Th3 Developers Corner: Def Jam Series

In this new post I take my time to speculate on possible sequels to games I’d want to be made and some of the things I would hope to have included in these games. As a gamer I think its important to be able to reflect on what you would like implemented into your favorite games to make the experience more enjoyable. This weeks post is on my favorite fighting game franchise that takes the likeness of major hip-hop artist and have them duke it out in a WWE wrestling like climate.

Def Jam Vendedtta was released in 2003 from publisher EA BIG and pitted prominent artist under the Def Jam Label against each other in various fighting scenarios. It came with a multiplayer and story mode where you worked your way through the rankings to be able to challenge the big boss D-Mob. You had the choice of playing the story through the eyes of 4 different players; Briggs, Proof, Tank and Spider all following the same story line until the end. The game was met with critical acclaim and would go on to spawn two sequels: Def Jam: Fight for New York (2004) and Def Jam: Icons (2007) while a PlayStation portable version of FFNY was made in 2006.

While there have been rumors that a new Def Jam: FFNY sequel is in the works, I believe this sequel is long overdue and EA should push the button on making this a reality sooner than later.

Some of the things that made Def Jam: FFNY an impressive edition to the Def Jam fighting series were:

• Revamped Customization (Character, Fighting Styles, Wardrobe)
• Play-style (Over the head view, Arcade-Type Fighting)
• Playable Characters (Over 60+ playable characters)
• Great Story (Inner turf war between rival crews pitting prominent rapper/artists against one another)

If they were to make this sequel, here are some of the things that I would like to be included:

• Online-play: (A online mode was included in Def Jam: Icons but I believe it suffered due to the let down that sequel was. Online play with lobbies for specific match types and create a leader board to track your progress would be a great addition to the game.)
• Deeper customization: (Continue the formula from Def Jam: FFNY but have the option of becoming an artist or producer to add more differentiation in play styles)
• Revamped environment manipulation: (Build upon the mechanics presented in Def Jam: Icons and have it be manipulated in different ways depending on if you’re an artist or producer ex. Artist hype crowd up and enable more devastating crowd attacks while producers manipulate environment to have explosive environment attacks)
• Improved beat detection: (This may go either very well or poorly but implement the beat detection system for Def jam: Icons to allow players to upload custom tracks to be used as environment manipulation attacks.)
• Online crews: (Allow for almost clan like grouping where players around the world can almost create mini-record labels and have record labels fight against each other with a leader board representing the best record label in the world.)
• Additional Artists to pick from in offline play: (Def Jam FFNY had 67 playable characters while Def Jam Icons dropped drastically to 29. I say make it closer to Def Jam: FFNY and have maybe 40+ character to choose from.)
• Include more fighting styles: (The edition of being able to mix different fighting styles like brawler and wrestler to create hybrid styles can be expanded upon due to various different fighting techniques existing in the world.
• Royal Rumble/King of the hill like match style: (Incorporating a larger player base where up to 10 players can fight against one another to see who is the undisputed best fighter)

If EA, the previous makers of the original three games, were to still have the rights to this franchise I believe it would be in their best interest to revive this franchise. Its a fan favorite franchise that could definitely be done right given the standards of game development and resources available at this present time of gaming.Do you agree that this franchise is long due for another sequel? Are there suggestions that you feel may or may not work from my list? What possible suggestions would you add to the game if you were in the position of a game developer? Who knows if this will actually come to fruition but here’s to hoping it does!