DJ Hero

Review from Jae - Tuesday, 10 November 2009 @ 12:36pm

Let me preface this by saying I’m putting DJ Hero up as my Game of the Year contender. That is how much I am in love with it. Screw all you rock loving hippies, I’m a bigger fan of hip hop, electric funk and house music so this title appeals to me more. It’s by no means perfect but it’s the title I’ve had more fun with than any game I’ve played all year. Even, get ready for this shocker, more than Street Fighter IV!

Activision seem to be whoring out the “Hero” name but we’re not talking about cheap and nasty whores here. Time has been spent to make DJ Hero an immersive experience. I’m no DJ, infact before this game I don’t think I’ve actually touched any decks of any sort, as long as you don’t count Beatmania. Speaking of the older generation rhythm games I can say the music and rhythm game genre is one of my favourites. I’ve enjoyed the likes of Bustagroove, Space Channel 5, every DDR game imaginable (yes even the god awful Mario and Disney versions), Beatmania, Singstar, Rockband, Guitar Hero and many many more. I still rate DDR the best but DJ Hero is creeping up as a close second. If there was j-pop in here it might just take the crown. As with many of the games in the music genre you have to purchase the game with a DJ pad decked out with a turntable, cross fader, effects dial and euphoria button. I’ll go through all that in greater detail soon.

The foray of music comes alive in this game. I could sit here and list all the songs and the artists I like in this game but I would be waffling on for far too long. The big highlights for me come from Kid Cudi, Daft Punk and MIA mixes. I’m sure the upcoming DLC from David Guetta will surely please fans of his latest work. Mixes sound like they’re been done by professional DJs and in some cases they have. The beginning tutorial with Grandmaster Flash brings back memories of the early 2000’s when I got to see the man perform live. Having him as a playable character is a nice feature but a ‘create a DJ' mode would be most welcoming. You can tell that they're saving that feature for a future sequel. As I said the music talent on the disc alone will give you hours of enjoyment, my hope is that they bring some focus around some trance and D&B in the future which will undoubtedly be my party-hosting material.

Onwards to the play mechanic. It's simple once you get the hand of it, if you play this game on easy, even on your first time, you are a complete baby. The game doesn't allow you to fail at all. Since the objective is to get as many stars, to a max of five, as you can through a mix you simply less zero stars if you're really bad at a song. The main moves in the game involve scratching the deck and using the cross fader to follow the lines on screen. The star power equivalent in DJ Hero is called euphoria and you earn a bar of euphoria every time you perfect a small section of moves highlighted in light blue. If you’re really skilled you can build up a rewind move, which you earn through an extended perfection, and use it straight after you perfect a euphoria portion to gain two bars. This can be hard to pull off but is possible and rewarding. The controller is fairly light weight but I find it very comfortable to place on my lap and scratch away. At first you will naturally want to use your three middle fingers to place onto each button but you will soon notice how weak your wedding ring finger is at scratching. My advice is to stick to using just your two main fingers and alternate your index finger with the green and red button. Also it helps if you grip the side of the turntable with your thumb when you scratch to make sure you don’t lose control. To perform a rewind move you have to complete a full 360 turn anticlockwise which can be tricky at first but don’t take your eyes off the television otherwise you’ll miss a move, try to keep one finger on the buttons so you’ll always know where you’re coming back to. All the left handed freaks out there can play this too as the controller can be detached and swapped around to accommodate.

Daft Punk DJ set is kinda hot

I do have a few bones to pick with the title. Firstly I’ve had instances where the game has frozen for half a second and I miss a beat which stuffs up my non-stop count. This may just be me but I’ve had it happen 2-3 times in a current sitting. The cross fader bar on my decks is fairly flimsy too. When you’re trying to bring the fader back to the middle position you can easily slide too far to the opposite side which throws off your perfect count. There is a feature that serves very little purpose called freestyle. When the red bar fattens and fades you can strike the button to perform a freestyle sound effect usually in vain of a voice saying something like “boyeahh” or “here we go again”. It sounds good on paper but annoying and disjointed to the experience when used. You are also stuck on the one freestyle noise until you use the effects dial to change it which you have hardly anytime to do since you’re busy scratching and cross fading. All of these downfalls can be easily fixed and I don’t see why they wouldn’t be with the inevitable sequel. I’m not sure if I’m just a bit slow but I can’t seem to find an off switch for the DJ controller. When you turn the console off the lights on the deck continue to flash as if they’re looking for a connection. I eventually just pull the batteries out of the thing and put them back in when I need to. Nothing to really fuss about but an on/off switch would’ve been handy.

The multiplayer aspects have this first generation feeling to them. Online matches and head to head are really just the same moves for each player with no variation. Co-op mode with a fellow guitarist is a nice but not necessary. I guess it’s great for those with friends who are Guitar Hero lovers who want to get in a piece of the action. I doubt they’ll hold up interest for long based on the music.

DJae Hero

Pros

Phat beats, a fresh of breath air in a stale genre and lots of Daft Punk

Cons

Cross fader kind of fades in its own ability to work well, freestyle is more like freakstyle.

Summary

DJ Hero is not here to replace any of the other Hero games, it serves its purpose to compliment what we already have out there. Rock enthusiasts flock towards their Guitar Heroes where as those that appreciate a bit of house and hip hop will be happy with DJ Hero. This game gives you much of what you need and has enough to keep that disc spinning in your console. I only wish they game was more accessible in demo form for everyone to experience and then you can see how much fun you can have being a DJ.