Call Kid and Play, because the world of house parties is about to change. Ok, I’m guessing I just revealed a little bit too much about my age there. Starting Friday October 30th, amatuer and wanna be DJs will have a ball starting off parties right with a variety of disc spinning artists like DJ AM, Grandmaster Flash, Daft Punk and more as they interact and manipulate the tracks streaming across the screen.
The grandaddy of mixing himself, Grandmaster Flash, makes a cameo and lends his recognizeble voice and DJ know-how to the DJ Hero's tutorial, schooling players on the game mechanics and the turntable controller. And when he tells you 'you might wanna brush up on your skills because your career depends on it, the guy ain‘t lying.
Virtual DJs will master various techniques as they play along to modified versions of the on screen visual cues Hero gamers have become accustomed to except now for scratching, blending, cross fading and sampling. You can also add your own creative spark by choosing to add a variety of effects, samples and scratches, especially in freestyle mode. Creative expression is heightened with euphoric gameplay where the DJ can forget about the crossfader and soak up the crowd adulation while his points are doubled. Additionally, gamers can rock together as it features DJ-guitar exclusive mixes played with a turntable controller and Guitar Hero guitar controller.
The DJ Hero turntable controller, which consists of a mixer with crossfader, samples button and effects knob, and a turntable with three buttons for track one, samples and track two, feels somewhat lightweight and clunky to begin with - especially if you're used to tables. But you‘ll soon get used to it and just like the real thing, you eventually become accustomed to the position your right hand takes in order to perform all the scratch, crossfading and sample-triggering movements required.
DJ Hero comes off as a great debut effort for what will certainly become a long running and popular franchise. I mean Activison is kind of known to stretch a franchise out (Spiderman, Tony Hawk, Guitar Hero, etc). All of the music included is fun to play, and the controller itself is a satisfying, well-designed piece of plastic. Sure the table peripheral is lacking a couple of aspects in its design.
Combine that with the silly price of the product and this game comes up just short of perfection in the scoring. But let’s be honest here; Activison is running this debut as a beta on the public and will surely improve the controller in DJ Hero 2. So if you can afford it, go pick up DJ Hero today. If you can't afford, make friends with someone who can now.
Graphics | Audio | Gameplay | Replay | Genre | Final |
