Def Jam Icon review

Using music as a weapon is nothing new. Westlife songs regularly cause us agonizing pain, while Radiohead makes us want to slit our wrists in despair. But never have we seen music used to such brilliant effect in a fighting game, and after the series' more typical entries on PS2, we really didn’t expect the latest Def Jam title to be so amazingly inventive.

When you select your character, you also choose a song to represent them and play over the top of fights. Environments now contain plenty of interactive hazards that pulse in time to the beat, and if you smack your opponent into one of them at the right moment, you create even more damage. This includes exploding pumps at a gasstation, the blast from a broken fusebox on a rooftop, a hefty kick from an annoyed pole dancer in a club, and a swinging light rig inside a TV studio.