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By Keith B (14th May 2007)

Here is the skinny my hommies, I is havin’ a whack day. I woke up expecting to have my OJ, news and a smile. Instead I had to deal with some dumb fat pimp crashin’ into my crib trying to rip me a new one all because his boss gots a problem with my boss. After I slapped his flabby butt down to a size 6 I had to go and deal with Sean Paul who was trying to rough up my main man Ghost. That stupid Rasta thought he could take a piece of me! That midget is so toasted all the time I barely had to break a sweat. Finally when I met with my main man some angry slapper took a drive by at us on Greenwood and took my man smooth down. I ditched that scene asap, the fuzz was all over it like Tom Cruise on Oprah’s couch! Now I am suspect numero uno, and all I got are my fists, some killa rhythms and a guy wearing a puffa jacket who apparently ‘has my back’. Sorry, I know I dropped out of character at the end there for a second, but really I think the imagery is painted enough don’t you?!

Def Jam Icon (DJI) is, funnily enough, the latest in the ‘Def Jam’ series of games, which I previously have had no time for. This game is a little different though and did captivate my interest for a good few hours, which was pleasantly surprising! Don’t go out and blow your wad on the game too quickly there buckaroos…. I said it captivated my interest, my attention span is quite short however, which turns out to be a positive when playing this game! I finished the game in two sittings of 3 and 4 hours (respectively). For that time I was entertained…..sort of.

Basically DJI is a one-on-one fighting game with a couple of interesting twists and a plot/storyline that resembles professional wrestling. I know I have mentioned this before with another game (I forget which one), but I guess stupidly way-out story lines are in vogue! After you have created your character (in career mode) you become a hired hand for a music producer. For some reason because you can beat the snot out of random rappers you also must be good at promoting/producing music, because you also manage finances for a number of artists that you sign. To sign the artists you have to smack ten different colours of spit out of some big ugly dudes to ‘gain their trust’ and show them you can ‘take care of business’. As the story line progresses you become richer and sign more artists while getting more enemies and starting new rivalries, that always end up in fisticuffs!

The fighting is actually quite entertaining. I mean you have the normal kicks and punches, but you can also use the beat from the background music to activate the surroundings to move/blow up and inflict damage on your opponent. It does look a bit weird that after you knock a guy down you then step back and do some ‘air mixing’, just to see a light from the ceiling fall or a speaker blow up because of your use of the ‘wicked’ beat!

Visually the game has both positive and negative points. The atmosphere and background scenery are quite good, with the use of light and dark activating depending on the stage of the fight adding depth. The character rendering and animation are very scratchy, with clothing not sitting right, jewellery sinking through the skin (literally) and sometimes jumpy movements.

The audio is very good. Backing tracks can be selected and unlocked depending on who you fight and who you have signed to your label. Because the game uses actual characters from the hip hop genre in the US, you have a bev vie of the best music the Baggy Jean/Bling/Puffer Jacket wearing scene has to offer. Personally it isn’t to my taste, but hey, I’m an Aussie with stuff all rhythm. I really just said that to be nice, I hate that kind of music, and it aint cos I got no rhythm! It’s because I have taste. But hell, if you also are a try-hard ghetto wannabe and listen to that junk, then you are sure in luck aint ya?!

The game has three difficulty settings i.e. easy, normal and hard. Now I played on the normal setting and, I admit, I didn’t attempt it on hard. But the normal setting was infantile, and I doubt that the ‘ultimate’ difficulty setting on offer would pose any more of a challenge that a pre-pubescent teen could handle. Some of the skanks that your character has the option of ‘hooking up with’ are really something for the books! All of them with fake jubblies of course, and designer J’Lo booties! At one point you even have the option for a threesome! For those of you reading that are too young to know what a threesome is it is when three people (hopefully and man and two ladies) get together to play board games at one of their places….yeah, board games!

The Scott’s Final Word:
So, do any of you have any idea about what to expect if you play DJI? I thought not. Even for one who has a grasp of the English language such as I, it is a little difficult to explain. Just think of it as a fighting game with a Hip-Hop plot. Should you buy it? Well, I wouldn’t….even if you are ‘into’ that type of music, the game is bloody short and really leaves you wanting to explore, when there is nothing to explore! If you want a fighting game go and buy something from the Dead Or Alive series. Sure they are crap games, but at least the chicks in it are really fit and don’t have massive rears!