The music / rhythm game genre (for myself, at least) has been growing a bit stale. We’ve seen countless takes on the genre, and for the most part, they all revolve around the same basic, rock-themed gameplay. This is precisely the reason that the genre’s latest installment, DJ Hero, feels so fresh. Straying away from the norm, DJ Hero offers a new way of playing music rhythm games, giving players a new turntable controller and focusing on hip-hop and electronic music, which is a complete breath of fresh air for the genre.
Above all else, the difference in how DJ Hero is played is what really makes it stand out. The turntable controller, while a bit daunting at first, is brilliant. It consists of the turntable platter that has three buttons on top of it (green, red, and blue), a mixer knob, a euphoria (star power) button, and a cross-fader, which is the most interesting of the bunch.
The controller can be pretty confusing at first.
Much like every other rhythm game around, DJ Hero has a highway coming down the screen, though this one consists of three green, red, and blue colored lanes. Standard notes will come down each lane, signaling to press the corresponding colored button on the vinyl platter. Also, longer “scratch” notes will come down the lanes, letting you know to hold the corresponding button while scratching the vinyl back and forth. Then there are the cross-fader signals, which will move the outside lanes left or right, letting you know to shove the cross-fader in that direction. Lastly, there are also some notes telling you to twist your mixer knob, or quickly jolt the cross-fader in a certain direction.
All of these elements come together nicely, and in the end, make the controls very fun. But be warned, it will take some serious time before you’re used to, and are able to dissect exactly what you’re supposed to be doing at any given time – especially in the Hard and Expert difficulties. The main reason for this is the cross-fader. The learning curve for consistently being able to quickly slide the knob from an outside position to the center is pretty steep. Often you’ll accidentally smack the knob too hard, sending it to the opposite side and missing your note. But after spending a pretty significant amount of time with the game, I’ve become pretty consistent at it.
DJ Hero's gameplay is top notch - and extremely fun.
As for the music in the game, it generally consists of two hip-hop or electronic songs mixed together, and for the most part, they’re great mixes. The track list is great, featuring mixes of bands like Daft Punk, Justice, Jay-Z, and Rihanna, and then there are some more rock-themed bands like Weezer and The Killers. The diverse track list is great, and I found a mere one song in the game during which I wasn’t bobbing and swaying my head to the beat.
Unfortunately, apart from the gameplay, DJ Hero feels a bit stripped down. You’re able to play any of the game’s songs whenever you’d like (assuming you’ve unlocked them, that is), and apart from that, there aren’t many other gameplay options. As for DJ Hero’s online play, it’s a bit stripped down as well. The only real option available is to play a setlist head-to-head against an opponent. The setlists are completely customizable, but the lack of any other game type is pretty disappointing. There is the ability to play some songs with a guitar or microphone hooked up, but these features feel pretty tacked on. The guitar feature works fine, but only works with a select few songs, and the microphone feature is a total waste, completely lacking a lyrical track to sing along to, and not even giving you any sort of feedback for your performance. You could just be singing out loud and get the same results, only you won’t even have to go through the trouble of digging out your microphone.
You can play as the Grandmaster!
DJ Hero’s visual style looks great. The venues you’ll play in look great and feel alive, with flashy lights and strobes galore. To occupy these areas are playable characters, which have a neat looking exaggerated style. But more interesting are the real-life DJs available to play. There’s DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Shadow, Z-Trip, Daft Punk, and more. Though lets be honest here, Daft Punk is the only way to go. Those dudes look like robots! Oh, and also available are various turntables, outfits, headphones, and color variants to make your DJ look as your please.
While DJ Hero has its fair share of shortcomings, they’re almost entirely in the parts of the game that don’t revolve around actually playing songs. And when it comes down to it, what really matters in this type of game is playing the songs, which DJ Hero does great. The price tag is pretty steep, setting you back a hefty $119.99, but if you’re at all interested in playing hip-hop and electronic themed songs while pretending to be a DJ, I wholeheartedly recommend this game – you won’t be let down.
DJ Hero is available now on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii, and Playstation 2.
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