By Michael Walsh
Just when you thought your home was safe from more plastic musical instruments for at least a little while, here comes Activision’s DJ Hero, a new spin on the rhythm game genre.
Destined to make you a king of the turntable, something Grandmaster Flash first used as a musical instrument (Flash reminds you constantly throughout the game in case you forget), DJ Hero combines the now old concept of hitting notes rolling down a floating path with an infectious new way of pretending to be a musical genius.
In its most basic moments, DJ Hero is a rather simple game. There’s really only three colored buttons, a crossfader and the actual spinning of the turntable to stay focused on as notes fly past you. But turn up that difficulty from medium to hard or expert and the learning curve grows to the height of a giant.
But just like when Guitar Hero introduced plastic guitars and Rock Band introduced plastic drums, DJ Hero has a learning curve based on precise timing and focus, as well the ability to do a few things at once. While less people might consider them familiar with a turntable than a guitar or a set of drums, DJ Hero is something that at its most basic moments can be learned with a little practice.
The most brilliant thing DJ Hero has done for me is given me the ability to enjoy music I normally would never want to hear. The game includes 94 mixes, most of which are entertaining mashups of two unlikely songs. A bit misleading is the fact that there aren’t 94 songs in the game, as a few tracks are used multiple times in different mixes. Would I ever want to hear Rihanna mixed with The Killers? No. But I did have lots of fun pretending to mix them.
But even if your musical tastes stretch about as far away from the style of music normally spun by a DJ at a house party (and trust me, my taste does, you don’t see many turntable pros spinning Phish, Primus or King Crimson), you’ll be able to find something you enjoy here, if not because of the artist themselves, but because of the absurdity of the mix itself. Beastie Boys and Queen? I can get behind that. Marvin Gaye and Davie Bowie? Well, okay. Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer? Now that’s funny.
I think the learning point from all this is that you know a game is good when it has the ability to make you not want to regurgitate at the thought of having to play a mix involving multiple artists you wish didn’t exist. And DJ Hero’s infectious, absorbing and challenging gameplay does just that. Much like its plastic instrument predecessors, it doesn’t matter what the song is as long as the song itself is a blast to play.
The game’s play modes are rather simple as you play through setlists that have been pre-created in what is usually a thematic way. You’ve got different DJs and artists presenting their own work, such as the Daft Punk Record Bag and the Jay-Z Mixtape setlists. And then you also have setlists such as Thrashed and Mashed, where the game allows a partner to play along on guitar (not included) as the mixes there include at least one rock based track, such as a mix between Third Eye Blind and The Jackson 5. Also included are the standard cooperative and competitive multiplayer modes available in both online and local form.
My gripes, which are far and few between, mostly touch on the difficulty and absolute precision of the gameplay. I found the gap between medium and hard to be awkwardly large. One might find themselves five-starring every song on medium before struggling to even get three on certain songs on hard. Now, this isn’t to say that the game is too hard, but when you have five levels of difficulty available, a little tweaking might suffice to give players the best possible challenge to suit their needs.
Unlike Guitar Hero, you can’t fail songs in DJ Hero. Because of this, the precision needed to amp up your score and keep streaks alive isn’t that big of a deal, just slightly annoying. I felt the quality of the crossfader switch, which you hit when needed to change tracks, doesn’t match the precise level they ask you to do it at. It’s easy to lose your place with it. But while I’m still early in the learning to become a DJ process, it’s probably something that becomes second nature at some point. Again, these are small gripes, none of which that get in the way of the enjoyment to be had here.
At announcement of DJ Hero there was skepticism of the industry trying to milk the idea a little too much. But I found that once you get your hands on it all and give it a run, you find yourself really enjoying the ingenuity put into the entire concept. While the package might seem a bit on the pricey side, it’s most certainly worth it for those that enjoy the entire scene.
The addictive gameplay that comes out of DJ Hero is enough to call it a success. I wouldn’t call it a perfect experience, but it certainly is an example of a neat concept turned into something substantially fresh and fun. The newest plastic instrument on the streets is enough to make you put aside the typical guitar, bass, drum or microphone for at least a little while. I’m just wondering when Flute Hero featuring Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull is going to be released.
