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Def Jam: Icon Xbox 360
User Score
6.4 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 97 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 59 out of 97
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 97
  3. Negative: 36 out of 97

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  1. BillG.
    Mar 11, 2007
    7
    I've seen so many great ads for this game I had to go and pick it up. Unfortunately, it might look hot, but the game plays really SLOW and is way too complex for my taste, though maybe that's because I've been playing so much NBA Street lately. Anyhow, I just can't figure this one out. I recommend giving this one a look, but be prepared for quite a learning curve.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  2. DanM.
    Mar 12, 2007
    10
    Finally! A fighting game that is not a button masher!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. DanielA.
    Mar 12, 2007
    10
    Best particle effects in any game.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  4. onearm
    Mar 17, 2007
    8
    Gameplay-I don't like the fact of being forced to use the hazards it's repetitive, shallow and boring. Controls- a bit laggie Graphics- the characters and clothing look realistic, the environments are pretty interesting, but I hate the building with bass-what a waste. The color treatment through-out the fights is fun and stylistic. Storymode- fast paced -thank goodness- the cut scenes are ok ,but way too low in volume everytime they come on I have to turn up the volume to hear them. The lip-sync is ok to. Audio- the audio is good, but two things bother me about the audio: the punches sound exactly like the explosions, and the overall mix is sub-par. I say this because the gameplay is louder then the cut scenes and the hub tv area is louder then them both. It's annoying always having to change the volume-I just want to set it and leave it.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  5. TheBigmac
    Mar 20, 2007
    2
    Def Jam Fight For New York Is one of my favorite games for the original XBOX. It had interaction with the crowd, with the environments, the fighting styles were kick @ss, The fighting was perfectly balanced and controlling your character was a blast. This game plays awful, there's no interaction of any kind with the environments and is SLOW as hell. Way to Kill a good franchise. On top of things DJFFNY is not compatible with the 360 so I guess I'm gonna have to buy an XBOX off ebay if I want to play a decent def jam game again.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  6. JPMac
    Apr 4, 2007
    2
    The game looks great. The soundtrack is exceptional (if you like rap and hip-hop). That is where the goodness ends. EA and Def Jam effectively removed all of the components that worked in Fight For NY and replaced it with a poor attempt at making an urban RPG where you pretend to be a record producer, and added in a horribly executed combat system to fill in the holes between checking email and seeing how much money you made. The non-stop combat under the most ridiculous circumstances were annoying - but a direct result of a genre not being chosen for the game. Is it a fighter or an RPG? It's neither. Specifically to the combat - it's repetitive and it gets old. Punch once, grab enemy, chuck into environment, execute scratch move, rinse and repeat. The removal of weapons, the crowd, the available fighters, the build system, training system, and special moves cripples this game right out of the gate.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  7. SteveG.
    Feb 19, 2007
    6
    Typical EA Chicago, long on visuals, short on gameplay.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  8. AndrewK.
    Mar 12, 2007
    10
    This game is really fun to play and so innovative! Nothing has ever been done like this before.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  9. [Anonymous]
    Mar 12, 2007
    10
    Awesome game. Different from other fighters and actually incorporates music into the fighting.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  10. Biz
    Mar 13, 2007
    4
    Don't be fooled. This game is entirely hype. Kudo Tsunoda is a liar. In interviews, Kudo claimed that this new direction in the Def-jam franchise was set in motion because he felt that the last two games (both critically acclaimed) did not capture the essence of the "Hip Hop Culture", where Icon does. He further stated that he would never make the same game twice. Icon is proof positive he lied on both accounts. Icon is a mockery of Hip Hop culture (the story is basically a melding of Vendetta and Fight for New York's storylines). Further more, Icon is nothing more than a repackaging of Fight Night round 3, without any of the depth or sim appeal. If you love beating up Rappers, get FFNY. If you want to see the "pretty lights"... Play this game at someone elses house. Do NOT spend your own money to buy or rent this game, it is a waste of your time. Quite simply, the combat isnt solid (good, fun) enough to stand on its own merits. Simulated Boxing and Pit Fighting simply dont compare, the game feels sluggish in every aspect, and standard attacks look pathetic and painless. The few solid hits all come from the directional attacks, which are often ruined by the requisite "fly across the screen" wire-fu reactions. worse still, there is absolutly NO depth, and NO growth in the fighting styles. they look different, but they all play exactly the same. The only difference in the sets (as explained in the manual) is that you're ability to scratch is improved or weakened in different sets. Sadly, there is nothing ELSE to make the game compelling, beside the combat. The single player game offers a diversion from combat, but considering you're supposed to be managing a label and producing records... the "non-com" aspects of the game include such deep and engaging features as "Check your email" and "give money to artists so they can get new SUVs/pay off the media". Actually, thats ALL there is to do besides fight. You read emails, you spend a couple grand (of the several million you have), and then go to "travel" and pick a fight somewhere. Yep, thats it. (unless you consider shopping at the mall, spending money on items you can get for FREE outside of the single player game "something worth doing") Other than that, its fighting, fighting, fighting! (Way to go Kudo, its like I'm part of the industry, now! Im glad you got rid of that totally unrealistic underground fighting, in favor of this TOTALLY realistic "beat up the stalker named Stan" fighting....) One (basically the only) beacon of light in this whole process is the cut scenes. They are all voice acted well, and the mocap is solid. ...unfortunately, the story is awful. and dispite Kudo claiming that the storyline of the previous two games was dumb and "not realistic".... this one is vindictively worse. This almost feels like you're being punished for wanting the "story mode" in a "fighting game" to be rewarding. Much hype is flying about the levels and how you have tons of interactivity. The reality makes the hype seem sort of like touting the usefulness of fertalizer bombs in Oklahoma... Though the levels "pop" with lights and colors, they are all, in the end, boring. all flash and no soul. And with only 8 levels, you'll get over them pretty quick.(its been less than a day, and Im sick of them...but YMMV.) In reality, there is almost NO level interactivity... that is to say that YOU, the player, dont have much say in when or how you interact with the environment. Sure you have controls to make stuff blow up... but most "hazards" have such a narrow area of effect, that it will feel all but random if you get to hit when you want to (before the other guy evades it all together) It would be safer to say that the Level interacts with you. as long as we mean "interferes", when we say "interacts". you are constantly getting knocked out of combos, out of holds, off your block, in the middle of countering, and even while scratching... just from random quirks of the game's hit boxes. I'm giving this game a 4: 3 points for having, conceptually, an interesting Idea. 1/2 a point for execution and 1/2 a point because I cant beat the crap out of T.I. or The Game in FFNY… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  11. RyanH.
    Mar 13, 2007
    10
    Legendary. Quite possibly the most important piece to come from a game developer in the modern era and I base this postulation entirely on the visual effects and environments that are so divinely executed.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  12. MichaelD.
    Mar 15, 2007
    10
    Give it a chance. I am a huge fighting game fan and all the ones on the 360 are the same as ones on PS2. To be honest, I hated it at first. The whole concept didn't make sense to me. The AI was killing me. The DJ Controls were really strange. I was expecting Tekken with Rappers. Then finally it just hit me, the idea behind the gameplay is to control your opponent around in the environment. It isn't just offense vs defense but more about positioning yourself and your opponent. I was trying to play the game like Tekken or VF. It all makes sense now and is absolutely amazing. You can't compare it to any other fighting game. The depth of the gameplay is all in the way you use the environment. I am learning new stuff everyday. The AI did an awesome hazard combo to me which i didn't even think was possible. Yesterday I learned that the grab attacks power up your directional attacks. Besides looking Next Gen, this is finally a game that doesn't play like any other game in the past. For everyone looking to buy, you can't approach this game like a traditional fighting game, treat it like a completely new experience.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  13. TimmyT.
    Mar 18, 2007
    10
    For sure this game has great graphics and you can see that out the gate, what you may not get initially is how to actually play this fighting game. Looking at this as a sequence to FFNY is probably the worst thing you can do, instead I suggest giving it a chance as a brand new title because it does not play like any other fighter out there.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  14. GregoryA.
    Mar 6, 2007
    10
    This game is a full movent of sound. Finally audio is a feature in a game that you can also play in.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  15. TedShaw
    Jul 17, 2009
    1
    I picked this game up since I was a big fan of Fight for NY on the original xbox. Unfortuntly, this game has litterly no similarties with its predocessor. The gameplay is godawful, and the controls are no better. Instead of the fun, fast gameplay from Fight for NY, Icon has slow, fight night style 2-on-2 fighting. This game is unplayable. I litterly could not win a match because of how godawful the controls are.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  16. JasonF.
    Mar 12, 2007
    10
    I've never seen a better online implementation for a fighting game.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  17. MikeHarnisch
    Mar 12, 2007
    10
    Innovative and fun!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  18. PrickleyP.
    Mar 12, 2007
    9
    I was skeptical about this game at first especially because the demo played really slow. After playing the game for a while I am pretty impressed. Awesome visuals and great sound. The animation is really impressive and the punches and slams look brutal.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  19. NalaN.
    Mar 13, 2007
    10
    I'm a big hip-hop fan, and this game is exactly what I've been waiting for! The fighting is awesome, especially with a friend, and the rappers look, talk, and act just like the real boyz! If only I could've fought as Summer Walker!
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  20. D
    Mar 13, 2007
    7
    The Gameplay are good but the soundtracks are Crap. They aren't real Hip-Hip just only wannabes hip-hop track (ex.The Game, Big Boi). I didn't understand why they choose the songs, characters from the wannabes. "This is not a real HIP-HOP!"
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  21. Drew
    Mar 17, 2007
    4
    Initially, I was wowed by Def Jam Icon. I was a big fan of the previous two games, not because of the stars, but because of how solid the games were. And Icon definitely seemed solid. It wasn't like the other games. That didn't matter to me. More, it was about the music, how the beats could just devastate your opponent by smashing them around and wrecking everything. It was awesome. But then something changed. It was probably me. The problem with the game, I discovered, was that the fighting was absolutely broken. The concept is great on paper, and initally works well. Soon, the player discovers that no matter what blocking you do, no matter how you defend yourself (by rolling or punching or grappling), the only thing that really matters is the song. If your song isn't on, you better change it. And if you can't change it, then too damn bad. There is no defense. No strategy. The entire game devolves into a throwing match where the winner doesn't know the beats, but tosses his opponent into the same old type of environmental hazard, and watches the guy fly across the arena. The small arena. Graphically, the game looks great. Blood and bodies fly. Lighting is cool, like a music video, with special filters applied. But no matter how you spin it, the game is about playing. And playing this just plain sucks.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  22. ShaunL.
    Mar 19, 2007
    4
    I must say I am very disappointed with this game. The previous two titles were great in the whole concept. Which should have carried over to this one. All of the moves, and fighting styles are completely transparent. Yeah, you can choose different "styles" when entering a fight but they are all the same. No special attacks, no building strengths in each individual fighting style, and no real entertainment value. I bought this game and finished it the same day I spent hard earned money for it. The graphics are next-gen and very well done, but a good game shouldn't stop there. If EA and Def Jam wanted to do something different with the third installment of "Def Jam" or whatever you would call it, they have succeeded. In doing this they have successfully made this consumer think twice before purchasing Def Jam 4.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  23. unknownshino
    Apr 16, 2012
    2
    I slowly died inside when i played this game. It's so slow and the animations are not what it was. Def Jam Fight For NY was a really great game and now they gave us this? Okay maybe the game is fun for an hour? The only thing i was happy about is that Lil John was in the game not more.
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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
69 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 48 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 48
  2. Mixed: 29 out of 48
  3. Negative: 2 out of 48
  1. GameDaily
    70
    Too bad the slow-as-molasses combat (and too-savvy computer-controlled opponents) keep this fighter from rivaling classics like "Tekken," "Street Fighter" and "Soul Calibur," but the innovative use of music, as both an aesthetic and a weapon, adds depth.
    Read full review
  2. Pelit (Finland)
    80
    A beat 'em up that is both pretty and a lot of fun with interesting music-related gameplay ideas. The controls are a bit too complicated for a beat 'em up, though. And where has the 4-player game gone? [Mar 2007]
  3. The A.V. Club
    67
    Even if you don't own every Ludacris album, watching the rich environments rattle to the music is reason enough to give this a play. Just don't expect much depth from this beat 'em up.
    Read full review
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