While the way games are reviewed can vary, the procedure tends to loosely follow this standard protocol. Is it fun? Is it easy to control? Does the game in question have a decent lifespan so you don’t get bored too quickly? Does it let you punch Sean Paul in the face? Does it let you kick Sean Paul in the mouth? Does it let you throw Sean Paul into a nearby fire, change the music on the fly if one of his god forsaken ‘songs’ happens to be playing, then throw Sean Paul into the fire again? Games like Okami can score highly without even satisfying those last three criteria, Def Jam: Icon scores infinitely higher because of it. We’ll repeat for those of you not paying attention at the back – you can kick Sean Paul in the mouth. In the mouth! That’s 99% of you sold, right there.

For the remaining 1%, Def Jam: Icon has other tricks up its sleeve. The main trick is something that EA is probably calling Active EnvironmentzÄ or something else wickedy wickedy whack to shout about on its press release but all it means is that the backgrounds react to the music played. Buildings shake to the deep drum kicks of Method Man’s rap, floors rumble to the sound of M.O.P.’s ‘Ante Up’ classic, children cover their ears and cry when Sean Paul’s nasal whining can be heard. It looks impressive enough, sounds impressive and by god, it is impressive.

While it’s no doubt an attempt by the developer to make us use words such as “immersive”, these Active EnvironmentzÄ actually have a use too. You can throw your opponent around the arenas, all of which have areas where the environment is a little more… dangerous. The helicopter on rooftops will swoop down and smack anyone nearby with its tail, the speakers in the executive suite blow players across the room with their music and dancers in the club will swing around their stripper pole and try to lodge one of their high heels in your eye. Finding these little hotspots in all the arenas is pretty good fun, as you drag Redman around by his ear, throwing him about like a dirty toy in an attempt to uncover new areas of pain.

It’s just as well these are included though because without them, Def Jam: Icon doesn’t have much to stand on. The brawling is incredibly basic, the sort of brawling you could probably aspire to imitate yourself with the right combination of booze, pubs and men hitting on your girl (who isn’t actually your girl but you did buy her a drink half-an-hour ago. And she said “thanks”.) There are punches, there are kicks, there are some grapple moves and there’s a feeling of disappointment when you realize that’s it. Excuse the left turn into facts and figures territory but.. you have four standard attacks, all of which do the same thing. You have two types of knockdown attack, which are essentially standard attacks that knock the other player off his feet. You have two grapple moves and a throw. Further moves can be unlocked but it’s not like this turns into a fully fledged brawler to rival even the most basic of beat-’em-ups, or even a SmackDown down. Outside of multiplayer, where the cringe-worthy animations make every blow feel infinitely more satisfying, the anorexic moves list and limited variation is not nearly good enough.

EA has second-guessed this problem and introduced a quick fix measure in the form of a career mode. You probably won’t be buying Def Jam: Icon to try to boost Bun-B’s record sales by deciding how much money to allocate to the marketing for his new single but that’s exactly what you’ll be doing. The story mode follows your rise to the top as a record producer, signing artists (by beating people up), selling singles (by beating people up) and impressing women (by cooking her romantic meals and nice poems. Kidding! You impress her by beating people up.) At a push, it’s an okay attempt to add some substance to single-player, which quickly feels like you’re going through the same old routines and fights over and over again. And yet… you are going through the same old routines and fights over and over again, regardless of how well Ludicris’ new single is selling thanks to you.

So to go back to the original questions. Yes, Def Jam: Icon is fun. Yes, it is easy to control. It just doesn’t have the decent lifespan to keep you coming back for more. If this was code we received for preview purposes, we’d do a song and dance about how with more rappers, more arenas and more moves, this would be the best thing ever. As it is, Def Jam: Icon feels like an unfulfilled promise, a game that could have been great but quite happily settled for being good. It’s a real shame when you consider how much fun the opening hours are and multiplayer is. Still, at least you get to kick Sean Paul in the mouth.

Ryan King