Graphic Nature – DJ Hero

Over the past five years the Guitar Hero series has been one of the most popular games in recent history. Let alone the fact that they sparked a revolution of kids getting back into music and wanting to learn how to play said instruments. Last week the folks over at Activision released DJ Hero, which took the popular franchise into a whole new direction.

DJ Hero
Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation 2, & Nintendo Wii
2 Player/ Online Play
Developer: FreeStyleGames
Publisher: Activision
ESRB Rating: T for Teen
Price: $119.99 (Regular Edition) $199.99 (Renegade Edition)

DJ Hero puts you behind the turntable to master some of the most popular mash-ups today. Following the playing logic behind Guitar Hero players have to tap buttons, scratch the turntables, and use the fader to keep the song going.

Pros

The Song Selection – I am not a big fan of mash-ups, but DJ Hero has some of the best mash-ups I have ever heard (“I Want You Back” by The Jackson 5 & “Semi-Charmed Life” by Third Eye Blind is my favorite). Some songs will make you feel like you are the DJ sitting there scratching and fading the songs together, while others you just want to finish and move on to the next song. Also , it doesn’t hurt that some of the most popular DJ’s (Daft Punk, DJ Shadow, Grandmaster Flash, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and DJ AM R.I.P) made exclusive mixes for this game.

Graphics – If you played Guitar Hero 5 then you already know what the graphics look like. The animations of the characters are detailed and coincide with the action needed to play the song. You will be impressed with the elaborate stages you perform on and mixture of turntables and headphones you can give your character. Also, the crowd animations give the stages that much needed club/rave feel.

Turntable & Guitar Mash-Ups – For some songs you can actually have a friend or someone online play with you using a guitar. Being able to really feel like you are working a mash-up gives the game a more realistic feel.

Medium Difficulty Will Challenge You – I love the fact that playing this game on the medium difficulty was a challenge for some songs. Usually you can run through a song on medium with no problems. With DJ Hero the constant fading between tracks can get crazy at times.

Middle Ground

The Controller – Just after a day of playing with the turntable controller some of the buttons were already sticking. Besides that the button placement is pretty perfect. All you need to do is keep your right hand on the turntable and the fader between two fingers on your left hand and you should be fine.

Cons

No DJ Left Behind – Probably the only real con to this game is that it has no fail. You can jump right in on expert and hit a few notes and don’t have to worry about failing. Let alone the fact that it also features a rewind option so say you miss a note or two you just need to spin the turntable backwards and you can re-try. I can understand the rewind option, but no fail I mean come on way to baby us.

Overall, DJ Hero is a fun experience and will keep you entertained for hours. Hell you might even find yourself looking to download some of the mixes and mash-ups featured in this game. However, the $120 price tag is a little steep. Usually Guitar Hero games cost around $90 dollars for the game and a controller. If you know someone who has it then get your ass over their and play it. Other then that the only reason you would want to cough up the $120 bucks is if you love mixing and mash-ups. The no fail factor of the game also takes a little fun out of it because you don’t need to work that hard to finish a song.

4 stars out of 5