Mike Bantick
Thursday, 12 November 2009 11:13
Entertainment
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Not as accessible as its guitar orientated brethren, DJ Hero is still an oddly fun way to make believe you are musically talented.
There is something quite natural - even for those that have never touched a musical instrument – to picking up a Guitar Hero controller and strumming away at the titular rhythm video-game.
DJ Hero
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Developer
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FreeStyleGames |
Publisher
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Activision/Red Octane
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Rating
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PG
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PS3, PS2, Wii, Reviewed on Xbox 360
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Adding drums and a microphone into the mix had no effect on this accessibility model, and Activision (and EA with Rock Band) has reaped the cash accordingly.
Up steps DJ Hero to the decks, in one step narrowing the niche of the “Hero” brand and at the same time broadening the demographic of rhythm based video-games.
Rather than a long haired band member, we must take the role of a lolly-pop sucking, neon light endowed club DJ. Scratching vinyl and mashing well known songs into a dance throb for the massed humanity on the strobe lit floor.
Instead of that, we end up with the video game equivalent of patting our head whilst rubbing our belly. It is nothing like being a dance-club DJ, but, the bottom line is, DJ Hero is a lot of toe-tapping fun.
To play the game, a budding DJ needs to break out the Turntable Controller. The basic model (You can go with an up market
Renegade Edition controller if you wish ) is a more than sturdy addition to the Hero franchise. Consisting of a single-size smooth moving turntable, with three colour coded buttons controlled by the right hand. And a cross fader, effects dial and “Euphoria” button on the left.
Like other Hero titles, players are presented with a set of streams, this time in a parody of a turning record, and only three in number corresponding to the three buttons on the turntable, and like those past games, the buttons must pressed in time with the falling icons to trigger samples.
DJ Hero boasts 93 tracks all up, but these are combinations of the 102 songs in the game, meaning there is a bit of song repeating as a particular artist will go up against another. Generally though there is a lot to like about the track selections here, even somebody with a limited musical vocabulary will enjoy the old-school versus new-school mash ups found in the game.
Genres span R&B, hip-hop, rock, pop and electronic, and artists such as Blonde, Bowie, Beastie Boys, N.E.R.D, 50 Cent, Marvin Gaye and many more are meshed together in a pleasing and beat-pounding way.
The cross fader is needed to flip emphasis between the competing songs, and the turntable will need to be “scratched” at the appropriate moments to score highly in the game. Scoring big, unlocks stars to be spent on game progression or in-game goodies for your DJ avatar, such as costumes, decks and new venues to play shows in.
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