Def Jam is odd but it gets the job done by being enjoyable
At first Def Jam may seem like a pretty broken Fighting game. There are many aspects that just feel not to good at first. It starts with the lag of the controls. For all of the punches that you throw or kicks there will be a half second lag to all of your commands and that can be frustrating. But once you look at the overall style of the game and get used to the controls the game is actually pretty good.
To start out with the game has a couple different modes. They are all just 1 on 1 fighting modes. Theres the throwdown which you can just get into matches quickly and you can fight with another person. The Campaign mode is labeled build a label and there is a mode that lets you use your own music in the games background. There is also online play but at this point not a lot of people are online so you will have trouble finding an opponent.
The Fighting system is similar to something like Fight Night Round 3. You can block you have high and low punches or kicks and you can also block those hits by guessing high or low. You can also grab and it is quite easy to grab and it is pretty unbalanced as human oppenents will just cheat by grabbing all of the time. Still if your skilled you could get around that. The fighting feels laggy but once you get the hang of it the game will be pretty natural. The Fighting also revolves around the music in the background. Now there are hotspots in the game and if your opponent is near one you can spin your hands and blow up that hotspot to damage your opponent. This funtion is used a bit but most of the game is used around the combat.
If you like good graphics this game is for you. The game looks really good. Everything from the player models to the environments look really good and detailed. Overall the feel of the game is a classic kind of old school feeling because the filter for the backround has that kind of flashback feeling.
Music in the game is actually quite terrific. If you are into modern hip hop you will most likely like all of the songs this game has to offer. Each Character has two songs. Not to mention there are many characters so there is a good number of songs. If you are not a fan of hip hop this games soundtrack might not be to attractive.
The Def Jam Series is known for their more different campaigns that are heavily story based. I wont mention too much about the story but you start out as a scrub record producer and you will rise up. Through the campaign you will be unlocking new people fighting rappers and random dudes and also being involved into cutscenes with people like ludacris and anthony anderson. Overall the campaign is decent and it does the job by just having you fight a bunch of guys.
Things this game do wrong arent really too bad. So the online play is pretty laggy and like I said before theres barely anyone online so it would be really hard to get online acheivements. Besides the good campaign mode there really isnt anything else to really play for. But still, the multiplayer through land play is really fun and can get hectic.
Whats makes this game really just good is that well the fighting is brutal so when you are in a close matchup it is super satisfying to get a win. Other just satisfying things is winning by blowing up a hotspot. These moments just really help the game just really fun.
So overall if you like fighting games and hip hop this game is definetly for you. The fighting might not appeal to everybody but if you give it some time the game will definetely grow on you. And this game is pretty cheap so you should go out and buy it.