[Konami Gamers Night 2010] Def Jam Rapstar Hands-On
Let your white boy shame flow... just make sure your rhymes do the same.
Published: April 13, 2010
When DMA Design (later Rockstar North) was founded off the back of a BMG Interactive spin-off, music was at the forefront, due in no small part to Jamie King, who left Rockstar a few years back to form 4mm, a games studio more or less cloaked in secrecy until the announcement of Def Jam Rapstar -- at which point the veil was back and we knew little about the future of the game. Turns out it was Konami of all publishers that managed to instill a sense of simpatico in the dev house and, with Def Jam guiding the game's street cred, it was finally time to show things off.
The idea, as was mentioned more than a few times during the presentation at Konami's Gamers Night, was to deliver a sense of becoming an up-and-coming rap star, covering everything about hip-hop's lifestyle and nuance in a way that hasn't really be done before. In theory, it's meant to be an all-encompassing look at what it's like to make it by way of one's mouth and how they use it, starting from nothing and reaching the top of the charts on the way to superstardom -- hip-hop style.
In actual practice the game plays like a far more accurate version of any of the various karaoke games over the years. Anyone who has fumbled through the seemingly random grading of the rap section of SingStar will understand the immediate improvement over something that actually tracks your timing and inflection with a live video feed, actual music videos and plenty of snazzy effects.
The use of the word "snazzy" should be a pretty good indicator of our decided lack of street cred, so after plenty of liquid courage and a fleeting memory of being intensely invested in the gangsta rap explosion in the 90s, we took on "Nuthin' But A G Thang," quickly realized that no amount of liquid courage would work, and bumbled through things before leaving with a face so red and hot it could have been a mini-sun.
No, we were not prepared for Def Jam RapStar, but that doesn't mean it wasn't fun. We'll just be playing it when nobody else in the office is around. Things work exactly like you'd expect, though; the actual video plays (edited as it would be for TV), while a live feed (yes, via the PlayStation Eye) of your mug shows just how goofy you look while following a bouncing ball. It should be noted that while we absolutely buried a truly great song, the parts where we could still remember the flow ended up syncing up perfectly. No, we don't have it (did we ever), but when we come close, the game happily lets you feel like a badass.
Thankfully, 4mm and Konami are prepping a serious community side to things. There will doubtlessly be a recording and uploading/sharing/commenting system in place, but the truly interesting thing is the announcement of both DLC (no surprise there) and organized battles between single players or entire crews. Yes, you can form a rap clan and square off. Online. Against other people. That will likely terrify or excite you (with possibly little in-between), but regardless of your desire to be compared to others, the fact that it's an option, backed by Def Jam and 4mm, organized by Konami as part of a greater initiative to create sanctioned tourneys all over the country for their games, means this isn't just a publishing deal where the game will be kicked out and left to wither on the vine.
Though the list of songs looks to be absolutely massive for a game in this genre (and yes, it includes artists not on the Def Jam label; they're trying to take a comprensive snapshot of hip-hop from start to present, after all), a few songs have been officially announced. They are:
2 Pac -- "I Get Around"
50 Cent -- "I Get Money"
Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg -- "Nuthin’ But a “G” Thang"
Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx -- "Gold Digger"
Lil’ Wayne -- "A Milli"
Notorius B.I.G. -- "Juicy"
Slick Rick -- "Children’s Story"
T.I. featuring Rihanna -- "Live Ya Life"
Wu Tang Clan -- "C.R.E.A.M."
Young Jeezy featuring Kanye West -- "Put On"
A solid (if fairly predictable) start to be sure, but as former Def Jam head cheese Kevin Liles rattled off names that ranged from The Sugarhill Gang to Eminem, it was obvious there was going to be a loving attention to the entire history of hip-hop laid out in this game -- and likely well beyond if current DLC trends are anything to go by.
There are some among us in the office that are better equipped to actually deliver a proper hands-on impression of how Def Jam Rapstar actually plays. Take a wild guess as to which of us will be checking things out in more depth at E3 this year? Good guess.
The idea, as was mentioned more than a few times during the presentation at Konami's Gamers Night, was to deliver a sense of becoming an up-and-coming rap star, covering everything about hip-hop's lifestyle and nuance in a way that hasn't really be done before. In theory, it's meant to be an all-encompassing look at what it's like to make it by way of one's mouth and how they use it, starting from nothing and reaching the top of the charts on the way to superstardom -- hip-hop style.
In actual practice the game plays like a far more accurate version of any of the various karaoke games over the years. Anyone who has fumbled through the seemingly random grading of the rap section of SingStar will understand the immediate improvement over something that actually tracks your timing and inflection with a live video feed, actual music videos and plenty of snazzy effects.
The use of the word "snazzy" should be a pretty good indicator of our decided lack of street cred, so after plenty of liquid courage and a fleeting memory of being intensely invested in the gangsta rap explosion in the 90s, we took on "Nuthin' But A G Thang," quickly realized that no amount of liquid courage would work, and bumbled through things before leaving with a face so red and hot it could have been a mini-sun.
No, we were not prepared for Def Jam RapStar, but that doesn't mean it wasn't fun. We'll just be playing it when nobody else in the office is around. Things work exactly like you'd expect, though; the actual video plays (edited as it would be for TV), while a live feed (yes, via the PlayStation Eye) of your mug shows just how goofy you look while following a bouncing ball. It should be noted that while we absolutely buried a truly great song, the parts where we could still remember the flow ended up syncing up perfectly. No, we don't have it (did we ever), but when we come close, the game happily lets you feel like a badass.
Thankfully, 4mm and Konami are prepping a serious community side to things. There will doubtlessly be a recording and uploading/sharing/commenting system in place, but the truly interesting thing is the announcement of both DLC (no surprise there) and organized battles between single players or entire crews. Yes, you can form a rap clan and square off. Online. Against other people. That will likely terrify or excite you (with possibly little in-between), but regardless of your desire to be compared to others, the fact that it's an option, backed by Def Jam and 4mm, organized by Konami as part of a greater initiative to create sanctioned tourneys all over the country for their games, means this isn't just a publishing deal where the game will be kicked out and left to wither on the vine.
Though the list of songs looks to be absolutely massive for a game in this genre (and yes, it includes artists not on the Def Jam label; they're trying to take a comprensive snapshot of hip-hop from start to present, after all), a few songs have been officially announced. They are:
2 Pac -- "I Get Around"
50 Cent -- "I Get Money"
Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg -- "Nuthin’ But a “G” Thang"
Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx -- "Gold Digger"
Lil’ Wayne -- "A Milli"
Notorius B.I.G. -- "Juicy"
Slick Rick -- "Children’s Story"
T.I. featuring Rihanna -- "Live Ya Life"
Wu Tang Clan -- "C.R.E.A.M."
Young Jeezy featuring Kanye West -- "Put On"
A solid (if fairly predictable) start to be sure, but as former Def Jam head cheese Kevin Liles rattled off names that ranged from The Sugarhill Gang to Eminem, it was obvious there was going to be a loving attention to the entire history of hip-hop laid out in this game -- and likely well beyond if current DLC trends are anything to go by.
There are some among us in the office that are better equipped to actually deliver a proper hands-on impression of how Def Jam Rapstar actually plays. Take a wild guess as to which of us will be checking things out in more depth at E3 this year? Good guess.
