''Def Jam Rapstar'' is a

music video game A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs. Music video games may take a ...

based on

rapping Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

, developed by 4mm Games and

Terminal Reality Terminal Reality is an American video game development and production company based in Lewisville, Texas. Founded in October 1994 by ex-Microsoft employee Mark Randel and former Mallard Software general manager Brett Combs, Terminal Reality deve ...

. It was released on October 5, 2010 in North America and on November 26, 2010 in Europe.(2010-11-26
"MAKE THE WORLD YOUR STAGE WITH DEF JAM RAPSTAR"

Gamasutra ''Game Developer'', known as ''Gamasutra'' until 2021, is a website founded in 1997 that focuses on aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by Informa and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine '' Gam ...

. Retrieved January 26, 2011.

Gameplay

''Def Jam Rapstar'' is a rap-themed

karaoke Karaoke (; ; , clipped compound of Japanese ''kara'' "empty" and ''ōkesutora'' "orchestra") is a type of interactive entertainment usually offered in clubs and bars, where people sing along to recorded music using a microphone. The music is ...

game. The game uses radio versions of all its tracks to secure a "Teen" rating by the

ESRB The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings to consumer video games in the United States and Canada. The ESRB was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Asso ...

. Players are not penalized for cursing, but it is not a required part of the game. There are two modes, Career and 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.

Development

Executive Vice President Paul Coyne of 4mm Games said, "Internally, we used 'Get_On_Da_Mic''.html" ;"title="Get_On_Da_Mic.html" ;"title="'Get On Da Mic">'Get On Da Mic''">Get_On_Da_Mic.html" ;"title="'Get On Da Mic">'Get On Da Mic''as the architectural model of how ''not'' to do ''Def Jam Rapstar''."Announced in the official Def Jam Rapstar newsletter

"

Reception

The PlayStation 3 version received "generally favorable reviews", while the Xbox 360 and Wii versions received "mixed or average reviews" according to video game

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' gave the Xbox 360 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."

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

gave the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game a 7.5 out of 10. They praised the scoring accuracy and the features, but criticized the censorship in the songs as the game went for a "Teen" rating.

References

{{Authority control 2010 video games Def Jam video games Kinect games Konami games Music video games Karaoke video games PlayStation 3 games Video games developed in the United States Wii games Xbox 360 games Multiplayer and single-player video games Terminal Reality games

Gameplay

Development

Reception

See also

References