ELEPHANT MAN DEF JAM FIGHT NY MOVIE
ELEPHANT MAN DEF JAM FIGHT NY SERIES

It means that we're arguably yet to see the best.

Questions marks pervaded every one of Fight for NY's elements that I was able to examine today-from its character-select screen, to its main menu. Though no crowd was present, a beautifully rendered train would pass by every couple of minutes, and if you manage to get your opponent on the tracks as this happens, well, you can imagine the outcome: game over, lickety-split. Even more grizzly was a game mode which took place on Harlem's 125th Street subway platform. Prudent fighters will make use of them at every opportunity. Needless to say, bats, wrenches, and shivs can effectively turn the tide of a throw-down. Members of the crowd will also periodically throw weapons into the fray, which either combatant can pick up, and put to use. In either case, the effect is superbly executed. The animations for all these brutal actions are graphic and explosive, which, depending on your disposition, can make them satisfying or disturbing. And if you manage to stun him near the autos and execute a heavy grapple, you'll use their chassis to lay on the pain-bash their heads against windshields, batter their faces on the cars' rims, and slam doors on their heads.

ELEPHANT MAN DEF JAM FIGHT NY SERIES

When fighters get too close to either of these elements, violence occurs goad your opponent too close to the crowd, and they might just grab him, allowing you a series of free blows. Both combatants' cars are parked on one side of the arena, with a violent (and all too eager to participate) crowd forming a semicircle around them. The most fully fleshed-out mode in today's demo was Demolition, which is probably also the most balls-out mode in the game. Let's hope that the animations for the kickboxers will be able to catch up, so to speak. From what I saw today, disciples of the latter style, despite the catchall name of their discipline, had a pretty diverse move-set. Kickboxers who grapple will make heavy use of knees to the groin, while martial artists will perform all kinds of flamboyant, acrobatic moves. Though they will make heavy use of the grappling functions, the effects that these moves produce will be unmistakably true to their styles. But adherents of other schools-kickboxing and 'martial arts,' for instance-will be strikers, first and foremost. Granted, certain characters-specifically, the ones who specialize in wrestling or submission, two of the game's five fighting styles-will focus grappling. If you've played the original game, then you'll immediately notice that Fight for NY sometimes places more of an emphasis on hand-to-hand fighting. 'Son, you're in the wrong place.' Famed wrestling game developer Aki designed the games engine, and it shows in the game's depth. It's apparent that the people involved in the Def Jam games really care about this stuff, and the product reflects is. Think Eddy from Tekken equipped with a supercharger on his you'll get the idea, and you'll get the idea.

Even world-renowned hip-hop dancer Crazy Legs was included in the mix, and his fighting style made strong reference to his b-boy heritage.

ELEPHANT MAN DEF JAM FIGHT NY MOVIE

Factor in EA's own creations (remember the story mode characters from the first game?), and several TV and movie stars (like Carmen Electra and Danny Trejo), and you have a roster that can only be describe in one way: ridiculous.

Though I wasn't able to get a conclusive count of the artists present, what was available in the character select screen was just plain silly: Snoop Dogg (in the role of the game's antagonist, Crow), Ice-T, Fat Joe, Slick Rick, Havoc and Prodigy (collectively of Mobb Deep), Flava Flav, Ludacris, Sean Paul, Method Man, Redman, Sticky Fingaz, Busta Rhymes, Ghostface Killah, Elephant Man, Bubba Sparxxx, Xzibit, Henry Rollins the list goes on, and on top of Def Jam vets, it comprises stars of old, unlikely additions (e.g., Rollins), and flavor du jour dancehall stars. Judging by what EA showed at its press event today, it looks like the concept is yet to lose its luster. Def Jam: Fight for NY, the sequel to the unexpected hit, further fleshes out this unlikely, yet compelling concept. No one would have thought so, but the notion of taking the personas of some of hip-hop's most flamboyant artists, and pitting them against one another in a wrestling worked out magically. In a super-exaggerated, digital sense, anyway. The original Def Jam Vendetta took hip-hop's propensity for braggadocio and one-upmanship, and made it real.

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