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New controller for Playstation 3 by EAGLE3

That launch controller you bought with your Playstation 3 might be a little worn out.  In fact, the analog nubs are a little loose and when playing Need for Speed, you realize that it is not your bad driving skills, but the controller that is making you get nabbed by the cops.

Or perhaps you bought your controller used and it smells oddly like incense.  Maybe it smells good, but it still makes your friends laugh.  Hmm, what to do?

Well, you could always buy a new one.  And if you are a fine tuned racing freak, then EAGLE3 has got the right product for you. The HKS Racing Controller features:

  • A precision control steering wheel with full rotational range for left and right turn control and an automatic re-centering racing wheel.
  • Analog pressure acceleration and brake pedals allow for solid drifts and real world control.
  • Digital pressure gauge has light up numerical indicators that measure down to the millisecond.
  • Exotic design.  Seriously, feast your eyes on that again.  Go on, it is just right up there.
  • The color red. Red is awesome. And it rhymes with Jed.

Buy the controller now right here or wait for our review which will be coming soon.

Kung Fu Live Review

Game: Kung-Fu Live
Publisher/Developer: Virtual Air Guitar Company
Price: $15 USD (Europe 13.99€ / UK  £10.99/)
Consoles: Playstation 3 (PS Eye required)

Kung-Fu Live aims to give you a comic book experience like no other.  Actually kick and punch like a kung-fu master and have your face in each frame.  Sounds pretty cool, right?  Well, it is… sometimes.  Lets start off the story.

Story

The game starts by taking a picture of you.  As a result, you are automatically scanned into each comic book frame.  This is an undoubtedly  awesome approach to making you feel connected to the game.  Before each section of story, the game would have you pose in different areas.  Copy the pose or not, you will get some interesting results when the action rolls.  For example, you may be asked to look as if you are dodging.  If, however, you decide to throw a peace gesture in there, it may look as though you are getting hit with a car while throwing said gesture. Overall, this is super neat, and I would love to see more games implement this.

So, there I was in my jeans and Old Navy T-shirt, already late to work on my first day.  Obviously though, I was pretty smart, as I had gotten a job at a comic book store.  Unfortunately, the old hag running the store was pretty ticked and sent me off to clean and organize stuff.  Suddenly though, I am transported into a comic book and I know kung-fu. Sweet!

But misfortune struck once again, as I was unable to finish the game. You may ask, “Why?” I wish I could tell you that the game could simply not keep up with my new-found powers of awesome fighting.  In reality, the game could not keep up with itself.

Gameplay

As with any motion control system, and basically any game, maintaining control of your character is key.  With standard controls, this is usually fairly easy. The controller is a faithful accessory, always having the same buttons at the same location.  Even lag on games like Rock Band can be configured fairly easily. With motion controls though, everybody is different and your actions will also be different.  So, developers have resorted to calibrations, body scans and light control to solve the problem.  The reason to bring this up is that you will get a very rude introduction to that type of thing when playing Kung-Fu Live.  I must have run the background check at least 20 times before my lower arms started showing up.  And the conditions for playing the game are very tight.  Any time the light changed just slightly due to the sun, I had to redo the whole thing.  Admittedly and thankfully, this process did not take too long, but it was still maddening to have to redo it a lot.

But hey, if the calibrations do finally work and have you in the game, then that is good, right?  Of course it is, unless you actually want any kind of action to happen on the screen.  Many times, only about half of my moves were registered.  For example, I would be punching and kicking and then I would inexplicably jump.    And how do I move my character forward?  By motioning, punching and kicking.  But wait! I am only moving half an inch at a time  although my arms are wildly flailing and my enemy is moving backwards at the same pace.  Oh, now he just jumped all the way across the screen and kicked me in the face. The game does paint lines where the enemy will strike, but as I was often so focused on trying to get my character moving properly they were hard to read, interpret and then then fulfill before I was knocked down again.

Speaking of knocking down, you will want to make sure you have plenty of space.  Also, pick a room that has high ceilings with no reachable light fixtures.  Finally, you may want to check with your doctor to make sure you are healthy enough for strenuous kung fu fighting, as the game will have you exercising like a mad man.  If you are into making exercise fun, this may be the game for you.

Although the game has severe problems, it does occasionally make you feel like a superior kung-fu master.  For example, kick a guy, somersault over him, turn around and whack him in the face.  All kinds of moves are available and whatever you can do with your hands and feet, the game might register.

Audio and Graphics

Audio is fairly underwhelming in the game.  Sure, there are some sound and sound effects but nothing special.  The voice is pretty funny though and it sounds like it came out out an arcade machine.

Graphics are non-detailed and super boring.  Other than the fact that you are actually the main character playing, there is nothing to really say about them.

Overview

Kung-Fu Live had great promise.  And, if you want to maybe see what a Kinect is like, you can try this game out for a little less than half of what Kinect costs.  Even if you want some excercise without an excercise game or you want to act out your favorite kung-fu scenes from the movies, this game has its high points.  But the low points that consist of bad AI, so-so graphics and unreliable motion control nearly take all the fun away.

I give Kung-Fu Live:

4-5-capsules-out-of-10

Dead Rising 2: Case West is a belated present

Better make sure that you have all of your new games, gadgets and toys secured away after the holidays because Dead Rising 2: Case West will be taking up most of your time on December 27th when it is released. The epilogue to Dead Rising 2 will appear only on the Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 MSP ($10). This price point is double that of Case Zero.

Sure the price may be double but it is still under the pricing of other arcade games of it’s type that can easily run 1200 points or in rare cases 1600 points. Case West itself will take place within the Phenotrans Facility and provide co-op gameplay if the play chooses to, as well as the re-introduction of the photography element from the first Dead Rising. So how many people are going to go for the full trifecta and own Case Zero, Dead Rising 2, and Case West? I know I will.

Mass Effect 3 to launch on Xbox 360, PC and PS3

For the first time ever a Mass Effect game will be launching on another console other than one supported by Microsoft. EA announced that Mass Effect 3 will be released on not only the Xbox 360 and PC, but also the PlayStation 3 as well during the 2011 holiday season. This means that the final chapter of the trilogy will be available for practically everyone as long as they have one of those systems.

This is a far different situation from what happened with Mass Effect 2, as that game is just now going to be seeing a release on the PS3 January 18th. This is of course good news because the franchise can be enjoyed by even more people now thanks to the multiplatform release.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to use new game engine

Over the past years Bethesda’s games have always been extremely well received and are some of the best open world RPGs that the world has ever seen. However they have all had one nagging problem that continued all the way from The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind all the way up to Fallout: New Vegas and that is the fact they were call created using the Gamebryo engine. The engine that has always had numerous bugs and issues that plagued every single one of those games.

However that is all in the past now as Nick Breckon, community manager at Bethesda, released information on his twitter account the following: “Seeing lots of speculation about #tesv game engine. It’s brand new… and it’s spectacular!” This means that there will not be a reuse of the Gamebryo engine and instead we will be seeing a brand new engine that has yet to be named. We will know more as time goes on but we can guarantee that a new engine will be involved when the game releases on November 11th 2011 for the PS3, 360 and PC.

inSANE to be a trilogy terrorfest

It takes some guts to announce that a game that was announced 48 hours ago will be developed into a trilogy. It looks like THQ has these guts as they have just announced via press release that the inSANE series will consist of three different games. Also it was announced that there will be something that they call transmedia projects that could happen involving the inSANE games. This means that there either will be books, comics, or movies involving the story if it just so happens that the game does well.

Not much is known about the game other than that it will involve the horror genre and be co-created by Guillermo del Toro. Oh and we also know the exact capitalization of the title as you can see.  Since it’s announcement at the VGA last Saturday the first news that we receive about the game is that there will be three of them. Perhaps the saying of not counting your chickens before they hatch comes to mind as the first inSANE title has a release date currently of 2013…

Dead Rising Mobile Review

Dead Rising Mobile
Genre: Horror
Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom Mobile
Platform: iPhone
Released: 9 December
Price: (US)$4.99

BUY NOW

**THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE**Launch Sale, $4.99 FOR A LIMITED TIME**Next update iPad will compatible. Please Note: Dead Rising will only run on iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod touch 4th, iPod touch 3rd 16GB and 32GB, or better. NOT COMPATIBLE to iPhone 3G, iPod touch 1st, 2nd, 3rd 8GB, iPad

Ever wanted to face a zombie-apocalypse on the move? The Xbox 360 games of Dead Rising were all well and good, but for all intensive purposes, they were a little unrealistic. You would be very fortunate for an army on the undead to come knocking at your home, allowing you to fend them off from the comfort of your living room. But in real-life, it wouldn’t be like this. A horde of zombies is more liklely to attack when you’re at your most vunerable, such as waiting for a bus or relaxing in a café, which is why Capcom have brought Dead Rising to the portable platform of the iPhone: for a more “real” experience.

Dead Rising Mobile shares likenesses with the original Dead Rising that started it all off in that the game takes place in a shopping mall. In fact, the opening cutscene is so good, it wouldn’t look out of place in an Xbox 360 game. The sound and visuals are great, and for those brief few moments the storyline is enthralling, evoking feelings of curiosity as you try to decipher exactly what is happening before you are cast into the game-world. As those of you who have played the Xbox 360 versions will be aware, this initial cutscene is usually the last hint of any kind of plot because from here on out, it’s just a whole load of arcade-style zombie killing.

Essentially, it is just a toned down version of the original. Both the setting and the objectives are similar, albeit adapted to suit the iPhone’s capabilities. Some of these adaptations are for the better, whereas others detract from the overall experience, although it has to be said, most of these negative changes are as a result of the limitations of the iPhone as opposed to sloppy development work.

An example of a positive change is the adaptation of the menus, missions and save points. You save the game by going into ‘S-points’ which are located at regular intervals around the map. These are much more frequent in this version, which matches the fact that it is running on a portable machine meaning you can quickly jump in and out for short play sessions. From these ‘S-points’ you access the latest missions and select one to focus on. This can also be done from the pause menu which can be used to select which of the current missions the directional arrow will guide you to. Sadly, this directional arrow is very misleading and more of a hindrance than a help. It is so confusing that it is actually better  to use it as an aid to your intuition, rather than relying on it as a full-on guide to take you directly there.

However, as I said, some of the changes do detract from your enjoyment of the game, but to be honest, they are hardly the fault of the development team, but rather the iPhone’s processing limitations. The standout difference is the number of enemies that can be on the screen at any given time is a lot lower on this game. Consequently, it never quite feels like an army of the undead- more like a small swarm followed by another small swarm and so on. Another factor that relates to this point is the poor draw distance. As a sacrifice for graphically sound visuals (at least for the iPhone’s standards anyway), enemies only appear once you are close enough by a specific distance.

Overall, Dead Rising Mobile on the iPhone is a good realisation of the console games. At times it suffers as a result of the iPhone’s limitations but on the whole, the developers have done well to bring the series to the handheld device. There are the same cheap thrills of the console version, allowing you to destroy the zombies with a variety of weaponry, including guns, knives and your bare hands, as well as other items you find along the way. There are even some interesting social networking features, giving you the option of issuing a Rescue Call as your statuses, although you really do need a friend with the game to make the most out of these. I can’t help but recommend the console versions of Dead Rising over this. However, if you are a very mobile gamer who is always on the move, or if you don’t have an Xbox 360, then this is ideal.

Pros

  • 3-D game-world
  • Zombie-bashing on the move
  • Adapted to suit the iPhone’s and the player’s needs

Cons

  • Limitations of the iPhone mean only small groups of enemies, and only when up close
  • Ridiculously confusing directional arrow

7-0-capsules-out-of-10

U-Sing 2 – Wii Review

U-Sing 2 – Australian Edition
Publisher: Mindscape Inc.
Developer: Mindscape Inc.
Format :  Nintendo Wii
Genre: Music / Singing
Release Date: 3rd Dec 2010
Rating : PG
Price : $59.95 AU (Game Only) : $109.95 (Two Mic Bundle)

U-Sing-2-Screenshots-01

Are you ready to sing the hit songs from your favourite Aussie and international artists ?  Well what are you waiting for, get your mates together turn on your Nintendo Wii grab the microphones and sing along to some of the biggest hits from Universal Music including  such Aussies artists as :

Wolfmother – Far Away
Bernard Fanning – Wish You Well
Empire of the Sun – Walking On a Dream
The Temper Trap – Sweet Disposition
Vanessa Amorosi and Seany B – Mr Mysterious
Alex Lloyd – Amazing
Short Stack – Sway Sway Baby
Orianthi – According To You
Brian McFadden feat. Kevin Rudolf – Just Say So

If you’re not fan of the Aussie artist, don’t worry as Mindscape have you covered as well.  There’s a fine mix of international hits such as :

Bloc Party – Banquet
Florence & The Machine – Dog Days Are Over
Lady Gaga – Bad Romance
Owl City – Fireflies
Rihanna – Disturbia
Spice Girls – Wannabe
Blur – County House
Extreme – More Than Words
Shania Twain – That Don’t Impress Me Much
Coldplay – Violet Hill

Plus many more, there should be something for everyone in U-Sing 2 and if there isn’t, then you can jump straight into the U-Sing DLC Store and download (at this moment) another 49 more international hit songs straight to your Wii console.

U-Sing-2-Screenshots-15

Straight to the point U-Sing 2 is a singing / Karaoke game.  There are a total of 8 single and multiplayer game modes which include the initial training/practice (which appears as soon as you power up the game for the first time) where you get to learn the basics of singing and using the USB attached Microphone.  Get stuck into the Solo mode where you can scroll through, select and sing from all the 40 songs plus any others you’ve purchased from the U-Store.  There’s also a neat little filter option that will allow you to list songs in alphabetical order, by year, by difficulty level, by artist or by music style.  If you can’t decide you can also pick the medley option where you’ll get to sing five short versions of songs selected at random.

Once you’ve selected your song the next menu that appears will allow you to choose your difficulty level from easy, medium or hard.  You also have the option to choose between singing a short or long version of the song.  Just before you start the game on the left you can see the high scores obtained by yourself or others that have played in order of long or short and difficulty so you know how much you need to beat their score and claim your spot on the top of the leaderboard.

U-Sing-2-Screenshots-07

Then it’s off to the singing part, before the song starts you’re prompted to activate the microphone by singing into it till it fills up a gauge meter.   If you’re playing multiplayer this is good as it allows you to see which colour you are (blue or green player).  The aim of U-Sing 2 is to sing in the correct pitch and correct rhythm to increase your score as the lyrics appear down the bottom of the screen they change colour to indicate which words need to be sung.  Just underneath, the next set of lyrics are also displayed to prepare you for what is about to come next.  Now I’m not the best singer in the world (I did try and audition for Australian Idol one year but they took one look at me and told me to take a hike) but get the best scores in this game you’re going to sing by adjusting your pitch to accurately fill up the gauges.  Just like other singing games after you complete a page of lyrics, comments will appear on the right of the screen ranging from “Good” to MASTERABBOTT … ehhmm sorry “Unbelievable”.    Another cool feature while you’re singing is the countdown timer that displays how much time is left before the song ends.

One last feature that appears while your singing solo or in multiplayer is the Golden Notes.  What are they you ask ?  Well read on and I’ll tell you.  During a song,  golden notes appear in the lyrics if you sing that section / word and fill up that specific meter where the golden note is residing on it will trigger a bonus sequence during which the notes that follow in the music score become golden. For the next two pages or so every golden note meter filled completely will give you bonus points which are then added to your score at the end of the sequence. At the end of your song your score is tallied up your given a rating according to your performance, some of the grades are :  Atrocious, Beginner, Pretty Good, Professional and Legend (did someone say my name once again)  Most of my results had me sitting between Beginner and Pretty good, but don’t worry I’ll make it to LEGEND one of these days !!

U-Sing-2-Screenshots-08

I’ll tell you what I want, what I really really want !! .. (yes I forced myself to sing a spice girls song, lucky no one else was around when I was doing it otherwise it would have been recorded and posted on youtube) U-Sing 2 lacks a Solo Career Mode,  the singing part of the game is pretty solid with the speech technology picking up your pitch and rhythm pretty nicely.  The sad part is there is no real point in playing the game on your own as you don’t have anything to achieve or accomplish.  Having some sort of Career mode would of extended the life of the game outside the group party aspect, but alas it looks like U-Sing real focus was aimed for social butterflies with lots of friends who also enjoy singing and having a great time.

Which takes me to the multipayer  modes :  There are a total of three modes, they are :  Duo – which lets you sing a song with a partner.   In this mode you and your partner are both singing at the same time with the game screen split into two sections, blue down the bottom and green up the top.  At the end of the song both the players scores are added together and combined with a grade.  Next mode is Versus :  This mode will allow you to sing the same song against another player, the player with the best score at the end of the song wins.  Finally we have Battle Mode :  As with previous modes the screen is split into two sections with each player having their own words appear on the screen, points etc.   The way Battle mode works is both players sing alternately, one taking the role of the “attacker”  The attacker job is to disrupt the singers performance by singing and holding notes at specific points in the song.  If they do so they unlock penalties for the opposing player.  The type of penalties you can unlock are : Trembling,  Break in the Sound, Lyrics moving further away, Reversal of Lyrics on the screen and my favourite Lyrics disappear off the screen.  The roles of attack and singer swap regularly during the song, so you got to be on your toes and be prepare to take as much as you can dish out.

U-Sing-2-Screenshots-02
 
Other options within the game is the Jukebox,  which is accessible from the main menu.  Here you can listen to and watch your favourite clips from the game without having to stress out singing everything in the right pitch or tone to gain high scores.  The great function of Jukebox mode is you can enjoy Karaoke style singing with the press of the button the lyrics will appear on the screen and you can sing along on your own or with your friends.  This is great for parties !!

As previously mentioned if you can’t find a song that appeals to you from the 40 songs, you can login to the U-Sing Store and purchase / download new songs straight to your Wii console.  You’ll need to be connected to the internet so make sure that’s setup first before attempting to access the store.  Once you’re in you can check out approx. 49 songs (more are added weekly) new songs priced at 300 Wii points each.  To buy simply select, confirm and download the song, once its completed it will appear in your solo, multiplayer and jukebox.

U-Sing-2-Screenshots-13

As Shania Twain would say in her song “That don’t impress me much” is how I feel about U-Sing 2 Australia Edition.  Even though it’s jam packed with great songs, impressive voice recognition technology, fun multiplayer and a great jukebox mode for entertaining your friends when throwing a party, plus a DLC store to download more songs at a price.  The only thing lacking in the game was some sort of career in solo mode.  If you’re a loner U-Sing 2 is not going to cut it for you as the best you can do is sing songs and beat your high score.  On the other hand, if you’ve got lots of friends and like hosting sing-a-long parties over at your house then U-Sing 2 will be straight up your alley as you’ll be able to entertain them for hours.

8-0-capsules-out-of-10

Win a trip to Japan courtesy of Gameloft and Eternal Legacy

Who wants to win a trip to Japan ?  I DO !! Gameloft are giving one lucky person a chance to Win a trip for 2 to Japan and also an iPad in their Eternal Legacy “Haiku” Contest !!

All you have to do is simply submit a Haiku (3 lines poem made of 5, 7, 5 syllables) including the words “Eternal” and “Legacy”, Gameloft’s favorite will win the trip for 2 to Japan!

But that’s not all, the Haiku with the more “likes” will win an iPad! So what are you waiting for, write up a Haiku now !! then tell your friends to vote for you!

To enter click here or on the image above !!  Good Luck to you all 🙂  May the best Haiku win.

If you haven’t check out Eternal Legacy have a read of our hands on preview here.  Full review of the game will be released shortly.  Stay tuned.

*Competition ends on the 3rd Of January 2011*

Def Jam Rapstar Review

Def Jam Rapstar

Developer(s) Terminal Reality, Def Jam Interactive
Publisher(s) Konami
Platform(s) Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 (reviewed), Nintendo Wii
Release date(s) October 5th, 2010
Genre(s) Music, Simulation
Mode(s) Single-player, Competitive Multiplayer, Co-op modes
Rating(s) ESRB: T
Difficulty: Medium Rare

For years, people have gathered around the television with microphone in hand and possibly beer while attempting to sing across a wide variety of musical genres. Failing or not games such as Singstar and Lips track pitch and timing to rate how a singer is doing, like a better version of Guitar Hero. However rap songs involve more rhythmic speaking than tuneful singing and possibly misogynistic themes in the lyrics as well. As such, the genre has been under represented in karaoke games. Until now!

Story

Enter Def Jam Rapstar yo, the game features songs from some of the most famous rap acts in the world, both past and present. The songlist is impressive, and though there are some questionable choices when it comes to what parts you do and don’t sing on a given song, the added dimension of lyric tracking allows the game to reward you for singing the right words. Rapstar can not only rate your performances, but record them as well, and there is a community Web site dedicated to creating a video-fuelled social network where players can emulate the pros by posting their videos, representing their crew, and challenging each other to popularity contests. The community features add some depth to what is otherwise a fairly predictable karaoke game, making Def Jam Rapstar an entertaining endeavour for both aspiring amateurs and weekend wannabes. The story is basically about the player and developing yourself into a star, if you can do that, I’d consider it a successful story. But the game does a good job of being believable and putting itself into the context of the rap world, especially with social media integration, which encourages competition.

Gameplay

Any modern day karaoke game lets you get straight to singing from the get-go, and Def Jam Rapstar does just that. In any mode, one player can sing solo, or two players can either sing a duet or battle each other for a high score. Party mode offers most of the robust songlist right away, from old-school tracks like Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” to recent hits like “Live Your Life” by T.I. feat. Rihanna. Lyrics range from tongue-twisting to mind-numbing, and though there are some notable omissions, Def Jam Rapstar covers an impressive cross-section of the genre. The game is, however, rated T for Teen, so some of your favourites may have gaping holes where lyrics should be (especially if you’re a Lil’ Kim fan), though you can fill them in without penalty. Seeing the references to older songs in more recent songs helps cultivate a neat sense of continuity across the 45 song catalogue, and there are more tracks available for download and purchase from the online store.

There are two types of judging mechanics at work in Def Jam Rapstar. Melodic sections are represented by bars that indicate the relative length and pitch of each note in the phrase, as is the standard in karaoke games. Rap sections display a dot over each syllable, and a bouncing ball indicates when you should speak each one. The pace of the ball is meant to dictate your cadence, but it is small and moves quickly, so it doesn’t make a very good guide. While it’s possible to use the pitch bars to guess what the pitch and duration of a given note are, players who are unfamiliar with a song will likely have a harder time picking out the rap sections. If you’re braving an unfamiliar track, your best bet is to listen to the rapper and try to follow, though some artists make that easier than others. Some tracks can also cause problems for solo players because of odd phrasing that, for example, makes you sing the lead vocals and the chorus in rapid succession (like “Put On” by Young Jeezy feat. Kanye West). Nelly’s “Hot in Here” has you sing both the male and female parts of the call-and-answer chorus, while some other melodic sections have you sing a pitch that isn’t the obvious choice. Finding a spare moment to breathe and picking out the right pitch can occasionally be challenging, but on the whole, Def Jam Rapstar does a solid job of presenting the songs and tracking performance.

In addition to all of the existing material, Def Jam Rapstar also comes with a collection of all-new instrumentals for use in the game’s freestyle mode. Obviously, the game can’t score you on your freestyles, so this is strictly useful for the game’s video sharing component. The variety in the freestyle tracks is pretty good, with a range of tempos for you to employ. You can also choose to go with no backing track at all, but it would have been nice to see some sort of music import feature, to allow people to use their own tracks.

Some of the trimming around the outer edges is shaky, but the core of Def Jam Rapstar is rock-solid, and the community video feature is sure to provide a lot of entertainment on its own. If the game continues to release additional tracks at a decent pace and the community keeps posting videos, this could fill a huge gap for hip-hop fans who have been undeserved by most other rhythm games.

Graphics/Audio

All songs in the game are backed by their original videos, but these play out in a 4:3 ratio box in the centre of the game screen, a presentation that immediately makes the game look cheaper in comparison to SingStar’s offering. But it’s understandable because I couldn’t imagine the developers converting all SD videos to HD, that’s alot of work. But it does comes across like it’s straight out of a 90’s karaoke machine, rather than a high-quality transfer like gamers come to expect from modern releases.

However this effect isn’t helped by the UI design, which features jagged lettering overlaid on a rudimentary 3D model of a gold city under a blackened sky. This uninspiring interface doesn’t match up to the creative flair demonstrated by the artists on-board the game; otherwise the rest of the game looks good. The on-screen lyrics while ugly, are easy to read and a bouncing ball follows along with your rapping, though there are times it’s too easy to lose your pacing, particularly on more challenging songs.

As in any music game, much of the heavy lifting is done by the song list, and here Def Jam’s offering doesn’t disappoint.  UK Tracks from London grimesters Devlin, Wiley and Chipmunk, not to mention classics from older UK rap artists, such as Root Manuva’s classic Witness the Fitness, So Solid Crew’s 21 Seconds To Go and Dizzee Rascal’s Mercury Music Prize-winning Fix Up, Look Sharp.

For the US-flavoured, tracks include the mainstream hits of Kanye West and Nelly as well as vintage cuts such as Public Enemy’s Fight the Power, Run DMC’s Run’s House, Beastie Boys’ Brass Monkey, Dr. Dre’s Nuthin’ But a “G” Thang and Salt-N-Pepa’s Push It. It’s a varied and impressive soundtrack, including a slew of desirable tracks already on the Rapstar store for purchasing (including Flo Rider’s Low), with many more to come.

Overall

For owners of the PlayStation Eye, you can record, edit and upload short 30-second clips of your performances to the Def Jam Rapstar online community. While this features lets you show off some of your best performances, or most shameful, an increase over the 30 seconds clips is much needed. It’s not long enough because for the most part, 30-seconds won’t even cover the length of one hectic verse.

Perhaps the biggest gripe with Def Jam Rapstar is the exclusion of swearing, it’s a big part of rap music and taking it out is more offensive than if it was there. It’s understandable to cater for the younger market, but a simple option for the parent’s sake to turn it off would have been more practical than killing the flow of songs for the purpose of censoring. It isn’t game breaking, but it’s sure to disappoint in some areas.

Wrapping…. errr rapping it up, if you’ve been looking for a good karaoke game centred on Hip-Hop, Def Jam Rapstar is definitely the shizzle and it’s a nice inclusion into the rampant music market. It might not be incredibly complex, but it delivers the essentials to making a great, fun karaoke game. If only the best rappers were included, which is Bret and Jemaine from Flight of the Concords, then I’d be even more impressed.

The Good

  • On the whole, a great, simple karaoke game
  • The set list should please fans of the genre
  • Social Media integration

The Bad

  • Only 30 seconds? Come on
  • No mother flipping swearing
  • Poor interface design

I give Def Jam Rapstar a

8-0-capsules-out-of-10