Def Jam: Icon
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NOTE: This was copy pasted from the original Reception Wikis on Miraheze.
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 Just don't expect much depth from this beat 'em up.[1]
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Def Jam: Icon is a fighting game developed by EA Chicago and published by Electronic Arts, released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Gameplay
Def Jam: Icon is less wrestling-oriented than the previous games, Def Jam Vendetta and Def Jam: Fight for NY. The game's executive producer, Kudo Tsunoda, has stated that he did not feel that wrestling and hip-hop went particularly well with each other. However, throws and environmental damage remain in the game.
Gameplay is similar to EA Chicago's Fight Night: Round 3, featuring a focus on up-close brawling, mixing up blocks, throws, parries, and using the right analog stick to deliver stronger attacks. Also, like Round 3, there is no in-game heads up display by default, encouraging the player to observe physical cues on in-game characters to determine their health, such as clothing, bruises and exhaustion of the opponent.
Developers aimed to make the music and the environment a much larger factor in the fight. Among the environments are streets, subways, nightclubs, penthouses, BET's 106 and Park stage, and others.
The game makes unique use of synesthesia-inspired mechanics for a fighting game, in which there is a level of interactivity between music and the stages where hazards and the entire backdrop moves to the beat of the BGM. Different events occur on the beats of each song - some of which are dangerous. For example, a column of fire shoots up from a ruined gas station on every "bass hit" of a song's chorus. Other changes will be purely cosmetic: hubcaps on cars will spin and twinkle to the beat of each song. The developers have added more damage to a fighter's punches and kicks if they occur "to the beat" or making a rapper stronger if one of their songs is playing.
By listening to the beat of the song and then timing a throw, the player can toss the opponent into an environmental hazard just as it goes off. The game features a "turntable" action, whereby spinning the right analog stick allows the character to manipulate the music and the environment for both players and shows the character as if they are using a DJ turntable in mid-air. With this, the environment can be used for gaining advantage and weakening the opponents by activating the environmental hazards when they are near. During the match, fighters bleed and show visible signs of their injuries.
"Build a Label"
The game's story mode, called "Build a Label", starts when the player is obligated to create his own "suspect" on an FBI computer. The player can edit every aspect of the character's body and choose his fighting style and fighting song. However, the songs that the players have an option to pick are "Got It Sewed Up (Remix)" by Mike Jones, "Back Then" also by Mike Jones, "Soul Survivor" by Young Jeezy featuring Akon, "I Do This", also by Young Jeezy, "Go Hard Or Go Home" by E-40, "Tell Me When to Go" also by E-40 featuring Keak da Sneak, "Sittin' Sidewayz" by Paul Wall featuring Big Pokey, and "Trill" by Paul Wall featuring Bun B and B.G., along with all fighting styles except Ghetto Blaster and Street Kwon Do, are locked. It is noted that the artists of the 4 songs initially offered are not accessible to sign while the other artists of the other songs are accessible to sign.
After creating a character, the story starts in a sequence where DJ Funkmaster Flex can be heard speaking to his audience on the radio with the instrumental of "I Do This" by Young Jeezy playing in the background. The camera pans through several sections of a neighborhood, including a building with a promotional poster for T.I. vs T.I.P. on the side. By the time Funkmaster Flex is done talking, the camera shows a child, Kevin, walking down the street with his friend Jake while bouncing a basketball. Kevin then spots Curtis Carver (Kevin Liles), a mogul in the music industry, speaking with his record label's vice president (Playa). The camera then shifts to Carver, who is still speaking with Playa, when is suddenly interrupted by Kevin, accompanied by Jake. Kevin then asks Carver for his autograph. While Carver signs Kevin's basketball, he asks the children whether they're staying out of trouble. After handing Kevin back his basketball, Carver also gives him and Jake some money and advises them to pursue careers in basketball, adding that it will bring them financial success. While Kevin and Jake walk away, gunshots are heard and Carver can be seen falling to the ground. Kevin and Jake run away, and Playa can be seen looking at Carver while his blood spreads around his torso on the ground.
Why It's Not an Icon
- Executive meddling: The game's executive producer, Kudo Tsunoda, stated that he did not feel that wrestling and hip-hop went particularly well with each other.
- The development of the game was given to a different development studio named EA Chicago instead of AKI Corporation who developed the previous two games, which is the reason why the game isn't as good as the two previous games.
- The fighting system for the game is revamped, but into making the game way less realistic unlike the other two games. In Icon, they can taunt to set off explosions to the world around them. As for Blazin moves, they got removed from the game.
- Just like the Gamecube version from Def Jam: Fight for NY. Your character only has one voice choice for this game, which is a major downgrade from Def Jam: Fight for NY which allowed you to choose between six different voice choices.
- As for character customization, there are less stuff to choose from.
- Very small roster, it only has 29 playable characters. In which many of the original characters from the other two games didn't return.
- In Def Jam: Fight for NY, that game had 67 playable characters. There was no excuse that the roster had to be slimmed down, since Icon was on more powerful hardware, unlike the previous instalment.
- The graphics have not aged well, as the characters tend to make very strange and weird expressions during the cutscenes.
- Lackluster story, in which is somewhat rehashed from Def Jam Fight For NY: The Takeover. Your character always gets harassed by two detectives Wheatly and Greer in which are rehashes of Jervis and Starks from that previous game.
- Very poor hair and chain physics, in which the hair ends up glitching for a bit and the chains around a character's neck clipping right through a character's torso.
- Very poor lip-syncing in the cutscenes, sometimes the character's mouth doesn't move at all when they speak.
Iconic Qualities
- Amazing rap soundtrack from multiple artists, just like the previous games.
- The graphics look pretty decent, despite not aging well.
- Great voice acting from the main character himself as well as other characters in the game.
Reception
The game received "mixed or average reviews" on both platforms according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.
Videos
Trivia
- The voice actor of the main character Playa, also voiced as the main character of True Crime: New York City, Marcus Redd.
- Def Jam: Icon 2 was originally going to be made as a sequel to Def Jam: Icon but was later canceled due to poor reception from fans and critics, and Electronic Arts losing the Def Jam license. However a prototype of the canceled sequel is shown by PtoPOnline on YouTube.[2]