Def Jam Rapstar Review

Let's start with the basics. Def Jam Rapstar includes 45 tracks that span from older classics such as "Push It" by Salt 'N Pepa to the more modern likes of "Live Your Life" by T.I. featuring Rihanna. A handful of the tracks are region specific, so the UK gets access to the excellent "Pass Out" by Tinie Tempah and the not so good "50/50" by Wiley. I failed to connect with the majority of tracks but that it is often the priced paid when trying to please a wide audience with differing rap tastes. Considering the huge number of rap tracks in circulation though it would be have been nice to see a more diverse mix of tracks. Extra tracks are being added to the online store and can be downloaded for about £1 per song, but there are still a number of artists missing, namely Eminem and Jay-Z.

Most console microphones are compatible with Def Jam Rapstar and tracks can be played either alone, in a direct battle for the highest score against a friend, or alternatively in a duet where you and a friend take different parts of a song to rap individually to build a combined score. Points in each mode are awarded for matching lyrics, timing and in some cases pitch is also important, but ultimately building and maintaining the score multiplier is crucial for getting a high score. The appeal in rap songs is that you will rarely need to break out the high notes, but the downside is that in some tracks, "I Need You" by N-Dubz in particular, has up to 8 words per second on average, which makes you sound more like a horse racing commentator than Dappy, though that's not necessarily a bad thing.

During the development of the game it was stated that the score system couldn't be "cheated" by simply whistling through a track. This statement is indeed true, however I found that by saying "eaze-ze-ze-ze-ze" and so on during the rap sections successfully hit all the timing notes while netting 70% on the lyrics score, which raises questions about the voice recognition and makes the multiplier bonus system rather flawed. Furthermore the pitch system feels poorly implemented and at times it was frustratingly hard to hit the correct notes which would then collapse the score multiplier. The pitch system could also sometimes be tactically bypassed by softly making "Oooooooohhh" noises at the right level. But that said to attain the highest scores it will be necessary to play the song properly and know the lyrics off by heart.

Presentation is excellent throughout with silky gold and black interfaces complimenting the music videos for each track and the menu music and sounds are enjoyably "hip". From the main menu there are three different game modes with which to apply your rap prowess: Party mode gives straight access to all the songs that are currently unlocked (with only a handful of songs locked at the start) and allows the creation of a custom playlist of tracks to progress through. This is the best place for honing your rapping skills on a song as it becomes enjoyably fun and challenging to try and reach that all important high score, as I did with the DLC song "Like a G6" by the Far East Movement, with a position in world top 25 the reward of my efforts.

Forming the backbone of Def Jam Rapstar is the Career mode, which features five stages to progress through. Essentially each stage simply features a selection of tracks and challenges to complete - such as endurance and consistency tests - in order to win microphone points to unlock content and the next stage. There does not appear to be any difficulty curve or links between the stages and the only reason to play this mode it seems is to get a feel of the tracks and unlock the remaining songs. Each track has variable difficulty settings, but as there is little reward for rapping on harder difficulties so there doesn't appear to be any need to. Completing the career mode unlocks an expert difficulty which hides the on-screen lyrics but provides big score potential, so this becomes the only effective way to mount a challenge on the online leaderboards.

The last game mode, Freestyle, features 10 exclusive instrumental tracks from Hip-Hop producers such as DJ Khalil, Cool and Dre and 9th Wonder. These tracks open up the possibility of writing and then rapping your own lyrics. As with all tracks in Def Jam Rapstar, if you have an Xbox LIVE Vision camera connected (or Playstation Eye for PS3) then you can record yourself rapping away in the comfort of your own home. The video can then be edited with basic visual effects such as stickers and animations and also audio effects like an echo and reverb. Disappointingly, contrary to what was previously promised, only 30 seconds of any video, including a freestyle performance, can be saved and then uploaded which massively restricts the potential of writing your own song. Also, if you do not have an official camera then there is no built-in way to record just the sound.

Once you have recorded and edited a slice of footage (which took me about 1 hour for a job well done) then it can be uploaded to the Def Jam Community website where, once approved by a moderator, it can be viewed, rated and commented to earn points to help build up a high profile. Therefore it is encouraged to spread links to the video on Twitter, MyFace and forums to promote your video and boost you into the limelight. If you do well enough then your video may be featured on the website, furthering the publicity around the world. It is hoped by the developers that an undiscovered talent may be found through the use of this process. Videos can also be battled against one another with viewers deciding which is best by voting, with the winner bagging big points.

At the time of writing there are around 40,000 users registered and 18,000 videos uploaded online, which isn't bad going. However this whole process was feeling a little unloved when I delved into it: my beloved video was slightly un-synced when it was uploaded, my community account failed to work properly and no videos had passed the moderation stage for a couple of days. I hope that this situation will improve in the future but these bugs should simply not exist at this stage.

Overall Def Jam Rapstar feels fairly well put together despite the flaws and should prove to be a useful tool for aspiring rappers. One friend commented after his first song "It's pretty good innit!" which helped capture the accessibility of the game, but for most I suspect that Def Jam Rapstar will simply be for enjoying occasionally with friend's, preferably when "slizzard". To enjoy all the game features you will need to add a couple of microphones and a camera to the price which tots up to a rather expensive £50-60. I have spent just under 8 hours with Def Jam Rapstar and have completed every aspect of the game. Unless I hit the big time then all that remains is to upload a few more videos, challenge a few more leaderboards and then bring the package to parties for a quick laugh.

Shame, because for a rap game Def Jam Rapstar is far from lame.