Def Jam: Icon

NOTE: This was copy pasted from the original Reception Wikis on Miraheze.

Def Jam: Icon
File:Def-Jam-Icon.jpg Just don't expect much depth from this beat 'em up.
Protagonist(s): Playa Genre(s): Fighting Platform(s): PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 Release: Xbox 360 NA: March 6, 2007 AU: March 15, 2007 EU: March 23, 2007 JP: June 21, 2007 PlayStation 3 NA: March 6, 2007 AU: March 22, 2007 EU: March 23, 2007 KO: June 15, 2007 JP: June 21, 2007 Engine: Havok (physics) Developer(s): EA Chicago Publisher(s): Electronic Arts Country: United States Series: Def Jam Predecessor: Def Jam: Fight for NY

Def Jam: Icon is a fighting game developed by EA Chicago and published by Electronic Arts, released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Why It's Not an Icon

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. The graphics have not aged well, as the characters tend to make very strange and weird expressions during the cutscenes.
7. Lackluster story, in which is somewhat rehashed from Def Jam Fight For NY: The Takeover. As your character always gets harassed by two detectives Wheatly and Greer in which are rehashes of Jervis and Starks from that previous game.
8. 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.
9. Very poor lip-syncing in the cutscenes, sometimes the character's mouth doesn't move at all when they speak.

Redeeming Qualities

1. Amazing rap soundtrack, from multiple artists. Just like the previous games.
2. The graphics look pretty decent, despite not aging well.
3. 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.

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.

Comments

Loading comments...