DJ Hero PS3 Review

DJ Hero

PS3 Review
Publisher: Activision
Developer:
Released: October 2009

The music genre has really expanded this year with a variety of new releases from Activision and other companies. Beyond the usual installments in the Rock Band and Guitar Hero franchises, we have seen a variety of spin-offs in various forms, including games such as Band Hero and others. The most intriguing of which though has to be DJ Hero.

DJ Hero basically takes the same formula that made Guitar Hero a huge success, and adapts it to this new turntable controller, which we will focus on first. The game ships in a standard edition for $120, and a Renegade edition for roughly $200. No matter which way you go, you end up with a pretty impressive piece of hardware to say the very least.

Although it is not perfect, the turntable controller is quite impressive throughout as the buttons and such all feel of high-quality. There are a few gripes I have with it though, mainly with the layout of it. The layout of the controller is one which will work perfectly is you are a lefty or a righty, but in terms of the button layout, sometimes things feel like they are too cramped.

On top of that, the bottom of the turntable needed to have something at the bottom of it to keep it from sliding around so easily. Personally, I rigged it up with a sticky surface to keep it from moving while playing. Beyond those minor gripes though this is a very well-put-together controller.

DJ Hero keeps on rolling with its gameplay, that is pretty similar to other Guitar Hero releases and such from games similar to it in the music genre. Pulling off all of the little tricks and such will take a long time to master, but the game takes a very novice approach to it all.

This is because you cannot fail while you are playing a song. You will earn stars as you go through the songs, and if you do good enough, you will earn enough stars so that you can continue to unlock more songs. If you do not do good enough, you will have to go back and play the song again. You will not actually ever fail a song though, meaning you can continue to try to play it as bad as you may be.

This has goods and bads to it, as the challenge factor kind of goes away if you tend to get stuck at certain challenging parts. It may be a good way to introduce gamers to the new franchise, but it may turn away those who want more of a challenge.

The song selection here is a bit funny, as the game gets stronger the deeper you get into it. The first 20 songs or so are not all that impressive, with sets of songs ranging in length all the way up to 8 tracks with mixes featuring No Doubt, Foo Fighters, Eminem, Jay-Z, and others. As you get deeper into the game, some of the mixes truly are impressive, but the game has too many low-points when it comes to the mixes to be considered great. Going forward, it would have been nicer to have more of the quality tracks earlier in the game to keep people interested.

This is especially true since you have to unlock all of the songs in the game, meaning unless you want to use a cheat code, you will have to play everything to unlock everything pretty much.

In terms of the gameplay experience itself, this is pretty much a single-player affair, even though there are some attempts to add some multi-player into the mix. These attempts come in the form of allowing you to use 2 of the turntable controllers, or use your Guitar Hero guitar with a few of the songs. These attempts all come across as fillers though as they are never fully realize dor put to use in any way. IT would be nice if turntable battles were added in, duets, or more songs where the guitar actually seemed to fit into things.

DJ Hero has a lot going for it, it really does. The whole premise behind it is fresh and new with the nice turntable controller, the interesting and entertaining mix of songs, etc. What it is lacking though is that multi-player party appeal that has made Guitar Hero and Rock Band such huge successes. There is a solid base here though for a sequel, and fans of the GH franchise and similar music games will surely get entertainment out of this new entry.

Graphics: 8.0 The visuals here are nothing to gawk at, but character models are strong as are the effects added in.

Audio: 8.0 Some of the mixes are phenomenal, while others will have you just plain bored. Too much mediocrity to be considered great.

Gameplay: 8.5 The controller works well, but could be spread out a bit more. Overall the gameplay is smooth, intuitive, and enjoyable. Why can’t you fail though? It seems too easy…

Replay Value: 7.5 Not much here in regards to multi-player appeal, but there are plenty of songs to unlock.

FInal Score: 8.2