Ever heard of Def Jam Records? Probably not. Ever heard of EA Canada? I'm guessing you have, since they own rights to some of the largest sport franchises in gaming (FIFA is a great example). From these two creators comes the making of Def Jam Vendetta, an underground-wrestling type game where you can fight with your favourite rap-artist while choking other singers that you just can't stand.

Electronic Arts will be developing this game in the company of Aki Corporation, creators of WWF: No Mercy for the Nintendo 64. One of those…you know, wrestling games that they love so much overseas. If you were a fan of No Mercy's, you'll certainly be satisfied by their next title.

By taking a look at the screenshots you can certainly see how the graphics stand out; colourful characters and wonderfully lighted arenas tell us that Aki did a good job in this sector. The music shouldn't be disappointing either, Def Jam Records themselves will be supplying us with the tracks and the commentary will be by Funk Masta Flex. I've never heard of him but if he's as funny as is name, we're in for a good time. The multiplayer action looks promising also; you can battle it out with up to four of your friends with tag, free-for-all, and other modes of play.

Aki have also built a new “grappling” system from scratch, this represents the real centre of the gameplay. Once you grab your adversary with the A-button, you have a wide array of moves to perform (pretty violent ones too) that are carried out depending on your timing and tapping of the various buttons of the controller. Considering the fact that there are a total of 40 characters, over 1500 painful moves will be there for you to master.

So what makes this different from all the other wrestling games? Well, the fighting system is surely more developed. For example, the “Blazin” state, allows you to perform the wackiest and most aggressive moves on your opponent, whereas with the R and L buttons you can dodge and reverse grapples. This is going to be one of those intuitive titles that are easy for beginners to pick up and play, but also satisfying for the more hard-core gamers that are looking for the opportunity to test their skills.

The game isn't called Vendetta for nothing. It actually has a storyline (including video sequences) that Aki hope you will get into. “D-Mob” is a New York gangster who arranges underground-fights in a rough part of New York City. This awful mobster (with a very original name) kicked you out of his group of combatants two years ago, but now that your friend is injured you are ready to take his place and show everyone who's the boss. Glory isn't an easy thing to obtain, though. You'll be fighting various challengers, most of them actual Def-Jam artists who are ready to hurt you in ways you didn't think were imaginable.

An interesting title from developers that already showed us what they were capable of creating on past consoles (from what I heard No Mercy was one the best wrestling titles for Nintendo 64). Aki and EA should be given the merit of transforming a wrestler into an innovative fighting title by introducing their new combat system. In conclusion, not only is Def Jam Vendetta a title that should be picked up by wrestling enthusiasts, casual gamers might also find it appealing.