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The most entertaining fighting game ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 20
Date: September 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Although I am not a big rap or wrestling fan, I love fighting games. Since I enjoyed Def Jam Vendetta, I figured Def Jam Fight for NY would be worth checking out. It has turned out to be the most entertaining fighting game I have ever played.

The game's single-player storyline revolves around a turf conflict between rival gangs, in which the ownership of clubs and other territory is determined by fights. Over the course of the single-player story, you unlock new fighters and venues which can be selected during other game modes, and develop your character.

The create-a-fighter feature was brilliantly incorporated into the story, and provides a good deal of control over the look of your character. You choose the body type, height, weight, skin tone, head shape, eye shape and color, hair style and color, facial hair style and color, even eyebrow shape and color, and select from one of five fighting styles to start out (kick boxing, street fighting, wrestling, martial arts, submissions).

As you progress through the game, you earn points which can be used to improve your fighter's abilities and learn new moves and up to two additional fighting styles. You also earn money, which can be used to purchase clothing, jewelry, tattoes, and hair styles. The number of choices, which is huge to begin with, increases as you get further through the game. The better dressed you are, the more the crowd favors you, which helps during fights by increasing your "momentum" meter. When this meter is full, you are able to go into "blazin" mode, where you can perform special moves.

Due to the variety of fighting styles and fight modes available, I think this game will appeal to anyone who enjoys fighting games regardless of their style preference. If you prefer martial arts you can create a fighter that uses kick boxing or martial arts (looks like kung fu in the game), if you prefer wrestling you can create a fighter that uses wrestling and submissions. If you just want smack the hell out of people and aren't concerned with style, you can create a fighter that uses street fighting.

Even my fiancee, who doesn't care much for video games, has found it entertaining. She watches the fights, then when it comes time for me to buy new clothing or jewelry for my fighter or choose a new hair style, she helps me choose (I know a bit about fighting, but nothing about hip hop fashion).

Pros:

Intuitive controls
Great create-a-fighter feature
Impressive graphis
Lots of variety (fighters, venues, styles, clothing, fight types, etc.)

Cons:

I figured I should include a pro and cons section so that this review would be balanced, but I've been sitting here for a few minutes and still can't think of anything about the game that I don't like.

Def Jam Is Back By Harish A 11 Year Old

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 13
Date: August 26, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Def Jam Vendetta was a huge success but the main problem was the game was too short. There were absolutely no weapons of and no variety of different match types. The option of create a wrestler was also not there. Apart from those minor glitches the game was good. Def Jam Fight For New York will be a much improved sequal. To start off with there will be about 45+ artists in the game including ones from the first title such as Redman, Method Man and Ludacris. There are lots of new ones like Busta Rhymes, Ice-T, Lil Kim, Flava Flav, Carmen Electra, Sticky Fingaz and Snoop Dogg. If you haven't played the first let me fill you in. You had to fight your way to the top by defeating D-Mob's crew. Once you got past them, it was you and D-Mob, before the match there was a cut scene where D-Mob shot your good friend Manny. Once you defeat him he goes to prison and the game is over. Fight For New York has a brand new stoyline. D-Mob has been broken out by someone and that someone is you. D-Mob returns to find his place threatened by a new comer Crow. You play as one of D-Mob's crew trying to fight your way to the top and take down Crow. Along the way you will be helped by your trainer Henry Rollins. As you progress through the game you earn more cash and just as well you have a place to spend it. You can get new tattoo any time you want. If you want a new hairstyle you can pay a visit to the barber and if you want to bling bling in a new outfit visit Jacob the Jeweler.
The gameplay mechanics have been thought over and have been significantly improved. When you begin you choose one of the five different fighting styles: kickboxing , street fighting, martial arts, submission and wrestling. You start with this style though as you progress you can have two additional fighting styles. Each style has different moves at it's disposal. Martial Arts will be based on timing and executing your kicks and punches whereas wrestling will be based on grappling and suplexes. The controls are going to be relatively simple. There will be two strike buttons one for punches and one for kicks presumably, a grapple button to lock on to your opposition and a run button. These will be on the four main buttons on the PS2 anolog joypad, X, square, triangle and circle. The movement will be controlled same as the first Def Jam. The biggest new features are the new weapons and match types. The action is going to be bigger, badder and better with all new interactive weapons ranging from bottles to two by fours. Tons of new match-types have been added like inferno match, demolition match, ring-out match and cage match. There is also last title's free for all. These match types are all accessible in the battle mode. The crowd now can also get into the action by helping you.
They can hold opponent back while you deliver crushing blows to his head. This a great new feature that will certainly do the game a world of good or so we hope. There will also be brand new brutal BLAZIN(finisher)moves. Unlike last time around you will not be fighting in a ring instead in of many street like, urban areas. The environments are fully interactive. To give you an idea I'll tell you a couple of these environments. You could be brawling in the middle of a parking lot or on a dark alleyway. You could throw your opponent on to the graffiti walls. The graphics have have been improved using a an excellent system. The lighting effects are going to be a big part of the game and it looks amazing. As you would guess this is not going to be a cartoony type, cel-shaded game. This is a hip-hop, street brawling all-out action game in the New York Underworld. The graphics are going to be dark and mysterious but that does not mean it is bad. The wrestler models are going to be crisp and the environments really will look like what they should. In modern gaming graphics play a big part in the overall score and this is not going to disappoint. I don't even have to mention about sound as game speaks for itself. There are lots of different varieties of music from the different artists. The online play is not yet confirmed. It will mostly not be there and that is quite sad considering with online this could be the game of 2004. EA Big have scheduled this game for release, late September 2004 and this game will be out on Playstation 2, X-BOX and Gamecube.
I hope you have found my review helpful.
Check out my other reviews for Spiderman 2 and James Bond Everything or Nothing also for PS2.
Thank you for taking your time to read my review. I appreciate it.

Unusual twist of hip-hop and wrestling, but it works!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: October 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

A year after the out-of-the-blue sucess of Def Jam Vendetta, EA Games releases, Def Jam Fight For NY, with similiar results. Def Jam Fight For NY is an excellent wrestling game with tons of replay value, and a cool hip-hop influenced storyline to boot.

Notice how I referred to the game as a "wrestling" game? Unlike the game suggests, Def Jam Fight For NY is predominantly a WRESTLING game. The fighting system is based upon performing grapples and simple strikes, and performing combos and special moves. With so many moves to choose from and unlock, the fighting system is suprisingly deep, but the fights get just a bit repetitive after a while.

Def Jam Fight For NY story mode begins when D-Mob is being taken away by the boys in blue, when suddenly, a mysterious car topples the police cruiser and allows D-Mob to escape. The driver of the mysterious car, as you soon learn, is you, and you then create the appearance of your character using a police composite sketch, a pretty clever way to create your character. D-Mob then asks you to join their force of fighters to try and take over the whole fighting circuit of the city.

There are over 40 Def Jam labelmates appearing as fighters in the game. Snoop Dogg, the Top Dogg (naturally) of the opposing gang, with Busta Rhymes, Fat Joe and many others on his side, while your crew consists of the likes of Method Man, Redman and a few others. As the story progresses and you win fights, you can earn cash to spend on new clothes for your character, supplied by urban name-brands like Sean John, State Property, Joker, Enyce, and Ecko to name a few, new hairstyles for you character, tattoos, shoes, and many other accessories for you character to rock, and of course, there are many others to unlock as you progress through the story.

The story mode is long and deep, with a compelling story complete with story twists, and takes a lengthy 8 hours of play to complete. Of course, once you beat the story mode, you'll be coming back for more. As usual, there are many hip-hop tunes included in the game, courtesy of Def Jam of course, and multiplayer action is also included. Fans of wrestling, wrestling games, or hip-hop would find this game very appealing.

Thoroughly Enjoyed

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: April 19, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I love fighting games, but I'm not as skilled with the more popular games, but I found Def Jam Fight for NY to be user friendly on the controls and to have a high level of entertainment factor to it. I was disappointed that the main character you create for yourself couldn't be female, but I did enjoy dressing the guy up for new and different fights and making him 'appeal' to my taste. I guess that's one of the differences for a female playing as opposed to a male, I was worried about how good he looked for each fight.

Anyway, I did beat the game and I really enjoyed the different scnenarios between the various rappers, etc...

Frantic Fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 9
Date: September 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Before I get into detail, I have one question burning in my mind. WTF did Carmen Electra do for the hip-hop community? Okay, so she had a CD WAAAAAYYYY back when, and that CD was a bigger flop than David Hassellhoff's, but...on with the real review. Alright, last years Def Jam had D-Mob, notorious gangster and all-around punk. He took your (...) and now he wants to take you. You win, and he pulls a gun out. The cops get him. Well, this year, you Create-A-Fighter from scratch, and select everything (I mean everything. Voice, height, etc.) Once you have created a fighter, you bust D-Mob out. You then begin fighting on D-Mob's crew, going against Crow (Snoop Dogg). You fight to take his clubs and everything else he has. Well, later on, he get back at you once you beat his "warrior" Crack (Fat Joe). I'm not going to give anymore info out, but the story is very complex. Now, onto the goodies.
Goodie #1- Lil' Kim. I love Lil' Kim. And she is such a good fighter. You can choose her as a girlfriend, as well. But, Lil' Kim, to me, makes the video game.
Goodie #2- You can smack the ISH out of Carmen Electra. Somebody needs to.
Goodie #3- All the fighting abilities. I love the variety. It makes the game replayability go up.
Goodie #4- The story. The story is re-vamped and excellent. You can follow it and enjoy it and, amazingly, believe it.
Goodie #5- The finale'. The graphics. The graphics are perfect. I have no idea what that other guy is talking about when he says the thing freezes. Mine doesn't. The lighting is right, the "bling" twinkles and the blood is real. It is so awesome.

So, I highly recommend this game to any fighting fan, any rap fan, any Lil' Kim fan, ANYONE. This game is so good. It is the perfect combination of what can happen when people come together... I think. GET THIS GAME. THERE IS NO REASON NOT TO!

If its like the first, its gonna rock.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: May 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

DJV 2! Wow, this will be awsome. In case you haven't heard of the first one I'll lay it out for you, this might help you understand the 2nd one. The first one was jam packed with def jam artists, including DMX, Ludacris, and more (no EMINEM though?) But, back to the game. It had a good fighting system with plenty of grabs, counters, punches, kicks and all of the rap you can imagine. It supported up to 4-players in a free for all or team attack. DJV also had a unique story that rolled the game along perfectly. Not to mention, some great fights between the ladies (yeah). If its anything like the first one I'm going to buy it.

A Fun, But Very Difficult Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I really like this game. It's extremely entertaining, but I found it extremely difficult. Does this mean you will? Not really, but I sucked at this game. I only write a review for a video game when I beat it, so obviously I did. But, in the beginning it was one of the hardest games I have ever played. First, you create a character which you will use for the rest of Story Mode. Then you begin to fight. You fight for money, respect, women, and to help the story progress. You can also earn Devolopment Points to make you tougher or give you better upper body power. Stuff like that. Then you can go to places to buy clothes, jewelry, get tattoos, and get a haircut. Turning the difficulty to easy is most likely a must and another thing that is really cool is you get to pick your girlfriend. Either,
Lil' Kim or Carmen Electra which is really cool. Also, the last boss which is Crow (voiced by Snoop Dogg) isn't even the hardest guy in the game. I personally found Xzibit to be quite difficult. The fighting styles and techniques and blazing moves were terrific. So, the fun ranks an A+ and it's a terrific game, but if you have ahrd time beating hard games, this game is not for you.

Better Then Vendetta

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The second Def Jam game wuz a lot better then the first one first off the graphics r amazing in this one and they added blood which made it better one thing that i relli liked wuz if u got beat up a lot u saw the blood on ur face nd everything when the match wuz over theres alot about this game that makes it better then the first not just the graphics but also all the new moves they added and this time u can create ur own character before u start which made it more original i guess and i liked how they had Jacob wit the jewlery and all that this game is amazing if u liked the first vendetta then u'll definetly like this one better trust me

Review:

Gameplay - 9/10
Graphics - 9/10
Sound Effects And Music - 9/10
Originality - 8/10
Challenge - 9/10

Highly Addictive

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

One of the most addictive games...

I wrote a review on this game under the Xbox title a few days ago (5 stars), and now that I've conquered the Single Player mode and had time to sit back and enjoy other aspects of it, I'm itching to write another review with a little more insight... so I'll review the PS2 version of the title. Hey, it's virtually the same game on both consoles, right?

First and foremost, this game is one of the most addictive games I've ever played. It's missing a few things, which I'll go over later, but the stellar gameplay and character involvement absolves it of its few issues.

The single player campaign is one of the best I've seen. Despite being completely linear (you can't make any choices at all, with the exception of choosing your girlfriend, but I don't believe even that has any real affect on the outcome of the game), it's a pretty interesting story and you find yourself taking a genuine interest in your clan's survival on the street. There were one or two occassions when I desperately wished I had a choice to make because a plot twist ticked me off (it's not a cheap twist or anything, but you're forced to do something that, given the choice, you would likely not do), but it wasn't anything that affected my enjoyment of the game at all. The story is simple, yet interesting.

On top of a good story, there are a TON of customization options. I won't go into the details of buying clothes, gear, jewelry, etc, but rest assured, it's all there and it's done very, VERY well. In fact, the level of customization available for this game is beyond any other console game I've played.

Anyway, this game REALLY shines in 3 major areas of importance: gameplay, graphics, and sound:

GAMEPLAY - 10/10

I like fighting games, but I usually find myself getting bored with them after about 5 or 10 hours of play (Soul Calibur II is a good example - great game, but got boring). I rented this game for a WEEK, and as soon as the rental period expired, I went out and bought my own copy of it. There are several traits that shoot this game's replay value through the roof. The first one (and most important one) is the fact that there are four very distinct fighting styles. What's truly amazing is that the styles are so different, but the controls don't feel awkward if and when you decide to try a new one with a new character. That's quite a feat to achieve. These different styles all have their distinct advantages and disadvantages, and later on in your character's development, you can pick up two secondary styles in addition to your primary one in order to balance your character out. The second trait is what you can do after beating the game. Obviously, you can go through it all again with a whole new development strategy, or you can play any of the 80 characters in one-on-one, 2 vs. 2, free for alls, etc. I've put around 20 hours into this game so far, and I'm still itching to play it.

The fighting mechanics themselves are first-rate. As I mentioned in my other review, controls will likely feel a bit sluggish for your first few matches. But as soon as you start developing your "speed" attribute, that feeling will quickly fade.

I did find the default difficulty to be a bit too challenging. I knocked it down to "Easy" and it felt pretty good for me. You might find "Medium" or even "Hard" more to your liking, but the point is that you can adequently adjust the CPU's skill level.

GRAPHICS - 10/10

Of all of the console games I have played or seen firsthand, Def Jam Fight For NY has the best graphics, hands down. Each of the arenas are visually appealing, and the characters' detail is absolutely amazing. There's not much to say in this department other than "the graphics kick !#$".

SOUND - 9.5/10

The sound is almost perfect in this game, and if you can play the game in 5.1 surround, you'll get some serious kick out of your speakers. From the great voice acting to the bone-crunching sounds of limbs grinding and breaking, you can easily tell that sound was a serious priority for this title. The ONLY reason I don't give the sound a 10 is because the music gets old (I'm not a hip-hop fan, so maybe this is just my problem) and you can't load your own custom tracks (only applicable to Xbox, I assume). Seeing as how most EA titles use their branded "EA Game Trax" (or whatever it's called), it's a very strange omission for this title.

CONS

Okay, now for the bad news. Coming up with something negative to say about this game is difficult. It's production values are first class, so I almost feel guitly writing this. But, hopefully, these things will be corrected/added in the next iteration of this series. None of these should be deal-breakers for ANYONE considering this game, but they're things that would only make it better in the future:

Online Play: The game has good multiplayer features to it, but it's all limited to living room game parties. What do you do when your friends go home and your wife won't let you wail on her for a few rounds (by the way, kicking the snot out of Carmen Electra has a very disturbing satisfaction to it)? Being able to jump online with the character that you've created and nutured would be at the top of my list of requests for the next title. Online play should feature online voice chat along with the basic game modes (1 on 1, 2 on 2, free for all, etc).

Custom Tracks: Frankly, there's no excuse for ANY Xbox game omitting this feature. I know this doesn't apply to the PS2, but for Xbox owners, it's a legitimate irritation.

REQUESTS

Okay, now for a few things that would be nice to have next time around, but the game doesn't really suffer without them:

More Styles: I know I'm getting greedy, but pitting these different styles against eachother is a blast. Other games have done it before, but it's always just been a superficial feature. It usually didn't really make much of a difference. In this game, each style has a specific purpose. I can't say what other styles I would like to see, but I say the more the better!

Non-Linear Storyline: I mentioned that the linearity of the story doesn't really pull down the enjoyment of the title, but it can't be argued that being able to make even just a few basic decisions along the way wouldn't be a great touch.

Ground Fighting: This is a minor request, but a little more attention to the ground fighting would be great.

That's pretty much it. If you have the slightest interest in fighting games, you will enjoy this title. Lastly, this game has an "M" rating. Needless to say, it earned every bit of it and then some. Keep it as far from children as possible.

One of the best games I've ever played

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: September 30, 2004
Author: Amazon User

DJ:FFNY is the goods, hoss. Last year's Def Jam Vendetta was good for some multiplayer laughs and definitely won brownie points for bringing hip-hop and violence together on our consoles, but the single-player story mode sucked b*lls and the concept was a little iffy--why would all these hip-hop and gangsta types participate in an underground pro-wrestling ring with no weapons or anything of the like? It was a rush job--EA clearly didn't have time to tweak Aki's famed wrestling engine to make the game what it should have been: a street fighting game.

DJ:FFNY is just that--a spectacular fighter with tons of interactive environments and a solid foundation in wrestling gameplay--which makes for a lot more fun in my estimation than the traditional Street Fighter/Tekken-type jobs.

Most important of all, DJ:FFNY includes a lot more rappers (40 rappers, 74 fighters total) with a lot more voice work and a super-involved and incredibly well-done story mode (with create-a-fighter! THANK you!) which adds up to much more replay value for single players. Though, of course, throwing down Brick City style on your friends remains the bee's knees.

Those who are married to the purity of the beautiful Aki wrestling engine (from the old N64 WCW and WWF titles) may be a little disappointed. The wrestling elements have been streamlined--there are fewer grapple moves in favor of an increased emphasis on striking and "environment" moves (smashing them with weapons, driving their heads into walls, double-teaming with audience members, etc.). Most regrettably, there are no more ground grapples or ground submissions. But I think it's worth it--the overall gameplay fun factor is head and shoulders above DJV, maybe even above the old Aki wrestlers.

One thing it definitely has over those other games is that fighters fall into different styles, which give them not just different movesets but completely different approaches to a fight (street fighters can KO people with a big punch, submission guys make 'em tap with holds, kickboxers win with combinations, and so on). And, of course, this game features the return in force of the "blazin'" moves from the first iteration--super over-the-top physically impossible finishing moves that almost always involve some kind of blow to the nuts or at least the taint. This game features a whopping 82 of them, so the articles say--I've unlocked less than half at this point.

The graphics are gorgeous--the character models look so good, the developers use gameplay graphics for all the cutscenes, and they don't suffer a bit (in fact, it creates great continuity between the fights and the cutscenes). And the little add-ons and details are great. Purchase ice or bling for your fighter in story mode (from Jacob the Jeweler, everyone's favorite sleazy living Jewish stereotype!) and marvel at how it twinkles during the fights. Go to the urban clothing store and pick up an endless array of gear, including lots of licensed brands (Phat Pharm, Enyce, Jumpman23, Reebok, etc.) which all look fantastic.

I was underwhelmed by the so-so soundtrack of DJV--but DJ:FFNY is head and shoulders above it with some seriously hot tracks like "Flipside" (Freeway), "C.O.M.P." (Comp), "Walk Wit Me" (Joe Budden), "Pistol-Grip Pump" (Volume 10), "Move!" (Public Enemy), "Make it Hurt" (Busta Rhymes), and many more.

Oh, and don't listen to the whining and crying from the other reviewers here about the game being too tough. Yes, there's a learning curve. The manual isn't very good, but you're intended to pick up how to play through story mode, where Henry Rollins periodically gives you tips. I'm not a hardcore gamer by any means, and I picked it up just fine. My bet is after posting that nonsense the whiners went back and gave it another couple tries and got addicted.

So in conclusion--cop this one. The fun factor is off the charts.

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