Tancap Blog

DJ Hero is a  music game with a new twist.  Instead of singing or playing the music, you are mixing it with a turntable.  Although there is no failing any of the songs in DJ Hero, you do earn stars for each mix you complete that unlock access to new mixes.  Notice that I said mixes and not songs.  That it is because many of the mixes in DJ Hero will use one song that is used in other mixes as well.  While all the mixes seem to be pretty well done, this does take away some of the variety.   To perform the mixes you will use a turntable.  The turntable has three buttons on the record portion, a cross fader, and a euphoria button and the rest of the XBox 360 standard controls.  You earn euphoria by succesfully completing perfect sections of the mix you are playing.  You can then use the euphoria button to turn on euphoria mode for a limited time.  During this time your score multiplier is doubled and cross fading is automatically performed.  You can also earn rewind time which you can use to redo sections where you make mistakes.  The cross fader is moved left and right when prompted via the onscreen audio stream.  The cross fader is one of the better ideas in the game, but it has one major problem.  The controller doesn’t have any kind of feel as to where center is.  This makes it very easy to make mistakes by sliding the fader too far left or right when you are trying to return it to center.  There are a couple of multiplayer modes including some mixes where you can hookup a guitar for Rock Band or Guitar Hero and play along and a head to head competitive mode where you both play the same mix and compete on score.  The multiplayer is not nearly as flushed out as either the Guitar Hero or Rock Band franchises and could use some improvement.  Overall, if you like the idea of being a DJ and playing some mixes you’ll probably enjoy DJ Hero even with its imperfections.  For the price you’ll end up paying I recommend checking the set list to make sure there’s a fair number of mixes that sound interesting to you.

Scores

Graphics

Pretty basic presentation compared to the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises, but except for some menu clunkiness it is all very usable.

Sound

Everything sounds good, but make sure to check the sets ahead of time if you can.  The songs used are somewhat limited and good mixing can only cover up so much.

Controls

The new turntable controller for the most part works well, but the cross fader almost ruins the show.

Gameplay

Overall fairly fun and surprisingly challenging even on relatively low difficulty levels.

Originality

The turntable is a unique new twist for a music game.

Overall Single Player

Unlike most music games, DJ Hero is actually at its best when playing on your own (with others present).  Challenging gameplay keeps things interesting throughout.

Overall Multiplayer

Multiplayer is underdeveloped compared to other music games, but functional.

Reviewer’s Opinion

A good first attempt at a DJ game, but there is plenty of room for improvement in both the controller and the number of songs used for the mixes.  Downloadable content will probably address a bit of the latter issue.

Screenshots