Def Jam: Fight for New York (GameCube) Review

First let us tell you about the story mode. This has to seriously be one of the best I have played in a long while and that is quite odd, especially because of its length, for a fighting game! The tale starts where your wrestler from the first game felled D-Mob. Taken away by a few cops, and whilst on the way to the police station, the car is T-boned and a mysterious figure helps D-Mob escape. Cue the next scene at the station where a sketch artist asks the cop what he looks like. This next bit IS the Create-A-Wrestler that is in the game. It is a nice idea, but the loyal fans of the N64 days will just be extremely disappointed. Back to it though...You are given five choices of faces or you can create your own. It is pretty detailed and cool to see his face turning into a person. You choose the eyes, nose, hair, and voice, but no, not the body! It is just the face. Once you are happy with his mug you are whisked back into a scene showing a few rappers. But before you go away and fight for New York you can pick your fighting style:

- Kickboxing: A focus on kicks, and lots of them. Grappling allows you to combo, ending with a KO blow.
- Street Fighting: The typical untrained fighter with no real focus, except on upper body strength, and the best punch in the game, the Haymaker, which can be used for the KO.
- Martial Arts: Speedy strikers, good defensive fighters, equally adept at strikes and grapples and their KO move comes by way of flying attack (using walls, the crowd and so on).
- Wrestling: Great strength, excelling in grappling, can KO opponents by way of strong grapple, which usually comes in the form of devastating head dropping.
- Submissions: Well-balanced, using strikes and grapples to wear away at specific body parts to get the opponent to submit. Regular KO's still apply.

As you progress in the story mode, you will receive messages (some very annoyingly repeated ones) on your phone inviting you to certain clubs and arenas. There you can battle against a list of made-up characters or one of the forty rap artists that you will come across in the game, such as Ludacris, Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg and Method Man, as well as a guest appearance from the sexy Carmen Electra! And not only are they lending their names, but all of them have also given their voices and the character models (which all look so life-like). Very pretty stuff indeed! One of the most impressive things is the damage that each wrestler takes. So, for instance, after you have KO'ed someone it shows a little outro of you deriding your downed opponent, but as its in real time your wrestler may have a cut lip or a massive bruise on your cheek. You can really mess up some faces and it definitely adds to the feeling of the title!

Even though I loved the story mode, I felt I was pushed along a straight road far too often. I did not get the chance to choose my path and there were a few times that something happened whereby I would have loved to beat someone up in the club when they turned their back. Also, the fact that you cannot take any other characters through the mode is frustrating, as that may have added a little more longevity to the game. By the end of story mode (about six-to-ten hours) you should have fought the majority of the characters, be able to buy anything in the shops, and also rule New York!

Really, though, Def Jam is all about the fighting. This time fighting takes place in closed areas, none of which are ringside in nature, despite there being a ring in Club-357 (there is no way of getting out). This may upset a lot of people who love the AKI wrestling games, but does not detract from the overall enjoyment really. Other arenas are basically in environments with surrounding spectators who help you beat opponents by double-teaming (goes against you as well, however, so be wary) or offer various weapons for use to bludgeon your opponent and use to get a final Knock Out. But then there is the subway station with no spectators and a full moving train in the background...and yes, you can throw people in front of it!

Most of the fighting really is based on your style. Each style has its own grapples and various moves in it, and everything revolves around the classic N64 days, but still works well today. You can perform punches, kicks, both weak and strong grapples, as well as blocks if you time them right.

Another concern is that some of the buttons are rather misplaced. For example, tapping grapple is the same as grabbing a weapon from the floor or crowd, which means that rather than grabbing your opposition, you will nine times out of ten pick up a random weapon that had fallen on the floor earlier, leaving you vulnerable and open for being attacked! Or, due to sod's law, when you actually want the damn weapon you will just flap around like a chicken! But do not worry too much as these momentary times of controller-crushing inducement are not so common as to cripple the whole affair. And anyway, more importantly is the fact that the 'Blazin'' moves return with grandeur. When your special bar is full from fighting like crazy, with an easy flick of the C stick you are given a short time to pull of your special move; just like every wrestler in the WWE has his finishing move, so do these guys. When pulled off, (with a grapple and another flick of the C stick), your fighter will pull of a nice knockout move (depending on his health). Some of them are from the previous game, but with new fighters comes new moves, and some of them are just so cool to watch as they are so over the top and full of nasty moves. Sometimes, though, when you do activate it, you will find that the AI will suddenly become immortal to grapples and reverse everything, thus your Blazin' bar will run out, and trust me, when it runs out it is very hard to get it back! All of this and an enjoyable multiplayer that is more of them same, except with three friends, the legend of WWF No Mercy seems to be alive and kicking!