I wasn't sure if I would get DJ Hero, but when it dropped to $80 this week (at Best Buy and, as of yesterday, Amazon.com
I've not been a big fan of RedOctane since the Harmonix split; their Guitar Hero games tend to be more painful than fun. Which is great if you're an incredibly skilled challenge-monger, but I play games largely to relax and expand my consciousness. I don't believe you should have to be a hardcore gamer to have fun. So I side with Rock Band, whose note charts for the most part tend to be rhythmic and enjoyable.
DJ Hero offers a new but similar dynamic to the Guitar Hero/Rock Band games, and you can even play two-player co-op with a guitar controller (or second turntable controller) if you have one. You play primarily with three fingers, but don't be fooled - there's so much going on past the Easy difficulty, you'll be glad that's all there is. You also control a mixing slider and you'll need to scratch using a combination of button presses and turntable movement. There's also a Euphoria button (think Star Power) and an optional dial that controls optional mix and sample selection.
The turntable is wireless, which is nice, and actually not too big. GrrlGotGame was worried that we'd have yet another space-consuming controller to reckon with, but it's easy to stash away when not in use.
The music is surprisingly good, at least to my taste. You'll always mix two songs with combinations like Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Robot Rock" by Daft Punk, or "Monkeywrench" by Foo Fighters with "Sabotage" by Beastie Boys. There are 93 mixes from 102 songs with bands like Beck, David Bowie, Gorillaz, The Killers, Gwen Stefani, MC Hammer, Public Enemy, Rick James, Tears for Fears, Weezer and Young MC.
Alas, the user manual is one of the skimpiest we've ever seen, so here are a few tips to get you going:
- Try both tutorials before you start, even on Easy. Otherwise you won't know how to Rewind or activate Euphoria.
- Alas, the Advanced tutorial is a bit hard (lots to juggle in places, plus some Hard-level things to master) so here's how these work: Spin the turntable one revolution backwards to Rewind and get a chance to hit a particularly note rich section a second time for bonus points. It's purely optional though, and only available in single player. To trigger Euphoria and double your multiplier, press the button when it lights up red.
- In the main setlist modes, at first glance it looks like you'll have to play three or more songs in one sitting. Not true. Press the Y button on the setlist to edit and then press X to remove any mixes you don't want to play right now. This is also a good way to go back and only play those you didn't get 5 stars on. You can also reorder your mixes but you can't swap any out; if you want to make your own set from unlocked mixes, go to Quicklist.
- Those red sections aren't for scratching, they're freestyle sample zones. When you select your character and deck, you can also pick a sample set. When you're in the long red zones, tap the red button to call up the active sample for bonus points. Turn the dial to pick a different sample from your loaded set. You can change your sample at any time EXCEPT when you're in an effects zone - where little umbrella-shaped lines encircle one of your streams. At those times, the dial controls the mix for that stream instead - also for a bonus.
All in all, this is a most underrated game for rhythm music game fans. As best I can tell, the $200 Renegade Edition is the exact same game, only with a nicer turntable controller with stand and bundled CD albums from Eninem and Jay-Z. $80 seems about right for the music-packed game and controller...
