10. Def Jam: Fight for NY (PS2, 2004, Electronic Arts)
At first glance, it might be strange that Def Jam: Fight for NY is on the list at all since it looks like a MMA Fight Club-styled backstreet brawl, but it also plays like an aggressive hardcore wrestling match on the streets. The fighting does refocus its wrestling origins on mixed martial arts, but it’s still founded on grappling as much as hard-hitting melee combos to get opponents into vulnerable, groggy positions, and then finishing the opponent off with a “blazin’ move” (usually from a grapple) for a satisfying crunch.
Better than that, it gets the best of two worlds: Hip-hop rappers, who woulda thunk? It has a star-studded cast with the likes of Xzibit, Flava Flav, Lil’ Kim, and Snoop Dogg as the villainous Crow, all of whom did unexpectedly solid voice-work. The story was admittedly straightforward and characters shift alignments a bit too often, but it is much stronger than the plot of its immediate predecessor, Def Jam Vendetta, and it’s meant to be campy and over-the-top, anyway.
More than just a game with an “M”-rating, it also had F-bombs that actually worked and it didn’t hold back its gangsta flavor. You could create a fighter from a wide selection of parts from various urban fashion shops, getting new hairstyles, threads, tats, and bling, all of which look like they come straight out of a music video so buck that you want to tackle it. And all those pimp-out clothes meant more respect from the crowd, who would get into the brawl on the sidelines. (My guy was shirtless and wore a chunky silver chain. Don’t be messin’ with my style, ya hear? Or I’ll krump on your face.)
