by:	July 06, 2004

In 2003, Japanese developer Aki and Electronic Arts surprised everyone when they brought Aki’s wrestling engine and hip-hop music together to create a truly engaging and exciting game with a sense of style you’d never imagine seeing in a wrestling title. Practically coming out of nowhere, the game received critical acclaim and enjoyed brisk commercial success. Despite the game’s heavy emphasis on the hip-hop style, one didn’t have to be a fan of the music to pick up the game and enjoy its gameplay. Offering a huge cast of rap stars, celebrities and a deep story mode, Def Jam: Vendetta became a sleeper hit that both pro-wrestling and fighting fans alike could enjoy. This fall, Electronic Arts plans to release a sequel. Titled Def Jam: Fight for NY, it looks to expand on Vendetta in nearly every possible way.

While last year’s game focused on wrestling in the squared-circle, Fight for NY is much more ruthless and chaotic, putting its emphasis on all manners of street fighting in various environments. You’ll still see grapples and strikes similar to those in other Aki games, but this time around you’ll be using various weapons as well as your surroundings against your opponents. You can also expect simpler controls than the ones used in Aki’s other titles that focused more on simulated wrestling, which will allow fighting fans to jump in and play without having to struggle with complicated button combinations and grapples. Adding a significant amount of depth to the fighting engine, they’ve broken everything down into five different styles: martial arts, wrestling, kickboxing, street fighting and submissions. Each style will have several different sub-styles. For instance, a martial artist may be able to focus in tae kwon do, karate or capoeira. Players will also be able to combine moves from different styles to create their own unique fighting forms. The focus this time is on exciting, over-the-top action rather than realism.

Adding a new level to the replay value, the developers at Aki Corp. have included over 20 fully interactive environments to fight in. Ranging from a subway station and warehouse to a ring surrounded by fire, each one will feature several interactive areas to beat on your foe. Footage of a fight in the subway station shows one of the game’s rappers being slammed repeatedly into a stone pillar before finally being tossed onto the tracks where he meets an untimely end. Other arenas and locales will feature an interactive crowd that will push combatants back into the fight. They will react to the fight as it rages on, possibly choosing a favorite and helping him out by hitting his opponent when he gets too close or providing a weapon for him to use. With so many different factors adding to the possible outcome of a match, Fight for NY should have significantly more replay value than its predecessor. The gameplay is perfectly suited to online play, but it was unfortunately removed due to time constraints. Still, it will feature support for 1-4 players and include several multiplayer modes of play, so you’ll still be able to enjoy playing the game with friends.