XBox 360 Rally

So, I just got done playing the demo to Def Jam Icon on the 360, and I find myself coming away with a feeling of “…huh.”

When I first booted up the demo, I found myself looking at a black & white screen with “Def Jam Icon” on it, and some blue bars moving up and down to silence… for five minutes. Five. Minutes. After that, the demo finally booted up to the EA logo, which I skipped and got to the title screen.

After I finally got into the demo, and to the character selection, I could either play as Big Boi, or… well, Big Boi. But I will admit, I would’ve picked Big Boi anyways, since T.I. is a punk bitch who needs to meet the business end of a crowbar. But I digress.

You know, I’ll be perfectly honest with you — I don’t know what the hell to think of Def Jam Icon. When I was done playing it, it left me feeling confused and frightened, like a homeless kitten huddled near the door to a convenience store on a rainy November night (Yeah, I’m gonna get mail for that). Even as I was playing it, I didn’t know if I was playing a traditional fighting game, a bad urban rip-off of Fight Night, or a REALLY BAD wrestling game.

Don’t get me wrong, what I did play was… interesting. The fighting mechanics are all well done. Graphically, the game looks damn good. It plays great, with interactive environments and realistic looking combat that left you feeling satisfied when you hit TI in that smug effing face of his with a thunderous shot to the “grill.” But in the end, Icons seems to suffer from a bit of schizophrenia. On one hand, it wants to be like Fight Night without the gloves and trunks, but on the other hand it wants to still remain a wrestling game.

There was one question I do have, though: What the hell is the scratching in there for? I hear it’s supposed to work with the music to increase the damage to your opponent and interact with your environment, but I’ll be damned if I can figure out how to work the damn thing. It didn’t help me during combat at all, and as for the environment interaction… the gas station seemed to blow up completely at random times every time I played — and I played it a good seven or eight times in about an hour. That’s another gripe I have — the demo is freaking SHORT! Not GRAW 2 short, either — It took me longer to download the demo, which clocks in at about 350 MB, give or take, than it did to play through the match. That’s never good. Also, no HUD. How am I supposed to know how badly I’m getting whipped if I have no HUD? Sure, these are minor complaints, but as the old saying goes “The small stuff adds up to one big sum.” Suffice to say, when it DOES come out, I’ll have to pick it up just to figure out what the hell is going on.

One thing I strongly suggest they DO keep though is the Korean shop owner with the hose. That was freaking hilarious!

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