Def Jam Icon: A Review by a Sober Gamer

I found it hard to believe that most mainstream reviewers actually found this game good…instead of marginal at best. 

Are these reviewers on drugs?  Or have they actually not played a decent fighting game before playing DJI?  I would say both, and that they were paid by EA to give a positive review.  I mean, seriously, check out these reviews:

“…but it really shines thanks to its crazy story mode and healthy roster.” -Gamespot.  Is it me, or is the current line-up of Icon roster is so LAME compared to its predecessors?  If the highlight of fighting game is its story mode, we have a problem.  The last thing I care about in a fighting game is its story.

“A great entry to the series, combining a fluid control scheme, pulsating environments, and cool simulation features…”  -GameZone.  Unless you check the author’s name, you’d swear an employee from EA wrote this review.  Real impartial for somebody who sipped every drop of that Kool-Aid.

“In the end, Def Jam Icon is more like a bump-n-grind slow jam instead of the club banger that it should have been, but it still deserves merit.” -Team XBox.  Wait, that’s a negative sum-up, right?  And the game still received an 8.0?  Wait there while I pick up the pieces of my head that just exploded.

“But as pretty as the game is, and as great as the soundtrack might be, the game’s real draw lies in the eight amazingly detailed rumble locations. ” -Gamepro.  This one’s my favorite.  I always look for the amazingly-detailed rumble locations in a fighting game. Whoopee.

I tried the full version of the game the other day, and you know what the first letdown is?  ABUSRDLY LONG LOADING TIMES EVERYWHERE.  Especially in Career Mode (”Build A Label” mode).  Jesus H. Christ.  How the reviewers overlook this is just something I will never understand. 

Second is the grossly-flawed fighting system.  I have written my impressions in the past and it’s sad to report that my beef with the fighting system (if you can even call it that) still applies here 100%.  No combos, stupid button configuration, no depth at all.  Fighters moving in slow motion.  The music does not contribute in the fun factor nor the depth of the fighting engine.

I cannot stress enough on how utterly stupid the button configuration is.  Yes, I have played Fight Night.  Any reviewer who says that DJI is similar to FN controls should be shot, diced and have their remains fed to a starving kitty.  They are far from similar. In FN, every strike, whether it’s a jab or a hook, is in the analog stick.  It was a nice design for a boxing game because, you know, there’s no throwing or kicking.  Now, here’s the dilemma the designers of EA faced during the initial stages of the game: how to translate that in a more complex fighting game.  In the end they failed because they would need to map some of the strike on the buttons and some on the analog stick.  I’m not even touching the throw controls.  Yuck.

The only thing positive about this game: The graphics.  Well, if you can look past the clipping and lifeless face detail.

For the love of the children, STAY AWAY FROM THIS GAME.

Rating: -4.33 out of 10.  (Yes, that’s NEGATIVE FOUR POINT THIRTY-THREE out of TEN)

Popularity: 8% [?]

This entry was posted on Friday, March 16th, 2007 at 11:49 am and is filed under Games, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.