DJ Hero

DJ Hero - (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii)
Developer: FreeStyle Games
Format: Xbox 360, PS3, Wii
Genre: Music


Superstar DJs? Here we go!



House parties will never be the same. From October 30th, living room legends and budding superstar DJs alike will start the party off right with an unprecedented array of talent DJs including DJ AM, Cut Chemist, Grandmaster Flash, DJ Jazzy Jeff, J. Period, DJ Shadow and DJ Z-Trip spinning tracks from JAY-Z to Eminem; Daft Punk to Black Eyed Peas; Rihanna to The Killers; Kid Cudi to Gwen Stefani; and Marvin Gaye to Beastie Boys.

The Godfather of Scratch himself, Grandmaster Flash, lends his unique, recognisable voice and DJ know-how to the game's tutorial level, schooling players on the game mechanics and the turntable controller. And when he tells you 'you might wanna brush up on your skills before your career depends on it', he's not lying.

Players master various DJ techniques as they play along to visual cues for scratching, blending, cross fading and sampling, and can also add their own creative spark by choosing to add a variety of effects, samples and scratches, especially in freestyle mode. Creative expression is heightened with euphoric gameplay where the DJ can forget about the crossfader and soak up the crowd adulation while his points are doubled. Additionally, gamers can rock together as it features DJ-guitar exclusive mixes played with a turntable controller and Guitar Hero guitar controller.

The DJ Hero controller, consisting of a mixer with crossfader, effects knob and samples button and a turntable with three buttons for track one, samples and track two, feels somewhat lightweight and clunky to begin with - especially if you're used to the real wheels-of-steel deal - but you soon get used to it and just like the real thing, you eventually become accustomed to the position your right hand takes in order to perform all the scratch, crossfading and sample-triggering movements required.

Like with its rockier cousin, Guitar Hero, it's the combination of percentage, star rating and level of difficulty achieved that gets you the points to progress to the next locked stages and new DJ characters. While sometimes, for the sake of the game's progression, you feel like a there's too much going on at the same time, ultimately, DJ Hero immerses you into DJ culture and a sea of authentic enough music by some of the most eclectic DJs around, allowing you to party with your friends, scratching songs, playing along to the hottest tracks and bigging yourself up with superstar samples.

Let's get the party started right!