DJ Hero Review (XBOX360)
I first laid my eyes on DJ Hero at X’09, Microsoft’s annual expo of things to come here in Toronto, and after 5 minutes on the game I knew Activision had a winner on their hands. If you have ever spent time spinning records (or MP3’s these days), have played any of the other music-based games, or just want to see what it’s like living the life of a world-travelling superstar DJ (ok so maybe that last one is a bit of a stretch….) you HAVE to give DJ Hero a spin!
This game wouldn’t be nearly as fun if it wasn’t for the slick controller device that was designed for it. The weight of the spinning platter easily resembles the feel of playing records, and the fader slides smoothly across its path, though sometimes a bit too smooth. A big part of the game, once you hit medium levels and higher, require quick back and forth actions with the fader, relying on the small “click” in the middle to notify to you that you’ve hit the centre. It takes a lot of practice and patience to prevent it from flying past the half-way point while in the midst of a furious Scratch Perverts set (which is fantastic btw). Having said that, practice makes perfect as they say, and this becomes less of an issue the more time you put into the game. The mixer and turntable portions of the controller can be separated and flipped around if you’re more comfortable scratching with your other hand, and once connected the units can be locked together for a solid feel. All in all, a great first generation controller that is sure to be a hit with fans of this title.
The concept of the game is very similar to the other ones in this genre, with the obvious difference being the style of music and method of hitting the notes. You watch three tracks scroll down your screen and your scratching hand has to hit the appropriate buttons on the turntable, while your other hand fades left and right or triggers the various point multipliers; the Euphoria button, which lights up when you get perfect on specific sections of the mix, doubles your points for a short period, and the EQ knob, which filters the mix down or up the audio range while rewarding you with extra points. Rewind is another feature which helps with your high-scores – Hit a certain number of notes in order, and you’re provided with an opportunity to spin the record back and re-do portions of the mix. Choose wisely, and you can easily build up your points with this bonus. On easy and beginner levels, you can ignore the fader and concentrate primarily on what your scratching hand is doing. Beginner involves just clicking buttons as they scroll by, Easy introduces scratching to the fold, and Medium is where the fading begins. Hard and Expert are a huge jump up in difficulty from medium, and includes directional scratches, quick spikes with the fader, and multiple note hits at the same time. The frustration levels will jump exponentially when you first bump up to the hard/expert regions, but so does your feeling of satisfaction when you first hit that 50-note stretch perfectly! I used to DJ for many many years, so the movements each hand has to make is familiar territory for me which made jumping into this game that much easier. I wanted to test out this theory with some friends who have never touched the wheels of steel, and found that even those who are brilliant on games like Guitar Hero or Rock Band have difficulty adjusting to the “rub your tummy/pat your head” feel of DJing, where each hand is doing completely different and mostly foreign movements. I do believe that anyone who has some experience mixing or scratching records definitely has the advantage going into this game.
It’s great and all that the hardware and game play is nicely sorted out, but this game would be nothing without a killer soundtrack to play to, and you won’t be disappointed … for the most part. The developers’ in-house and contracted DJs have done an excellent job with making some out-there mashups, but unfortunately some songs are used one (or three) too many times throughout the game and you can easily get sick of them in a hurry (no offence to the Jackson 5 or No Doubt, but I don’t want to hear another one of your songs in this game ever again after listening to I Want You Back or Holla Back Girl a million times!!) The gems in the tracklist can be found in the last few sets you unlock, so time and effort will be rewarded in spades (just try a Scratch Perverts set on anything beyond Medium..I dare you!). Downloadable content have already started appearing on the Xbox Live Marketplace, but at $3 per song, it might take a while for people to accept that price point and start adding to their “record crate”. I realize the effort and time it takes in making these mixes, but I still think $3 is much too high of a price to pay for a 3-5 minute song. I’m hoping that over time prices will drop and a more varied group of songs can be had for us budding DJs.
Online play allows you to battle against an opponent split-screen style, as you play the same mix to see who can hit the most notes and use their Euphoria buttons most effectively. You can setup a private match and invite someone off your friends list, or be auto-matched to an opponent over the Live network, but I’ve heard of long wait-times for matches to begin, so if you want to test out the online aspect to this game, you better hope that you have friends who are already playing this that you can invite directly.
One of the key features to this game that the promoters are pushing hard is Party Mode, which turns the game into auto-pilot mode and provides background music to your social function. Just hold the Euphoria button for a few seconds and the music just flows. Want to jump in and play? No problem! Just hit that button again and the game joins in without disrupting the beats. Great concept, but I honestly don’t find this game to be very party-friendly. The best way to play this game is standing up, which requires a tall stand be placed in front of the tv, usually in the middle of your party’s action. You also need to have the volume fairly high to play it well, which makes it difficult to hold conversations at your event. So you end up with a bunch of people staring blankly at a screen while one person stands there flailing their arms back and forth. Multiple player allows you to join up a second turntable or a guitar to the mix, but you’re limited to two people playing, which again isn’t much of a party game in my eyes. However, I don’t really hold this against the game much as it’s so much fun to play on your own.
If you’ve read anything that I’ve written in the past, you’ll know that I spend 90% of my gaming time on racing games such as Forza or Gran Turismo, but I have to admit that DJ Hero has completely engulfed my time this past week. I’ve raved about it to all my friends, and have even found myself air-scratching while walking the halls at my work. It has made me long for the days I spent at clubs spinning records, and I’ve found myself staring longingly at my crates of records wishing I could turn back time to experience that feeling just one more time. There’s something special about a game that can invoke such memories, and this game is truly special. Even with its small faults, the odd annoying tracks, or the limited multiplayer modes, I have to say that this to me is one of the best games to come out this year, if not ever. 9.5/10
Pros:
- Well-built controller with near-perfect feel
- Challenging and extremely rewarding game play
- Awesome mashups of some great old and current tracks
- Ability to add variety to the mix through downloadable content
Cons:
- Some songs used too many times
- Limited fun-factor in social settings
- Fader could be a touch better built
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