Activision has served up some rhythm action for the urban kids, so they don't have to pretend to like Metallica or Blur to join in on the beat-matching antics of the insanely popular Hero games.
If you ever wore your baseball cap sideways, thought Kriss Kross was cool or copied those 'westside' gang signs in photographs, you're going to think DJ Hero is wicked. It's a visceral, hands-on, music-making experience that will have you turning the speakers up and bopping your noggin. In the lower difficulty settings that is. Then you'll get confident and take it up a notch. And then it'll melt your brain.
DJ Hero
Official trailer
1:36Behind-the-scenes with Eminem
DJ Hero
Official trailer
1:36Behind-the-scenes with Eminem
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Let's explain how you play it first. The beefy turntable controller has one free-spinning record deck with three coloured buttons on it, a cross fader, a little turning effects dial knob (equaliser) and a button to activate Euphoria - the DJH equivalent of Star Power in Guitar Hero.
On screen, circles travel down the three colour-coded tracks and you tap the corresponding button when it reaches the bottom. When a long coloured panel comes down you hold that coloured button and 'scratch' the record deck back and forth. In easier modes you can scratch at will, harder modes give you arrows to scratch in a particular direction.
When the left track on screen bends off to the left, you move the cross fader left. Vice versa with the right track. And it's satisfying because, just as a cross fader functions in real life, you can hear it cutting between the two tunes.
Those are the basic and compulsory functions but there are some non-compulsory actions too. Freestyle panels that come down the central red track let you freely tap away at the red button to trigger a sound effect of your choice. "YE-YE-YEAH BOOIII", and the like.
When you see a bridge icon appear over a track you can turn the equaliser knob to reduce either the bass or treble of that track. Build up a big enough combo and you earn the ability to rewind a part of the track too, activated by spinning the record deck backwards.
You get points for these two functions, but you don't have to do them. In fact you can't fail a song in DJH - the song doesn't end but the better you do the more stars you earn at the end, which unlocks more set lists.
That's the extent of what you do in DJH and it's fantastic fun. But those who can mix in real life will be interested to know that the "mixing" of two tracks in the game is an illusion - it's simply a pre-recorded mix that only exists as a single music track in the game. Because of that DJH gives you little to no mixing freedom.
You can't choose the two tracks you want to mix together, those are all pre-set. So if you'd rather mix 50 Cent with Jay-Z instead of David Bowie, tough luck. Also, moving the cross fader left or right outside of the game's prompts won't cut to that music track (because it's not really there, get it?). The music just fizzes out.
DJ Hero
Official trailer
1:46Intro video
DJ Hero
Official trailer
1:46Intro video
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There's no freestyle mixing mode, which is a shame considering DJ-ing is all about the freedom to manipulate music. The potential for a mode that lets you scratch and cross fade away to your heart's content would have been huge.
But that's the problem with DJ Hero - its shallow feature set. Yes, it's fun to play and will make you feel cooler than you probably really are. That's the aim of every really good music game. But its feature set fairs poorly in comparison to the recent Guitar Hero and Rock Band games which have, over the years, grown into behemoth packages of musical creation.
Outside of the normal challenges of those games, you can jam freely over a generic beat, record those jam sessions and play them back, or even make your own music entirely. But not in DJ Hero. Your creative freedom is clipped.
There's also one fundamental difference between DJH and its guitar-powered counterparts. In Guitar Hero you're playing along with the music itself. It feels natural because you're playing the notes of a song, and you can use your knowledge of that song to help with your timing.
In DJ Hero your knowledge of the songs means nothing. You're not replicating the song itself, but mimicking a convoluted mesh of fast inputs normally done by real DJs in freestyle form (i.e. they make it up as they go).
Mimicking this improvisation in a pre-determined fashion is not as natural (or as true to the real-life action) as playing the notes to a song that you know and love.
This means the memorisation process is both harder and more essential in DJH for the tougher difficulty settings, when those commands come down the screen too fast for first-time reactions. It's easier to remember the rhythm of a riff in GH than it is a sporadic outburst of scratch commands in DHJ. And I say this from a background of mixing vinyl in bedrooms since my teen years - I've never played a guitar.
The choice of music is also a mixed bag. We've got no problems with it being tailored for a mainstream crowd - Jay-Z, Dizzee Rascal, Black Eyed Peas, Beastie Boys, Eminem. That's where it gets it right. Then there's David Bowie, Queen and other not-so-fitting songs. It's all cleverly mixed but to say there's a world of better beats out there - not just in hip-hop but in dance, garage, drum & bass and numerous other genres this game could have done a lot more with. maybe we'll have to wait for those in the inevitable follow-ups.
The bottom line is that, while very good fun, DJ Hero isn't nearly as feature-packed or creative as the guitar games, nor does it work as well on a basic concept level. But if you want in on some rhythm action without having to pretend you like rock music, you'll have a good time.
If you ever wore your baseball cap sideways, thought Kriss Kross was cool or copied those 'westside' gang signs in photographs, you're going to think DJ Hero is wicked.
...you're also an utter cretin.
I'm quite surprised by the score, to be honest. I'd heard that this was supposed to be really good fun.
I was never in any doubt that I wouldn't be buying this though - neither the idea or the music appeals at all.
But the setlist looks amazing! What do you mean Queen isn't suited? Ever heard Grandmaster Flash live? Another one bites the dust is a staple of his sets.
Spend a bit more money and you could get some basic CD decks. Why would you waste money on this tosh when you can actually choose the tracks you want to mix.
I was very excited about this game, until I read this review. Sure, the music they've chosen is great, but I'm pretty disappointed at the inability to freestyle mix the music. Hopefully, they will take that into consideration, and add that feature on a future edition.
Thought this review was a little harsh, says you don't have the freedom or it doesn't have as many features as guitar hero, how many guitar heros have there been before you were offered that freedom. As for the music, I personally prefer the david bowie and queen over Jay-zed and 50 cent.
I played this in a local shop, while it was fun its still no where near as good as the rock band or gutair games, same day i managed to pick up a mint rock band drum kit for 19 euro!
A lot of places still trying to shift this at £99.99. There were stacks of them sitting in HMV. I think the renegade edition was something daft like £169,99 too. They are not selling out in Toys R us at £79.99 either. I think in the current financial market and with other games like Modern Warfare fighting for your money...DJ Hero wont sell enough until its price drops further.
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