In late 2002, EA announced a 3-way partnership with developer Aki and hip hop label Def Jam.  The unlikely union resulted in 2003’s Def Jam Vendetta, a mix of wrestling and hip hop.  Although people were skeptical about the game at first, it became an instant hit when it was released.  However, a few things held it back from true greatness, mainly the lack of a create-a-character feature (something common place in most wrestling games) and the lack of play modes.  Enter Def Jam: FFNY which would rectify both of these situations.

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First of all, pay no attention to the low scores given by other media outlets. This game is the best game to make use of the Spawn license (besides his appearance in the Xbox version of SoulCalibur 2). Surprisingly, it was a third-person shooter made by Capcom. The gameplay is a fusion of Quake 3: Arena and Powerstone. Players select from 37 characters (most of which are unlockable and 12 being available at the start), each with their own array of weapons and powers, and blast their way through several stages in either arcade or story modes. You can also play the standard multiplayer modes for up to 4 players in stages with variable environmental settings. The character selection included nearly everyone from the Spawn mythos, even Cagliostro, Sam, Twitch, and a few alternate versions of Spawn himself. It’s a shame that the game engine was used in only one other game, Heavy Metal Geomatrix. It would have interesting to see more shooters by Capcom done in this style.

Marvel has recently put out a number of straight-to-DVD animated features including the Ultimate Avengers and the Ultimate Avengers 2. The latest in this series is The Invincible Iron Man. It only makes sense for Marvel to choose Iron Man to get his own animated feature with a full length live action feature film currently in the works. While the Ultimate Avengers films were based on Marvel’s Ultimate universe canon, the Iron Man story is taken from traditional Marvel continuity updated so that it makes sense for audiences of today.

Read the rest of the review after the jump. No spoilers are in the review. Beware the comments, though.
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With the turn of the new year having come and gone, Midway games has alot to celebrate. Its newest title of one of the greatest fighting franchise in gaming history, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon has achieved many award-winning goals like it’s predecessors before it. In reaching the mark 1 million copies sold just last week, and a port to the Wii system by April of this year to join its releases on the PS2 and Xbox systems, the Mortal Kombat name has certainly a lot to boast about.

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A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of seeing Apocalypto, the Mel Gibson directed epic about a Mayan tribesman who is captured and seperated from his family. This was perhaps the most graphic and violent movie I’d seen in some time, and the fact that it was presented as historically accurate it shook me more than the same level of graphic violence does nightly in various video games.

I felt that same shaken feeling after Children Of Men. [Read the rest of this entry…]

This review is a bit late but not nearly as late as this second issue of the Gargoyles comic which was an absurd 4 months behind schedule!

Due to the holiday (and becuase I’m feeling lazy), I’m gonna skip this week’s $20 Game of the week and lost classics columns. Don’t worry though, I’ll have twice as much content for next week. Until then, check out this review.

In 1983, director Brian DePalma created a film starring Al Pacino that would forever change the way we would think about drug dealers, cocaine, Cubans, immigration, and pelicans. This film would be known as the story of a man named Tony Montana. It was the chronicle of his journey from yet another Cuban refugee looking for the American dream to the biggest drug dealer in all of Miami, all the way to his violent end as a desperate man consumed by a coccaine-fueled blind rage. This film would be the stuff of legends, serving as inspiration to entire generations of rappers, actors, gangsters, and other entertainers. This film is called Scarface. Nearly 2 decades later, Tony Montana’s story would continue on as a video game courtesy of Vivendi Universal.

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To those not in the know, the Dynasty Warriors series is little more than mindless button mashing. However, to longtime fans of the series, Dynasty Warriors is one of gaming’s best kept secrets. It’s fun to pick up and play, there are dozens of hidden features, and it’s educational! Learn all about the 3 kingdoms period by taking the warrior of your choice and hacking and slashing your way through hundreds of foot soldiers while helping conquer ancient China!

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