Despite the success of "Karaoke Revolution," now in its third edition, all volumes of the popular singing series have sorely neglected hip hop fans. Enter "Get On Da Mic" from Eidos, the first-ever rapping game, which joins the "Def Jam" fighting series and the forthcoming "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" as the latest in a continuing crop of games targeted at the "urban" market. While the appeal of "Get On Da Mic" may be more limited, it's the first and only choice right now for gamers who want to rap on their PS2.

The graphics are decent, though they are not at all the focus of the game. Character models are varied but not overly impressive. The environments are well designed and have some clever special effects, especially at the higher levels, but don't do much to serve the game. The only real deficit in the graphics department is that the characters are not cued to the music or lyrics, so their body motions and lip movements are the same for every song, which can lead to some interesting juxtapositions of what you hear and what you see.

Sounds is stellar, with all the tracks coming in at CD-quality. The game includes plenty of options to tweak the lead vocals and microphone volume as well. Sound effects are limited and not at all annoying; they are there, but don't ever really get in the way. This is one area where the game excels, which, as a singing game, it should.

The developers have done a decent job trying to flesh out both single and multi-player modes, though at it's heart, this really is a party game and is best enjoyed with a group of friends, the more the better. Among the game options for more than one player are "Competition," a straight-up hot-seat style contest, "Co-Op," which, as you would expect, lets you work together with a friend rather than compete, "Party," an unscored open mode, and the best of the bunch, "Freestyle," in which two players battle back and forth with their own rhymes while onlookers rate the performances.

Single player modes are more limited and include the usual "Practice," "Exhibition," "Freestyle," and "Career." The career mode is not nearly as deep as it could have been. You progress from singing to yourself in the mirror all the way up to a world tour, but there's no real difference in the environments. You can use money you earn on the way up to buy gear, threads, car, and crib, but, aside from the outfits you can purchase, none of your spoils actually show up in the game or have any impact at all on gameplay. There are several unlockable characters, as well.

No matter which mode you choose, the basic game remains the same. Choose a song from an impressive and varied list of forty, ranging from such old school classics as Sugarhill Gang's "Rappers Delight" to newer songs like Snoop Dogg's "Gin and Juice." None of the songs are the original versions, but the sound-alike rappers sound surprisingly close to the originals in most cases. On top of the song list, there are 40 additional "beats" for the freestyle modes. With no lyrics, you're free to make up your own rhymes to go along with the pre-recorded tracks.