10 Awesome Video Games That Should Have Been Terrible

2. Def Jam: Fight For NY

The late 90s and early noughties weren't exactly the halcyon days of hip-hop, with the intelligent, socially-aware work of Tribe Called Quest and Jurassic 5 being replaced with the more brash up-and-comers like DMX and 50 Cent. But hey, the kids were really getting into the stuff, so why not solidify the commercialisation of hip-hop with a video game revolving around it? Inaugural instalment Def Jam Vendetta was surprisingly decent when it came out, using an improved version of the engine used for N64 hit WWF No Mercy to throw in some of the biggest names in hip-hop in the ring with each other; its famous faces including Ludacris, Method Man, DMX and Scarface. No one thought a sequel would make much effort to improve on it, but Fight For NY took things to the next level, taking the fight to the streets, making the fighting more absurd and throwing more excellent multiplayer modes. KOs could happen by throwing people under trains, the fighters - now including Snoop Dogg and Sean Paul - could deploy all sorts of over-the-top bodyslams and high-flying kicks, and the plethora of game modes included inferno matches (in burning buildings), demolition matches and subway matches. It was ridiculous and it was the selling-out of hip-hop, but no one cared because it was stupidly good fun.