| Def Jam: Fight for NY review |
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With its grunge-coloured underworld of survival instincts and brutal narcissism, Def Jam: Fight For NY represents a perfect fighting game vehicle. It realises the hyper-reality of Hip-Hop, exploiting the natural connections between its captivating world and the twisted pleasures that fire our gaming synapses. Such a machine, however, is next-to-useless without a reliable engine and the varied grace of technique such a thing can facilitate. Rap’s labyrinth of ‘evil streets’ (as Onyx would have it) is littered with the jewelled husks of played out playas.
It was a lack of such balance and variety that proved the undoing of series forebear, Def Jam Vendetta. If the perfect complement to a simple concept is hidden complexity, then Vendetta’s failure was linearity, repetition and, in violation of the genre’s primal law, the telegraphing of nearly all of its punches. AI could be forecast, signposts were commonplace and this self-proclaimed can of whupass quickly lost its tang.
From the outset, Fight For NY is a savvier piece of work. Aki Corp has sidestepped the easy path for a sequel, in turn avoiding the whimpering demise that awaits many a lazy franchise. They’ve turned a one-time wrestling game into an unashamed brawler, going for broke with the arcade simplicity of an all-out street fight. The result is a game that courses with vitality but runs aground in somewhat familiar territory.
Immediately apparent is the increased size of the Def Jam world - a damn sight bigger than before with almost twice the characters, moves and arenas. In more than just numbers, this is surprising. The roster features not only rappers but celebrities, and unexpected choices abound such as Carmen Electra and veteran ‘Heat’ actor Danny Trejo. Additionally, Hip-Hop's old guard makes a very welcome appearance with the likes of Warren G, Ice-T and Def Jam golden-child, Flavor-Flav. Few games pack quite this much flavour while, thanks here to its new arenas, maintaining a healthy amount of substance.
The seedy dives, tagged subways and isolated pits of the game’s improved story are like an added participant to every fight. They’ll help you just as soon as they’ll destroy you and often prove imperative to victory. Each location has its own landmarks of steel, glass and wood, all of which cry out for collision with a fast-moving skull. Crowd members toss you weapons, beat on your opponents and generally assist while, in some locations, the opportunity even exists to be thrown before a subway train, out through a window or into a ring of fire.
As was previously the case, the grimy spectacle that ensues is as close to an ‘artform’ as this kind of mindless pugilism is likely to get. The soundtrack of music and effects is sharp, thunderous and unique, always hitting every beat of the fight. Like its characters, the game is always in a state of performance, always trying to make your senses spark, your jaw drop and your eyes water. Above all else, the series succeeds in being a true genre individual – the most enjoyable variation since Power Stone was released for the Dreamcast.
By taking that step sideways, though, Aki have essentially reset the clock on the tuning of their fighting system. Without doubt, Fight For NY is in a better place than Vendetta – the game is more harmonised with the concept, the package is more immediate. Blows are snapped back and forth between combatants, advantage turns on a dime and the knockout often comes from nowhere. Yet, in its own way, the game is still at square one. The same signposts and weaknesses of AI that undermined the first outing quickly reveal themselves, leading to a very repetitive, very unchallenging single player campaign. Too thinly veiled are those patterns of attack/defence that effortlessly slip beneath the AI radar; too numerous, also, the combos for which your opponents have no answer.
It must be creditworthy, then, that neither criticism dampens the otherwise enjoyable experience. With two to four players, especially, the game can be electrifying once its full arsenal of modes and arenas is unlocked. Freed from the responsibility of providing its own challenge, the fighting system merrily pits the reflexes, aggression and, of course, the vocabulary of human players against one another. Here, while all the qualities of the game shine, its weaknesses become irrelevant.
Games, like people, can live or die by virtue of one decision; Fight For NY has made a difficult one. Like a true lifestyle Gangsta, it’s followed a path that’s short, fast and furious, fulfilling the glories of that journey at every turn. One only has to revisit the disposable Wu-Tang: Taste The Pain to realise how difficult a task has been achieved. As a reward, the Def Jam series will deservedly live to fight another day – a day when its capacity for evolution may truly be tested. |
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System: Microsoft Xbox
Genre: Fighter
Developer: Aki Corp
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Players: 1-4
Version: United States
Writer: Duncan Harris
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Pros:
- overflows with character and style
- a harmony of concept and execution
- riotous in multiplayer
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Cons:
- predictable, unchallenging AI
- the fighting system is more 'different' than 'improved'
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