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Def Jam Rapstar

Def Jam Rapstar offers budding rappers and emcees the chance to test their skills and share them with the rest of the world, or at least on the PS3 and 360. Unfortunately the Wii version of Def Jam Rapstar does not allow you to record 30 second clips of yourself singing and upload them so a large selling factor of this title, its social networking features, are completely absent on the Wii.

If you overlook this however the game has the potential to create a spot-on experience for its target demographic. Def Jam Rapstar features a variety of artists and not just ones signed by Def Jam Records. Included in the game are artists from Dirty South, EMI, Columbia and many others as well as ten exclusive freestyle tracks from some of the top US producers such as DJ Premiere, 9th Wonder and Just Blaze. Additionally each region will have their own specific artists so 20% of the tracklisting in the UK version is exclusive to the UK and features artists such as Dizzee Rascal, So Solid Crew Tinie Tempah.

Def Jam Rapstar includes four different mode; freestyle, party and career mode. While all of them are pretty self-explanitory one of the game's interesting features is the ability to practice certain verses or choruses in a song. You will be able to select a verse or chorus and have it looped until you are happy with it, meaning if there's a certain section of a song you're unsure about you can focus on just that. There are four difficult levels on offer ranging from 'easy' to 'expert' and in the latter you must perform the track from memory.

4mm Games has been working hard on ensuring that the voice recognition technology is spot-on and insist that the game judges your ability based on lyrical accuracy, timing, flow and pitch. Unlike other karaoke games that just judge tone this title will really test your skills. The game will be sold in two different SKUs - as a solus unit or with a microphone. Anyone who already possesses a USB microphone will be pleased to hear that it will work with this game.

After each performance your results are shown and the game analyses where you went wrong. Mistakes are shown in red and it indicates in which manner you were wrong, for instance in your tone, lyrics etc. While the game does censor our explicit lyrics, to ensure it gets a 12 age rating, you are free to use the explicit lyrics and the game will not mark you down for that.

Overall the game is shaping up nicely. It knows what it wants to do and who its target audience is and is likely to be well received in this regards. Unfortunately the Wii's lack of video recording mode means it will probably be ignored on the Wii. However, for anyone who just wants some emceeing fun then Def Jam Rapstar looks set to be perfect for you so look out for it when its released on November 26th.

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