I remember the first time I heard of Guitar Hero. Why on earth would I want to stand in front of a TV playing a plastic guitar?! Well a few years on and I now own the whole band set, and almost all of the Rock Band & Guitar Hero games. There’s something strangely rewarding about feeling like you’re playing songs. So when I heard of a DJ Hero, I was in two minds – was this genre going to be restricted to band instruments. The answer is a categorical no.
DJ Hero is the next step forward in rhythm games and is certainly not a release to be ignored. Let’s talk about the peripheral before anything else. The turntable is very well made, sturdy, light and easy to tuck away somewhere unlike a guitar.
As for the game itself, it’s not as easy as you’d expect it to be. Depending on the difficulty you choose (medium is a safe bet to start with) you have to deal with button pressing, scratching and crossfading. Crossfading in particular is an art which takes a lot of perfecting especially with songs that require quick slides with the fader. It’s a lot to take in to start with but once you get settled into how the gameplay works the game really stretches its legs and comes into its own.
As with any game in the ‘Hero’ series you work through set-lists to win stars and open new venues and new songs. Onto the music itself, and as with the last Guitar Hero release Activision have taken a great approach and included a real blend of music both past & present. Songs like ‘Want You Back’ by the Jackson 5 and ‘Heard It Through The Grapevine’ by Marvin Gaye believe it or not work very well mixed in with Gorillaz tunes and Black Eyed Peas as well as a couple of Jay-Z, Tupac, and Cypress Hill tracks. It seems like the developers are really making an effort to appeal to a wider audience which makes a lot of sense.
Also, as with any ‘Hero’ game you can expect cameos and this game is no different. We get to see appearances from the late DJ AM, Daft Punk and the long lost Jazzy Jeff (although unfortunately there’s no sign of the Fresh Prince Will Smith).
The game also allows cross compatibility, if you have a guitar then you can co-operatively play a track with the turntable and the guitar. This is a great idea but unfortunately it doesn’t work very well. They are very different styles and don’t fit into the normally seamless game and it feels a little awkward to be honest.
Once you’ve unlocked new set-lists and songs you can create your own set-lists to perform which is just a jazzy way of saying quickplay. Online play is also available for you to test your crossfading skills against some undoubtedly well practised kid who will humiliate you!
The songs are fantastic. The developers have produced some really funky mixes with some of the most random artists imaginable. With any rhythm game, there are some songs which won’t appeal to everyone but the majority of them are pretty good – the Daft Punk set-list being a particular highlight.
As you progress through the game you unlock new venues to play at, these don’t necessarily affect the game in any way but the further in you get the grander the venues become with dancers, pyrotechnics and crazy lights galore which do add to the atmosphere as lights often change to the beat of the song.
The customisation to the characters which you use to DJ is also very in depth, admittedly you can’t create your own DJ but there are a lot of characters to choose from. Once you’ve picked a DJ, you can then choose from outfits they wear, decks they use and even the headphones they wear. The game definitely misses the ability to create a DJ from scratch though.
We have to remember that this is the first effort that has been attempted into this genre of rhythm game – there are games (or pieces of software for consoles) to create beats but they are developed with real DJ’s in mind. This game is about having fun & there will be holes just as there was with the first guitar heroes but they really have set themselves an excellent foundation to springboard from with the inevitable sequel.
The biggest stumbling block this game will face is the hefty price tag it carries, originally scheduled to cost £114.99 on release it was reduced by retailers to around the £90 mark but even so that is still a lot of money when other rhythm peripherals have dropped so much in the last few months. There is also a limited edition version called ‘Renegade’ which gives you a stand for the turntable as well as a limited edition CD featuring Jay-Z and Eminem. Is a CD and stand really worth paying an extra £50 for?
Looking past the pricing issue, DJ Hero is definitely worth a look. It’s a really polished game with something that will appeal to everyone. It’s challenging to the point where you will steadily improve over time so gives a good sense of longevity. It’s also ideal as something to play with friends around. With downloadable content available on release as well, it is something which will keep becoming your interest as long as the mixes released online to download are as fresh sounding as those in the game.
VideogameUK verdict: 8/10
