AI. Though difficult, it never feels unfair or that the computer is "cheating," with the exception of counters, which the AI seems to be able to do more often than you can. Hang in there, though, because soon you’ll be pulling off some amazing Blazing moves and the especially cool maneuvers where you work against your opponent with members of the audience.
Pulling off a crushing Blazing move is a great feeling, even as I felt a bit conflicted at enjoying a game that portrays hip-hop culture as little more than beating up people and buying expensive jewelry. Where have you gone, Chuck D? To the rest home, probably, and no one seems to mind anyway. Rap music used to mean more than this, but all art ends up getting turned into product, and as products go, this is a good one.