- Must buy for fans of other music games or urban music
- Different play mechanics from other music games that still add challenge and enjoyability
- Sturdy controller that's easy to start to pick up and use
- Extremely well put together track list and mixes
So this should come as no surprise, but my two word review after about 90 mins hands-on with DJ Hero? FREAKIN'. SWEET. To elaborate:
If you've played GH or RB, you might look at some of the gameplay video for DJH and wonder where the difficulty is. There's only 3 lanes on the "highway" (which looks like a vinyl record in this game - cool). And on the Beginner and Easy modes, you're right - there's nothing to it. The buttons on the turntable controller are all that's used, and they're only used to tap as buttons come down the highway into the hit zone. Pretty rudimentary stuff.
As you progress through the tutorial (or into Medium difficulty on unlocked sets or unlocked tracks in quickplay), the complexity ramps up. The scratch note is introduced, which is like a sustained notes in the other music games. On Medium. simply holding down the matching button and moving the turntable at the same time is a scratch. You have to time the start and end of your scratch note. I believe on harder difficulties, you have to match the arrows in the scratch note with your direction on the turntable.
The cross-fader is also introduced, which changes the dynamic on the 3-lane highway. The highway breaks down like this: 1st track lane, sample lane, and 2nd track lane. When the 1st and 2nd track lanes are not impacted by the crossfader, they're both playing. But the highways for these tracks can move from the middle -- to the "outisde" of the vinyl for your outer track, and to the "inside" of the vinyl for your inner tracks. (I chose outside and inside instead of left and right, as you can configure the controls to tell the game if you want to play with the turntable buttons on either the left or right of the controller). So when you crossfade to one of the tracks, it becomes the only track playing. The cross-fades can be intricate - you can be fading one-track in and out, or jumping from all of one track to all of another. The hit notes and scratch buttons can still appear on either track in conjunction with fading, so it ramps up the complexity -- and the fun -- pretty quickly.
The sample highway (the middle lane) is also cool. It is only used for hit taps or for freestyle samples. The taps on it work just like the taps on the other highways. But the sample sections are where the fun's at. Before jumping into play mode, one of the things you can customize about your character (along with standards such as outfit, headphones, and the appearance of your turntables) is what kind of samples you have at your disposal. They're categorized into basic categories like space, old school, female, etc. Flavor Flav even has two sample categories - so if you choose him, Flav's voice is in the track when you press it during a freestyle sample section. Yeeaahh boyeeeee! The sample freestlyes can appear in the middle section while you're tapping or cross-fading the other highway lanes. So it adds some more complexity in terms of keeping track of what you're doing on each lane.
Controller wise, the mixer and turntable comes pre-assembled. It seems like a pretty sturdy unit. I got it for the 360, and on the top of the mixer under an open/close panel are all of the standard 360 controller buttons. It's nice to close the panel once you've navigated the menu and are ready to play. The crossfader seems solid, with a resting "click" spot in the middle so you know you're at the default position. Also on the mixer is an effects knob that lets you cycle through your sample group on the fly in a track. For example, for Flavor Flav, if you choose one of his sample groups there are I think 6 samples in each, And you can choose which one you drop in the track by using the effects knob on the fly during gameplay. Just above the cross-fade is also the "euphoria" (i.e. star power or overdrive) button. As in other games, your euphoria meter builds as you put note streaks together in highlighted sections of the highway. You get an on-screen indicator when euphoria is ready to use - but the button also starts flashing red on the mixer, which is kind of a cool touch. The controller takes two AA batteries, just like a standard 360 controller.
Musically - well, it should surprise no one that the music in this game is right up my alley. If you're at all a fan of hip-hop, breaks, electronica, drum and bass - you will LOVE this game. The mixes are extremely well done and very satisfying to play. Some of my favorites so far have been "Another One Bites The Dust" by Queen mixed with "Da Funk" by Daft Punk. There's a fun mash-up of U Can't Touch This and Ice Ice Baby. A Jackson 5/Third Eye Blind mix is insanely fun. And it goes on. The music in this game is top, top notch. A lot of time and effort was clearly spent on choosing and mixing tracks, and it shines through in this game.
If you like the other music games for consoles, this is a
MUST BUY. If you are a little burned out on GH/RB, this is a breath of fresh are in comparison and is a
MUST BUY. If you like hip hop, break, drum and bass or other urban music, this is a
MUST BUY. If you're not into music games or the music genres, I still think you could have a lot of fun with this as a rental or even as a blind buy. Highly, highly recommended.
DJ Hero Impressions?
