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From EA’s BIG lineup of games comes Def Jam Vendetta, from here on out noted as DJV. When I first heard about DJV I couldn’t help but say I was skeptical. EA was making a wrestling game with “rappers”? What? What you say? Exactly. Then it came out that AKI the producers of the now legendary No Mercy for the N64. So with a seriously good wrestling developer working with a slightly strange concept and falling into the BIG line-up games I have to say I was still skeptical yet now strangely interested.

So I finally picked up the game upon release and booted up the game and was greeted to a pretty simple main menu. You’ve got the Story mode (more on this later), Battle mode which is your standard “vs.” mode, Survival, Galleries where you look at pictures of women you collect and lastly the old mainstay Options. If you notice something missing so did I. There is no create-a-wrestler mode. None what so ever. The glaring absence of this mode really will hurt replay value in the end, but more on that later let’s get to game.

Like most gamers I jumped right into the story mode and was pleasantly surprised. Nothing I would call deep or life changing will be found in here but it’s a lot of fun. You pick one of the four wrestlers and set out to help out a friend by wrestling in tournaments. The game progresses quite well introducing new characters, and new girlfriends, along the way. You’ve got a couple tag-team matches here and there and the hard as heck 3-1 match near the end to contend with. Everything progresses at a smooth pace and it becomes interesting to see how the story pans out.

Fans of AKI’s previous games will find a mix blessing here. The core gameplay is rock solid and plays much like it’s predecessors yet they’ve sped things up a bit and sadly took quite a bit out. It’s still a really solid engine and just goes to show you had bad some of the other wrestling games out there really are. You have a standard health gauge and a momentum gauge to keep tabs on. When your momentum gauge goes full from getting the crowd all jazzed up you can go into “Blazin’” mode and unless powerful attacks that if used when your opponent is low on health will result in a KO. This is also a flaw in the game as this seems to be by far the easiest way to win any of the matches since “rope breaks” are way too common because of the small rings and huge size of the wrestlers.

Man this game is brutal though. The moves all have clever names such as “Wettin Mattresses”, “Perpetratin Armbar” and the “40 oz Surprise” that are nothing short of amazing to watch. Everything this guys pull off looks like it would hurt like hell and is animated quite nicely. The finishing moves are especially harsh with bodies flying and backs breaking all to a hip-hop beat. You’ll feel your self wincing as you unless vicious assault in the ring as everything is played up with a real over-the-top attitude much in tune with the BIG game series.

To help replay value they added a system where you earn money but completing matches where you can use the money to upgrade wrestlers or buy pictures of the different girlfriends you meet. Nothing to racy though and all this is pretty pointless in the end since most of the pictures will be unlocked naturally throughout progression of the game making buying them pointless.

Graphically DJV shines with some great arenas and smoothly animated grapplers. The character design is spot on with some real keepers among the non MC’s of the bunch. Even the rappers look like much like their real-life counterparts, only in an over-the-top kind of way. It’s a great game to look at and they keep it dark and gritty giving it a real street vibe throughout. The sound is of equal quality with some nice sound effects and an excited announcer calling out during the matches. If you’re not a hip-hop fan you may find yourself turning off the music, but if you’re not a hip-hop fan I’m not sure you’d be checking this game out to start with, which is shame because it’s so good.

I mentioned the lack of the Create-a-Wrestler mode and in the end it’s one of the big things holding back an otherwise spectacular game. With 40 wrestlers it’s not short on characters and even has the Def Jam crew regulars like Redman, Method Man, Ludacris, DMX and Scarface among others to back up a rag-tag cast of made up characters. Most have a unique style but I can’t help but want to make my own player with a custom move set. It’s a shame really because it does hurt the replay a bit. Maybe in the sequel?

EA did what I didn’t think they could do and that is make a fun and playable game with a license like this. Sure AKI had a lot, okay almost everything, to do with making this so good but I’ve got to give it to EA for making the best out of this. It’s great multiplayer and has a level of polish that other games can only dream of. Grab some friends and you’ll have a great time with this game. AKI kept the focus on hard and rugged not slow and technical so this ones not just for wrestling fans. It is kind of ironic though that the best wrestling game out now doesn’t have a WWE licenses attached. Maybe this will help push the other products farther. Who knows all I know is I’ll be playing Def Jam Vendetta until someone releases Fire Pro stateside. Recommended.