’ll say this about Def Jam Icon: it’s definitely a game of rap’s present. While the first titles in the series gave some dap to old school legends like Slick Rick, Flavor Flav, and Ice-T, Icon steps to the plate with a roster of current heroes like Young Jeezy, Mike Jones, and Dipset capo Jim Jones. The game’s new, revamped career mode also reflects the fundamental truth about hip-hop in 2007: this is a business, and you’ve got to balance street credibility and good music while managing your assets in an intelligent manner. Throw your hands in the air and wave ‘em like you just don’t care? Sorry, dude, I’m too busy setting royalty rates and marketing budgets.

Icon puts you in the shoes of a young, up-and-coming record company executive trying to make a name for yourself in the industry. In past games, Def Jam’s career mode felt more like window dressing than a real experience, and EA Chicago has gone a long way to adding depth to the “Build a Label” mode. With your home computer and mobile device, you’ll have to balance relationships between artists, lawyers, finicky females, and even a few shady politicians as you look to mine platinum and gold on the sales charts. As you advance, you’ll get updates on your progress through actual BET News updates, and see your label’s bottom line finances on you computer. It’s quite addictive, although the larger cutscenes and story seem to advance the same no matter what decisions you make.

The improved career mode goes hand-in-hand with the game’s amazing presentation. The graphics – especially in the detailed environments – are some of the best I’ve seen in a fighting game to date. The levels also feature a high degree of interactivity, allowing you to trash the arena until it’s a flaming pile of rubble. The great soundtrack is also incorporated into gameplay by allowing you to “mix” the soundtrack in real-time, scratching the track until you cause explosions and other pre-scripted events. Learning to use the environment to your advantage is key, as you can easily turn the tide of a match by throwing your opponent into an explosive point, then using your “air DJ” skills to send him flying through the air. I appreciate the fact that EA Chicago tried to do something unique with the music, as it’s such a large draw of this franchise.

Unfortunately, the least accomplished part of the Icon is the most important: the gameplay itself. The developers attempted to incorporate Fight Night-style analog moves into the usual button mashing, to mixed results. While normal attacks are done with the face buttons, grapples, special moves, blocks, and music mixing are all done with the analogs, resulting in a control scheme that sometimes feels muddled and confusing. While it’s awesome when you throw your opponent into a wall of speakers, to explode the PA, too often the control feels sluggish and unresponsive – especially the evades, which work approximately half the time. As the difficulty increases, these frustrations mount considerably, making me wonder if there were too many functions assigned to the analog sticks.

In addition, after awhile the recycled environments and repetitive battles start to feel like a chore rather than a reward. While I applaud the risks that were taken with this game, and can see the great potential in this new direction, Def Jam still needs a great deal of polish before it can be one of the premier fighters on the next-gen consoles. Icon will definitely provide you with some exhilarating moments, but there’s a lot of unrealized promise here that will hopefully be fulfilled in the next game.