Video Game Review: DJ Hero

Music games enter a new era with this DJ simulation game.

ByABC News
November 25, 2009, 2:51 PM

Nov. 30, 2009— -- Activision, the makers of the "Guitar Hero" franchise, have ventured into the world of turntablism with "DJ Hero." The game puts you in control of scratching and mixing some of the hottest hits in music today.

The music covers several genres including hip-hop, dance, pop and rock. With an innovative turntable controller and great tracks, "DJ Hero" is sure to be an entertaining game for any music fan.

Although it may still have the core elements of "Guitar Hero" (color coded buttons, notes and star power), "DJ Hero" brings many new elements to the table. The first and most obvious would be the new controller, which looks and functions like a turntable. The controller features a cross-fader which is used to switch between to tracks, a record platter with the well recognized guitar hero color buttons and a knob that works like the whammy bar in "Guitar Hero." The platter can also be removed and switched to work for a left or right handed person.

Besides the new cool controller that this game features, "DJ Hero" has an amazing playlist and mash up of music from many genres. The 93 original mixes were created with star DJ's like DJ Shadow, DJ Z-Trip, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the late DJ AM lending a hand. The wide variety of music is mixed well for the game and will surely have a great appeal to lovers of music. Mixes mashing up 50 Cent and David Bowie together make this game unique and will have you bobbing your head along to the music as you play. Any music lover will enjoy listening to the tunes as much as they will love participating in the game.

The game play of "DJ Hero" is similar to the other Activision Hero games. You are presented with a series of color coded notes that come down the screen. In "DJ Hero" you need to turn the record platter and simultaneously hold down the corresponding color note that follows along on the screen. The cross-fader is used to switch between the two tracks in the mix. There are areas in the game that are called freestyle sections in which you use series of samples that you selected in the beginning of the game. This feature does not add any worthy element to the game since you do not earn points for freestyle sections. Gamers will find these sections more of a distraction than anything else and are more likely to leave them out than to join in. This features seems to be the most gimmicky part of the game. Unlike "Guitar Hero," gamers cannot fail a song. The only outcome of missing notes is the music cutting out for a short period and how many star points you will earn. This feature works in favor of anyone interested in playing the game but takes away a challenge for more veteran gamers of the music genre. The game itself if pretty easy to pick up on but will take time to completely master.