If you're a certain breed of hopeless wrestling nerd (like me), you probably already know that this game was supposed to be WCW Mayhem 2, the AKI Engine follow-up to WCW/NWO Revenge. Well, WCW was already in dire straits by that time, and by some strange twist of fate (no Hardy Boys pun intended) we ended up with a wrestling video game where Funkmaster Flex can powerbomb Method Man instead. But is it any good? Well...sort of.
Featuring half-a-dozen rappers you've heard of and a dozen more that you probably haven't, DJV is in the top echelon of bizarre video game crossovers. No explanation is given as to why well-established musical artists like Ghostface, DMX, and Ludacris would moonlight as indie wrestlers at seedy nightclubs, so it's probably best to accept it and move on without thinking too much about it, because the developers clearly didn't.
Even looking past its premise, Def Jam Vendetta is a deeply strange game on every level. The fact that it uses the famed AKI engine shared by beloved wrestling games like WCW/NWO Revenge and WWF No Mercy means that it's highly playable - and in my opinion, significantly more enjoyable than the actual WWE games of this era - but the fact remains that this is a wrestling game with zero actual wrestlers in it, which makes you wonder who exactly this game is for.
The game's story mode is actually pretty engaging for the era, but it has a few encounters that are just blatantly unfair and unfun, especially the handicap match against Pockets, Snowman, and House at the after hours club. Once you're done with the story - which, let it be said, has some incredibly misogynistic cat-fights and outright softcore porn which are a true testament to how far the industry has come in 20 years - there's really not a lot to Def Jam Vendetta. There are a few bonus characters and stages you can unlock by beating the game with the other heroes, but it's not exactly a fresh experience.
The biggest issue with Def Jam Vendetta isn't the fact that it stars rappers cosplaying as wrestlers, it's the simple truth that it lacks many of the modes and extra content you expect from a wrestling game of this era. There are no exciting match types like tables, ladders, or cage matches, and no create-a-wrestler mode. It's worth noting that even though I played dozens of hours of this game as a kid, I never actually bought it until I was an adult - I just rented it from Blockbuster and played it at friend's houses.
Let's not mince words: the main issues with DJV are alleviated by its sequel, Fight for New York. Unfortunately for AKI fans, though FFNY is a much better game than DJV, it's also not really a wrestling game, either. As such, DJV is a strange experiment that didn't really succeed, but it didn't exactly fail, either. It's simply a fun game to revisit every now and then - especially if you're an AKI fan like me.
Featuring half-a-dozen rappers you've heard of and a dozen more that you probably haven't, DJV is in the top echelon of bizarre video game crossovers. No explanation is given as to why well-established musical artists like Ghostface, DMX, and Ludacris would moonlight as indie wrestlers at seedy nightclubs, so it's probably best to accept it and move on without thinking too much about it, because the developers clearly didn't.
Even looking past its premise, Def Jam Vendetta is a deeply strange game on every level. The fact that it uses the famed AKI engine shared by beloved wrestling games like WCW/NWO Revenge and WWF No Mercy means that it's highly playable - and in my opinion, significantly more enjoyable than the actual WWE games of this era - but the fact remains that this is a wrestling game with zero actual wrestlers in it, which makes you wonder who exactly this game is for.
The game's story mode is actually pretty engaging for the era, but it has a few encounters that are just blatantly unfair and unfun, especially the handicap match against Pockets, Snowman, and House at the after hours club. Once you're done with the story - which, let it be said, has some incredibly misogynistic cat-fights and outright softcore porn which are a true testament to how far the industry has come in 20 years - there's really not a lot to Def Jam Vendetta. There are a few bonus characters and stages you can unlock by beating the game with the other heroes, but it's not exactly a fresh experience.
The biggest issue with Def Jam Vendetta isn't the fact that it stars rappers cosplaying as wrestlers, it's the simple truth that it lacks many of the modes and extra content you expect from a wrestling game of this era. There are no exciting match types like tables, ladders, or cage matches, and no create-a-wrestler mode. It's worth noting that even though I played dozens of hours of this game as a kid, I never actually bought it until I was an adult - I just rented it from Blockbuster and played it at friend's houses.
Let's not mince words: the main issues with DJV are alleviated by its sequel, Fight for New York. Unfortunately for AKI fans, though FFNY is a much better game than DJV, it's also not really a wrestling game, either. As such, DJV is a strange experiment that didn't really succeed, but it didn't exactly fail, either. It's simply a fun game to revisit every now and then - especially if you're an AKI fan like me.