FFNY: The Takeover features a brand new story which focuses on events taking place prior to the Fight for New York console games. In the game, players take on the role of an up and coming street brawler working to gain respect and reputation by taking on rivals in the five boroughs of New York City. As the player takes out his competition, he gains control of each territory and the crew of fighters represented therein.
In bringing the Def Jam experience to the PSP, EA took in a lot of feedback from fans of the original console games. The result is a title that looks and plays at a level on par with the console games. For starters, the fighting system itself has been tweaked out considerably. Gone are the days of the simple "punch, punch, kick, grab" formula that most players got used to in the previous games. In The Takeover, the fighting is a lot more fluid and requires some extra skill to master. There are more than 180 different fighting moves in The Takeover, including the ability to pin opponents to the ground and pound them mercilessly into the dirt. There's also an easily executed reversal system, whereby players can hit both of the PSP shoulder buttons to reverse attacks and dish out some punishment of their own.
Fans of the Def Jam series will appreciate the fact that everything they've loved about the console games has been successfully ported over to the PSP version. There are more than forty different fighters, most of which have been pulled from the hip hop music scene. Each of the celebrity characters in the game is also voiced by his or her real-life counterpart. The character customization is still as deep as ever, giving players a full wardrobe of hundreds of different outfits and accessories. And for players looking to share an ass kicking, The Takeover will support 2-player fights via a PSP Ad Hoc connection.
There were still a couple of minor flaws in The Takeover, based on the build shown off on the E3 floor. First off, the camera occasionally seemed to shift too quickly, causing my fighter to lose his bearings in the middle of a combo. Also, the reversal system occasionally brought the actual fighting to a standstill, as both fighters got caught up in reversals of reversals.
So far, Def Jam Fight for New York: The Takeover is shaping up to be a worthy addition to the Def Jam franchise. The game looks and plays fairly close to its console counterparts, and the experience is a lot of fun for the road. Fans of the series or fans of fighting games in general should get ready to throw down for a beat down when The Takeover hits the streets later this year.
