Def Jam Rapstar

Def Jam Rapstar
Developer(s)	4mm Games
Publisher(s)	Konami[1]
Distributor(s)	Terminal Reality
Platform(s)	Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii
Release date(s)	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 NA October 5, 2010 [2] PAL November 26, 2010 AUS February 10, 2011 Wii NA October 5, 2010 PAL November 26, 2010[3]
Genre(s)	Music, Simulation, Rap
Mode(s)	Single-player, Competitive multi-player, Cooperative modes
Distribution	DVD-DL, Wii Optical Disc, Blu-ray Disc

Def Jam Rapstar is a rapping game developed by 4mm Games.^[4] The game was released on October 5, 2010 in the United States of America (U.S.), and released on November 26, 2010 in Europe.^[5][6] An official launch event was held at New York's Hudson hotel on October 6, 2010 to celebrate the game's U.S. release.^[7] As of October 5, 2011, the community site has been shut down with no official word on when or if it will be reopened, causing major features of the game to be inaccessible.

Gameplay

Rapstar is essentially a rap themed karaoke game.^[8] The game uses radio versions of all its tracks to secure a T rating by the ESRB. Players are not penalized for cursing, but it is not a required part of the game.^[8]

There are two modes, either Career or Party modes. The Career mode is in five stages. Each stage has eight tracks for the player to master, including a New Song Challenge which is unlocked as the player progresses through the stage. The Party mode allows players to simply pick an individual song and perform it.

The Xbox 360 version is compatible with the Kinect sensor if you live in North America, specifically with the sensor being used as an alternative to the Xbox Live Vision camera.

The PS3 version is compatible with the PlayStation Eye Camera.

Development

Executive Vice President Paul Coyne of 4mm Games, said, "Internally, we used [Get On Da Mic] as the architectural model of how not to do" Def Jam Rapstar.^[9][10]

This game is available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii with the possibility of more features and sound tracks.

Soundtrack

Career Mode

The following videos are included with the game. (Note, "Brass Monkey" is audio only.) All tracks are also playable in Party Mode.

Stage	Song title	Artist	PS3/360	Wii
1	"Push It"[11]	Salt-N-Pepa	Y	Y
1	"Run's House"[12]	Run-D.M.C.	Y	Y
1	"Turn My Swag On"[12]	Soulja Boy Tell 'Em	Y	Y
1	"We Fly High"	Jim Jones	Y	Y
2	"Best I Ever Had"[11]	Drake	Y	Y
2	"Get Low"[12]	Lil' Jon & the East Side Boyz	Y	Y
2	"Gin & Juice"[12]	Snoop Dogg	Y	Y
2	"Hate Me Now"[12]	Nas	Y	Y
2	"Just A Friend"[11]	Biz Markie	Y	Y
2	"Stand Up"[12]	Ludacris	Y	Y
3	"A Milli"[13]	Lil Wayne	Y	Y
3	"Brass Monkey"[12]	Beastie Boys	Y	Y
3	"Gold Digger"[6]	Kanye West	Y	Y
3	"Juicy"[13]	The Notorious B.I.G.	Y	Y
3	"Live Your Life"[6]	T.I.	Y	Y
3	"Mama Said Knock You Out"[12]	LL Cool J	Y	Y
3	"Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang"[6]	Dr. Dre ft. Snoop Doggy Dogg	Y	Y
4	"I Get Around"[13]	2Pac	Y	Y
4	"I Get Money"[12]	50 Cent	Y	Y
4	"I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By"[12]	Method Man	Y	Y
4	"It's All About the Benjamins"[12]	Diddy	Y	Y
5	"C.R.E.A.M."[13]	Wu Tang Clan	Y	Y
5	"Hot in Herre"[12]	Nelly	Y	Y
5	"Scenario"[12]	A Tribe Called Quest	Y	Y
5	"So Fresh, So Clean"[11]	Outkast	Y	Y

US Edition

The US Edition also features the following tracks, in Career Mode (which can also be played in Party Mode.) See below, for the regional variations on the game.

Stage	Song title	Artist	PS3/360	Wii
US	"Can't Truss It"[12]	Public Enemy	Y	Y
US	"Children's Story"[6]	Slick Rick	Y	Y
US	"Crush on You"[12]	Lil' Kim	Y	Y
US	"Da Rockwilder"[11]	Method Man & Redman	Y	Y
US	"It Was a Good Day"[12]	Ice Cube	Y	Y
US	"It's Goin' Down"[12]	Yung Joc	Y	Y
US	"Put On"[6]	Young Jeezy	Y	Y
US	"Slow Jamz"[12]	Twista	Y	Y
US	"Still Not a Player"[12]	Big Punisher	Y	Y
US	"We Takin' Over"[12]	DJ Khaled	Y	Y

Party Mode

There are five videos exclusive to the Party Mode on PS3 and Xbox 360. Note, these videos are not included on the Wii version.

Stage	Song title	Artist	PS3/360	Wii
N/A	"Always On Time"[12]	Ja Rule	Y	N/A
N/A	"Ruff Ryders Anthem"[12]	DMX	Y	N/A
N/A	"Slam"[6]	ONYX	Y	N/A
N/A	"Stronger"[12]	Kanye West	Y	N/A
N/A	"They Reminisce Over You"[13]	Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth	Y	N/A

New Song Challenges

The following tracks are unlocked at the end of each stage in Career Mode.

Stage	Song title	Artist	PS3/360	Wii
1	"Fight the Power"[12]	Public Enemy	Y	Y
2	"Big Poppa"[12]	The Notorious B.I.G.	Y	Y
3	"Lean Back"[12]	Terror Squad	Y	Y
4	"It Takes Two"[12]	Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock	Y	Y
5	"Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See"[12]	Busta Rhymes	Y	Y

UK Edition

The UK version of the game replaces the videos Can't Truss It, Children's Story, Crush on You, Da Rockwilder, It Was A Good Day, It's Goin' Down, Put On, Slow Jamz, Still Not A Player & We Takin' Over with UK exclusive videos by UK grime artists.

Stage	Song title	Artist
1	"Fix Up, Look Sharp"[12]	Dizzee Rascal
1	"Giant"[12]	Devlin
1	"Number 1"[12]	Tinchy Stryder
2	"I Need You"[12]	N-Dubz
4	"Black Boys"[12]	Bashy
4	"Pass Out"[12]	Tinie Tempah
4	"Witness (1 Hope)"[12]	Roots Manuva
5	"21 Seconds"[12]	So Solid Crew
5	"50/50"[12]	Wiley
5	"Chip Diddy Chip"[12]	Chipmunk

There are also regional variations of the tracklist in France and Germany.

The German version replaces some tracks with:

• Absolute Beginner - "Hammerhart"
• Azad - "Prison Break Anthem"
• Curse - "Und Was Ist Jetzt"
• Das Bo - "Türlich Türlich"
• Deichkind - "Bon Voyage"
• Kool Savas - "Futurama"
• Peter Fox - "Schwarz Zu Blau"

The French edition contains:

• Disiz la Peste - "Jpete Les Plombs"
• Kery James - "Banlieusards"
• Ness Beal - "Rap de Tess"
• NTM featuring Lord Ko - "Ma Benz"
• Oxmo Puccino - "Mama Love"
• Psy 4 De La Rime - "Le Monde Est Stone"
• Sefyu - "Molotov 4"

Downloadable Content

The following tracks could be downloaded for the game at one time, but have been removed and currently have a 50/50 chance of coming back. Content could never be downloaded for the Wii version of the game.

Song title	Artist	Date Added
"Over"[12]	Drake	11/02/2010
"Right Round"[12]	Flo Rida	11/02/2010
"Get Me Home"[12]	Foxy Brown	11/02/2010
"Hustlin'"[12]	Rick Ross	11/02/2010
"Playmaker (Freestyle)"[12]	Nitti Beatz	10/26/2010
"Stadium Status (Freestyle)"[12]	Danja	11/02/2010
"The 15th (Freestyle)"[12]	DJ Khalil	11/02/2010
"Wyld Money (Freestyle)"[12]	Danja	10/26/2010
"Mind Playing Tricks on Me"[12]	Geto Boys	10/26/2010
"My Humps"[12]	The Black Eyed Peas	10/26/2010
"Ridin'"[12]	Chamillionaire	10/05/2010
"Grindin"[12]	Clipse	10/05/2010
"Bad Boy for Life"[12]	Diddy	10/05/2010
"I'm So Hood (Remix)"[12]	DJ Khaled	10/05/2010
"All I Do Is Win"[12]	DJ Khaled	12/14/2010
"Party Up"[12]	DMX	10/05/2010
"Ice Cream Paint Job"[12]	Dorrough	10/12/2010
"Paid in Full"[12]	Eric B. & Rakim	10/05/2010
"Make Me Better"	Fabolous	10/12/2010
"Low"[12]	Flo Rida	10/05/2010
"Wasted"[12]	Gucci Mane	10/26/2010
"Got Money"	Lil' Wayne	10/12/2010
"Around The Way Girl"[12]	LL Cool J	10/26/2010
"I Got 5 On It"[12]	Luniz	10/05/2010
"Can't Tell Me Nothing"[12]	Kanye West	10/26/2010
"Lavish (Freestyle)"[12]	Cool & Dre	10/26/2010
"Tango Cash (Freestyle)"[12]	Bangladesh	10/26/2010
"All the Above"[12]	Maino	10/05/2010
"This Is Why I'm Hot"[12]	MIMS	10/05/2010
"You're a Jerk"[12]	New Boyz	10/05/2010
"Throw Some D's"[12]	Rich Boy	10/12/2010
"Dey Know"	Shawty Lo	10/12/2010
"Crank That"[12]	Soulja Boy Tell 'Em	10/26/2010
"Say Something"[12]	Timbaland	10/26/2010
"Passin' Me By"	The Pharcyde	10/05/2010
"Rapper's Delight"[12]	The Sugarhill Gang	10/05/2010
"Regulate"[12]	Warren G	10/26/2010
"Shoulder Lean"[12]	Young Dro	10/12/2010
"The Choice is Yours"[12]	Black Sheep	11/16/2010
"Who's That Girl?"[12]	Eve	11/16/2010
"Cape Kingz Anthem (Freestyle)"[12]	Just Blaze	11/16/2010
"Cherchez LaGhost"[12]	Ghostface Killah (feat. U-God)	11/09/2010
"Jesus Walks"[12]	Kanye West	11/16/2010
"How High (remix)"[12]	Method Man & Redman	11/09/2010
"Ice Cream"[12]	Raekwon (feat. Method Man, Ghostface Killah and Cappadonna)	11/09/2010
"Protect Ya Neck"[12]	Wu Tang Clan	11/09/2010
"Every Girl"[12]	Young Money	11/16/2010
"We Run This (Freestyle)"[12]	The Runners	12/14/2010
"IWW (Freestyle)"[12]	9th Wonder	11/09/2010
"Robbin Cru (Freestyle)"[12]	Nitti Beatz	11/16/2010
"Dots (Freestyle)"[12]	DJ Premier	11/09/2010
"Go Hard"[12]	DJ Khaled	12/14/2010
"Pass the Courvoisier, Part II"[12]	Busta Rhymes	01/11/2011
"Get Ur Freak On"[12]	Missy Elliott	01/11/2011
"Money To Blow"[12]	Birdman	01/11/2011
"Laffy Taffy"[12]	D4L	01/11/2011
"Luv U Better"[12]	LL Cool J	01/18/2011
"Beamer, Benz or Bentley"[12]	Lloyd Banks	01/18/2011
"Papa Can U Hear Me?"[12]	N-Dubz	01/18/2011
"Shawty"[12]	Plies	01/18/2011
"Shut This Down (Freestyle)"[12]	Ill Blu	01/27/2011
"The Humpty Dance"[12]	Digital Underground	02/08/2011
"Swag Surfin'"[12]	F.L.Y.	02/08/2011
"Like A G6"[12]	Far East Movement	02/08/2011
"Whatever You Like"[12]	T.I.	02/08/2011
"The Light"[12]	Common	02/15/2011
"Ms. Fat Booty"[12]	Mos Def	02/15/2011
"Get By"[12]	Talib Kweli	02/15/2011
"Bad Mood"[12]	Track Dilla	02/15/2011
"Understanding"[12]	Crada	02/15/2011
"Limit"[12]	Deichkind	02/15/2011
"Pression"[12]	Koudjo	02/15/2011
"Fire"[12]	Shuko	02/15/2011

Reception

Reception

Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings (PS3) 76.19%[14] (X360) 75.80%[15] (Wii) 70%[16] Metacritic (PS3) 75/100[17] (X360) 74/100[18] (Wii) 65/100[19] Review scores Publication Score Eurogamer 7/10[20] Game Informer 7.75/10[21] Game Revolution B−[22] GameSpot 7.5/10[23] (Wii) 6.5/10[24] GameTrailers 7/10[25] GameZone 8/10[26] Giant Bomb [27] IGN 7.5/10[28] Official Nintendo Magazine 63%[29] Official Xbox Magazine 7/10[30] The Guardian [31]

The game was met with mixed to positive reviews. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 76.19% and 75 out of 100 for the PlayStation 3 version;^[14][17] 75.80% and 74 out of 100 for the Xbox 360 version;^[15][18] and 70% and 65 out of 100 for the Wii version.^[16][19]

The Guardian gave the X360 version four stars out of five and called it "an absolute must. If you've found yourself mouthing the words to A Milli on the tube, there's a huge amount of fun to be had here. And while it doesn't have the universal appeal of its more mainstream counterparts, the potential of its online feature means it could well become a huge sleeper success."^[31]

See also

• Karaoke Revolution
• SingStar
• Battle Rap Stars

References

External links

• Official website
• Def Jam Interactive

Def Jam Recordings video games Fighting games Vendetta Fight for NY The Takeover Icon Music games Rapstar