UMG (on behalf of Def Jam Recordings); EMI Music Publishing, LatinAutor - UMPG, UMPI, SOLAR Music Rights Management, ASCAP, Sony ATV Publishing, UNIAO BRASILEIRA DE EDITORAS DE MUSICA - UBEM.

Def Jam: Icon is the third game in the Def Jam series from EA. I freaking loved the first Def Jam Vendetta as I am a huge wrestling fan. By this point, the series had gotten away from wrestling and was more of a fighting game now. That though does not mean I lost all interest in the series.

Style And Profile

The presentation of this game is great. As I write this review, Def Jam: Icon is over 10 years old and it still looks great. The leap from Def Jam Fight for New York cannot be exaggerated as it is like night and day. The game has a ton of different rap stars in it including the likes of Big Boi, Fat Joe, Redman, Ludacris, The Game and many more.

As this is a game about music, you will not be surprised to know that the soundtrack is great. It is on par with the other games in the series, but I like how much more “involved” the music is with the action.

Let Me Tell You A Tale

One of the things that the past two Def Jam gamed (especially Vendetta) did was tell an engaging story. This one is not quite as cinematic as the two that came before it. I will say that the voice acting is once again fantastic, but the whole Build A Label mode that is the main single-player mode just does not do it for me as the last two games did. To be fair, those previous two games set the bar very, very high and I would not say this one misses it altogether, but it is just not quite as good.

Piledriver? I Will Just Punch You In The Face Instead

The people who made the previous games, AKI are not part of Def Jam: Icon which is a shame and probably why the game is not a wrestling game. AKI are the masters of wrestling games after all. Instead, Icon goes for a more standard kind of fighting game and in many ways, I would say it is more similar to EA’s Fight Night series than the last two Def Jam games.

As a result, the fighting feels more about strikes and using the environments that it does performing badass wrestling moves. It feels much more simplistic as a result and dare I say… not quite as much fun. One thing that is fun is the way the background moves in time to the music and how certain stages when there is a certain kind of beat will have something happen like a big fireball. This is a cool effect and can be used quite cleverly while you are fighting.

The most fun that I had with this game was in the multiplayer mode where you and a buddy pick your favorite rappers and just beat the heck out of each other. The simpler gameplay I feel makes this a game that anyone can pick up and enjoy, perhaps more so than Vendetta or Fight for New York.

I know that this review may seem negative, but I still enjoyed my time with Def Jam: Icon. I still feel that the previous two games, especially Vendetta were better, but to be fair that is because I am a massive wrestling fan. As an actual fighting game, Icon is a lot of fun and even though the fighting system is simple, it is fun and can be quite brutal when you learn how to dish out some of the more extreme attacks. I would still say that this one here is worth checking out.

Pros:

• A great roster of rappers to fight with
• The presentation is fantastic
• Awesome soundtrack
• I like the way the backgrounds move with the music
• Multiplayer is an absolute blast!

Cons:

• It feels simpler and more scaled back compared to its predecessors
• The story is not as engaging as before

It's hard to deny the appeal of a fighting game with this much street cred. Featuring no less than forty celebrities packed into the game, a fighting feel that's unique and all its own, and a serious dedication to game length, Def Jam: Fight For NY is a great game. With the only serious flaws being an interface that impedes versus play, and a learning curve the likes of which I've never seen before, this title excels even in spite of its shortcomings.

The most robust gameplay mode is that of the single player campaign, where you make a custom fighter, pick his primary fighting style, and then outfit him with tight threads and a serious amount of bling. You'll be trained by none other than Henry Rollins, and schooled in the ways of hardcore street fighting. Digimon masters online all digimon. Each fighter you make can be customized with literally hundreds of unlockable items, from all manner of bling to a complete wardrobe and set of full body tattoos. Most definitely, the ability to customize your game avatar is one of the more impressive elements in this game, and it even has a game impact, as your use of bling determines how much the crowd likes your fight, letting you get powerful finishing moves off more often. Additionally, the single player campaign is quite long, which it needs to be, because the interface isn't tweaked correctly to satisfy hardcore multiplayer.

On the other side of the fence, this game has a really worthwhile fight engine that only suffers from two major problems. First, the controls aren't quite sloppy, but if the countering and blocking system were a bit tighter, it'd be significantly easier. Second, and this somewhat exists because of the first, this game has a ridiculous learning curve, one that took me several hours to get adjusted to. Until such a time as you can keep the momentum of a fight in your favor, and learn to deal with opponents that block and grapple effectively, you'll encounter frustration after frustration. Not an endearing trait in my book.

A custom soundtrack and some truly righteous graphics finish this title's impressive pedigree of features. If you can deal with controls that aren't optimal, and take some getting used to, you may like this title. Remember that this isn't Def Jam: Vendetta, and doesn't suffer its problems, but in fact has a set of its very own. That said, I had a great deal of fun with this game, and I'd recommend it to anyone.