DJ Hero review, by Mitch!

With the release of the much anticipated DJ Hero, I can honestly just say wow. This game just took the music video game genre by storm, and also my heart.  The game is so much fun you’ll honestly want to do nothing but play it for 13 hours straight. Much like I did.

Let’s start with the basics. The controllers resemble well, a turntable with cross fader, treble/bass dial and of course your own scratch area with guitar hero-esque buttons. If you decide to purchase the Renegade special edition (which I highly recommend), there is accented fake gold pieces and even comes with its own carrying case which turns into the perfect stand. Also, the renegade comes with a 2-disc set of special Eminem and Jay-Z songs which is pure awesome in its own right.

And with this somewhat realistic controller you get to scratch with your some of the most influential DJ’s of the past 20 years. Featuring the work of DJ Z-Trip, Daft Punk, The Scratch Perverts, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Grandmaster Flash, DJ Shadow, J.Period, DJ Yoda, Cut Chemist and DJ AM (R.I.P). Not to mention you get to play as most of these DJ’s in game as well, even Daft Punk, who come with their own kick ass stage. Also, the generic characters all rock with their over-the-top style in your typical music game. Oh, did I forget to mention that you can hook up the guitar and have a buddy shred alongside you as you’re mixing his track and another? Truly Epic. Although, at times it’s hard to hear the part you’re playing if you’re on the guitar.

The stages that come with the game are your typical music game scenes: basement club scene, in the back of an RV, Horror Themed Party, Times Square to the most illest club. And of course in each level, there are CGI girls in scantily clad CGI clothes dancing along. Definitely a nice flair, although like previously mentioned, its CGI.

The Game play of DJ Hero is truly awesome. A nice feature in the game is that you can’t fail a song. Or at least no one I saw play (and there were some terrible people play) failed. The game gives you a score out of 5 stars. The stars you earn are unlockables, but more on that in a sec. The game play of hard, expert and to an extent medium truly has you feeling like you’re a DJ in a club. Expert, is impossible for the average Joe unless you have scratching experience, as your told which way you have to scratch with very little time to react, whereas hard just has you scratch free hand which makes you feel like a king. The cross fading is synched perfectly and you can tell that you’re doing what you’re supposed to do. When you miss a note, you lose that track for a few seconds unless you hit a note (note may not be the best word, but we’ll stick with it) in that same color line. You can totally hear which colour stream is which song and red is your basic sound effect. You can pick from a selection of samples like that of Flava Flav (2 sample sets), old school sounds, space sounds, and so on. These let you add your own flair to the song, because there is nothing better than hearing Flava Flav yell repeatedly in any song.

Harder Than it looks, trust us.

The stars you earn in songs are your currency for unlocking everything from characters, stages, costumes, decks, deck skins, headphones, and new song sets. The amount of unlockables in this game is truly mind blowing because after our 13 hour straight play fest, we still hadn’t unlocked every song set (we had one left).  I feel this is way better than the guitar hero way of having to play through a story to get new songs, even in freeplay the stars you earn count. Your constantly unlocking stuff once you start the game and even after you think you have it all unlocked, there are special secret unlocks to get.
And finally the soundtrack. One word is needed and that is Bad-Fucking-Ass.  Featuring all your favorite artists from Beastie Boys, to Jay-Z, to Eminem and then even some you weren’t expecting like Marvin Gaye, Blondie and David Bowie, the diversity of the music featured in this game is truly awesome. Although some songs get used in mixes more than others, the songs are different enough that it feels like a new song each time. Oh, Ice Ice Baby vs. U Can’t Touch This anyone? Yea it’s there.  The music is so awesome you’ll feel like the head of the party when you start playing and you may even start dancing along with the music which could be distracting and cause a loss of stars, but it’s hilariously fun none the less.

Overall this game is truly exceptional. The minor flaws it has don’t even compare to the pure awesomeness of the game itself. You’ll be up and dancing even if it isn’t your turn to play, and even if it is, you’ll be feeling like a true DJ. Look forward to compatibility with future guitar hero games. And try bringing this to a party; I’m sure you’ll be the king of the party mixing these crazy beats.
Some Parting Words:  Shaft theme song? PURE WIN!


By Mitch