Wrestling games are a strange niche market. Even as the popularity of wrestling in mainstream culture fades, gamers everywhere still can’t resist the urge to implant folding chairs into their opponents’ prone skulls. With the success of games based on the WWE license as well as the absorption of WCW, wrestling games became divided (and monopolized by THQ) into two camps: simulation (the famed AKI engine used on the Nintendo 64 classics like “WCW/nWo Revenge” and “WWF No Mercy”) and arcade (the Yukes engine, utilized in the “Smackdown!” series on PlayStation). Fans of the sim-style wrestler literally bought N64s just for those games (and yeah, maybe “Zelda”). Unfortunately, with the launch of the current generation of systems, THQ ceased to work with AKI for their ventures into the Gamecube. The result of that breakdown, the Yukes-developed “WWE Wrestlemania X8” felt like a hybrid of both sim and arcade engines, but the compromise was less than successful. While “X8” wasn’t a bad game, it wasn’t a successor to the AKI throne. In Fall 2002, Electronic Arts announced that it was releasing a game using the Def Jam license. Many laughed. Many online made really bad “yo” jokes. The announcement that it would use the AKI engine silenced the laughter. Then, the questions poured in: “Will Ja Rule be in it so DMX beat his ass?” “Will LL Cool J be in it so I can have a handicap match where Redman and Method Man take turns beating the shit out of him for still putting out albums?” “Does this mean Keith Murray can beat someone with a chair and not go to prison like he did in real life?” Alas, the wait is over. While there are a few things left to be desired (no create a wrestler so that you must un-PC’ly recreate the East Coast/West Coast feud of 96 in the ring, nor weapons nor special matches), the gameplay is just as solid as its N64 predecessors. The lack of licensed characters has its advantages. Whereas you had to settle for a Rock Bottom or a Pedigree, because those were real wrestlers’ finishers, the fact that there are no real life wrestlers opened the possibility for programmers to come up with damn near anything for characters to finish off an opponent. The finishing moves in this game defy gravity. Actually, they don’t just defy gravity, they do the kind of ridiculous shit that kids playing with action figures of wrestlers would do to finish an opponent. Imagine slamming your opponent on his head, flipping him upside down and over so that your backs are touching and then delivering a neck-snapping piledriver. Basically, if “Def Jam Vendetta” were truly real life, you’d be convicted of street fighting manslaughter quicker than you can say Don King. The story mode keeps things interesting, as well. You play as one of four “street brawlers” (read: wrestlers). Your best friend, Manny, has some bad debts to D-Mobb, the biggest hustler in NYC. Rather than see your best friend killed, you decide to engage in underground prize fighting. Also, D-Mobb has snatched up your ex-girl, so there’s bitter blood there. Once you fight your way through all of the various strange characters, you make your way into matches with such Def Jam artists as Redman, Method Man, Keith Murray, Ghostface Killah, DMX, and finally, you get to D-Mobb. Unlike the ringside valets of past AKI games, Def Jam gives you “girlfriends.” In a nutshell, rather than scrapping the fighting engine that utilized female wrestlers, it has been incorporated into the story mode. Once you beat your first boss, you get a girlfriend. Later on, another girl will challenge her for your arm. Different girlfriends unlock photo galleries of the real models who the girls are based upon. Feminist gamers everywhere will love the fact that two dime pieces brawl for the right to be your character’s trophy girl just so that adolescent males everywhere can lap up swimsuit and “club gear outfit” snapshots of video hoes. The sound is decent enough, but having a PG-13 rated soundtrack is a tad on the weak side. And you know that even though they’re saying “I’ll whup your ass,” it’s just not the same as what you know they can say. I mean, yeah, they say “shit” once, but big fuckin’ deal. I say EA should have just gone all out and nailed the “M” rating. It could have been everything that “BMX XXX” promised but failed to deliver. Plus, it’s kind of lame to have radio edits of everything. Pussyfooting around having Onyx’s “Throw Ya Gunz” on the soundtrack seems little weak, in my opinion. I feel that the raw imagery and themes requires real rawness, and the toned-down nature of it all gives the game a slightly seared feel, but hey, I’m picky. Hopefully, the sequel (because you know they’ll do it) will incorporate Def Jam’s sub-labels like Roc-a-Fella and Murder Inc. so that the DMX vs. Ja Rule match can become a reality (plus, it would be cool to have a six man tag match against Jay-Z, Freeway and Freeway’s Beard). Again, a create-a-wrestler would be excellent, and some weapons, tables, and ladder matches wouldn’t hurt, either. Overall, if you’re weaned on the “Smackdown!” series, then you probably won’t like the sim feel of “Def Jam Vendetta” as much. However, if you’re like Walt, then you’ve been waiting for someone to release an AKI-style wrestling game, even if it was “Moonshine Vendetta.” Although the use of the Def Jam license feels a little corny at first, it won’t matter after you’ve snapped out your first K.O. on your opponent as everyone in the room unanimously shouts, “Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn!”