If there is one thing that fighting fans have come to know over the years, it’s that combat and rappers rarely go together.  This was first made abundantly clear by the release of the multi-platform 16-bit Shaq Fu, and then further reiterated by the laughably lame Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style for the original PlayStation.  But it seems Electronic Arts didn’t get the memo.  Def Jam Vendetta is not only a game starring brutally boastful Def Jam rappers who square off in various underground fighting matches, but also a “rapper wrestler” that doesn’t suck.  Which is actually pretty unprecedented.  AKI took the helm on this project, utilizing their incredibly deep and addictive fighting engine, in enhanced form, that was used for a slew of different fighters on the N64.  The result of EA’s collaboration with AKI and Def Jam is a vicious high-adrenaline wrestling/street fighting game that defies conventional brawler concepts while managing to one up its nearest WWE competition in terms of style and gameplay.

Def Jam Vendetta features an impressive roster of fighters (44 in total) and every character is very unique and stylized in their own right.  But the most interesting fighters are undoubtedly the Def Jam Records artists like Method Man, Redman, DMX, Scarface, Ghostface Killah, and others.  Word on the street is that the rappers actually had a lot of influence over how their digital representations would fight and move, and after witnessing some of the more brutal special moves that these characters are capable of; I’d tend to believe it.  Like Scarface’s Hammer Throw where he picks up his opponent by the legs, slams him down on the ground like a rag doll then picks him back up and spins him around a few times before hurling him face first into the ground.  You can’t make something like that up.  To add even more personality to the experience, each Def Jam fighter has his own venue that is built around the particular character and comes complete with 3D spectators, which is a nice change from the 2D cardboard cutouts that pass as spectators in most fighting games even to this day. 

If wrestling fans will have one complaint about Def Jam Vendetta it will be the lack of play modes and in-game weapons.  When compared against WWE Smackdown! on the PS2, Vendetta can’t hold a candle to its sheer diversity in gameplay.  But that isn’t to say that the single-player story mode and obligatory multiplayer matches are the only source of lasting appeal that the game offers.  Quite the contrary, actually.  There is a Battle mode wherein up to four players split up into two teams and brawl simultaneously, a one-on-one Singles Match, a Free For All mode, Tag Team, and Survival. 

But while these additional modes of play do extend the game’s duration of appeal, the story mode is where it’s at in terms of the single player experience.  In the story mode, you’ll choose among a handful of fictitious fighters and fight your way to the top.  At first, you are only fighting because your friend Manny has a broken arm and can’t fight, but then you decide to stick around for the long haul as new dynamics like jealousy, revenge, and females are introduced.  Each bout that you win will net you a certain amount of cash depending on the points that you accumulate, the more devastating the moves you pull off in a match the more points you’ll be awarded with.  You can use this cash to build up the stats of your character, making him better at grappling, enhancing power and defense and being able to quickly recover charisma. 

Also, you’ll “acquire” different girls throughout the game depending on the outcome of the player-controlled catfights that ensue as a result of your various conquests.  The winner of the catfight will determine which girl you end up with, and while this is a cool concept there is little in the way of actual plot progression payoff or other dynamic variables involved outside of a photo gallery that unlocks for the girl you end up with.  The story stays the same regardless of which character you choose, though, which is kinda repetitive, but the comically brutal artistic approach that the developers took with the cut-scenes and before/after character quips is top notch and definitely worth watching more than once.

The fighting system AKI used in Vendetta rates among the best the genre has to offer.  Its seaming simplicity makes for a very gratifying first-time experience and its focus on reversals and counterattacks ensure that gamers will be trying out new strategies almost constantly.  There are two types of grapples; one is performed by tapping the A button (soft grapple) and the other can be executed by firmly pressing down on the A button (hard grapple).  After grappling your opponent the move you perform will depend on the direction you press on the analog stick combined with what button you push.  There is never really a time when the moves don’t naturally flow because nearly every direction/button combination results in a different move, the important thing is to just keep the moves coming and change them up often.  Each type of grapple comes with its own set of moves, the soft grapple maneuvers will lead to basic moves like head butting, body slams, and suplexes while hard grapples will allow your fighter to perform more punishing maneuvers like pile drivers, choke slams, and other specialized moves tailored specifically for the fighter you are using.  All the trappings of the more popular wrestling games are present here, turnbuckle turn-arounds, off the rope elbow drops, a variety of submission holds, it’s all accounted for and everything can be pulled off with the greatest of ease.

Aside from the standard assortment of moves and maneuvers, each fighter will have at his (or her) disposal two finishing moves.  More often than not an opponent won’t survive more than one of these ultra powerful moves, though it can and does happen.  The only way to perform one of these finishing moves is to fill up your momentum meter via crowd reaction.  As you consistently pummel the opponent, the crowd will begin to cheer louder and louder, once it is full you can push the c-stick in any direction to initiate Blazin’ mode, at this point you’ll have about 30 seconds to grapple your opponent.  Once you grapple the opposing fighter you must hit any direction on the c-stick again to initiate the trademark attack.  If your rival is in Blazin’ mode your best course of action is to run since finding yourself on the receiving end of a “Balls to the Wall” will almost certainly result in complete disaster.

Visually, Def Jam Vendetta is one sweet-looking game.  The myriad fighters are all done up in a very stylistic yet realistic way and they all animate just as well.  The attention to detail in terms of wardrobe, environment, and personality definitely gives the game a real sense of instant appeal that won’t soon wear off.  Of the 12 included Def Jam rappers none of them seem to be off-base in any aesthetic way, the developers really nailed the unique style and flair of every one of’em.  There are loads of additional animations for each character that help to set the tone but never get in the way of gameplay ease of use.  The soundtrack is laden with tracks from the featured artists and lots of other rappers on the Def Jam label.  There are 18 tracks in total, some of which are surprisingly old-school like Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power”.  Unfortunately, these songs have been edited for use on console, which means the bad language has been filtered out, most likely to ensure a consumer-friendly “T” for teen ESRB rating.  Those who have Dolby Surround Pro-logic II sound systems will be glad to know that Def Jam Vendetta is in full compliance in that department.

EA Big has been cranking out quality games for quite a while now and the product of their masterful programming experience has resulted in many addictive titles.  But the game that Def Jam Vendetta is most familiar to from their lengthy roster of digital masterpieces is NBA Street, surprisingly.  The tide can turn at any moment and instead of “game breakers” there are Blazin’ finishing moves, it seems to me that EA has somehow filtered Vendetta through their patented create-a-hit videogame machine and used NBA Street DNA to fill in the gaps.  Anyhow, perhaps it would be best if we don’t question the fantasy forest magic that EA utilizes, lest we jinx it.  Suffice it to say that this is hands down the best wrestling game ever made.

Gameplay: 8.7
Pick up and play simple.  Even non-wrestling fans will feel right at home with AKI’s incredibly versatile grappling system. 

Graphics: 9.2
Every polygon in the game is oozing with style and personality.  An excellent artistic rendition of the rapper/underground street fighter culture (despite the likeliness of such a culture’s actual existence).

Sound: 8.6
Thanks to EA’s partnership with Def Jam, AKI was able to take advantage of a large variety of music.  There are 18 tracks in total, though they do tend to repeat quite a bit.

Difficulty: Medium
The single-player story mode gets progressively harder as you move forward but gamers won’t have too difficult a time making their way to the end.  There are a few matches where the odds are really stacked against you, though.

Concept: 8
When I first heard about this game I would have said that combining rappers with wrestling was a horrible concept.  But Vendetta has cleared away any sour taste left in my mouth from rancid rapper-fighters released in the past.

Multiplayer: 8.7

The computer A.I. demonstrates some pretty mean algorithms here and there but there is no contest when it comes to playing against a human opponent.  Expect friendships to be strained from the gratuitous amount of trash talking that will inevitably develop during the course of a multiplayer match.

Overall: 8.7

Best wrestling game ever, period.