DJ Hero: Turntables, Hip-Hop, and You

I’ll admit, I was very upset when Activision announced the launch of DJ Hero. It seemed like a dumb idea and I thought it would be even worse than Guitar Hero for making people who aren’t musicians think they’re musicians. And since mixing two songs somebody else wrote doesn’t make you a musician, I really thought it would make all players into people who thought they were people who thought they were musicians.

But I digress.

After viewing the initial release information, I grudgingly decided that the game had potential. The controls are interesting, the setlist is actually pretty good if you play past the drivel, and the gameplay is really fun as long as you can stop taking yourself seriously.

Then they announced that it was $120 and my interest faded until Christmas; and then I played through the entire game in about 2 days. The setlist is about as diverse as it gets, including songs from every artist between Eminem and Blondie. There’s also some Jay-Z, Bowie, Queen, and Daft Punk mixed in there.

Almost every song in the game is a mix between two other songs, save for a select few. Some songs even include a guitar track (from the likes of the Foo Fighters, Foreigner, or Motorhead) which can be played using a Guitar Hero controller while a friend handles the mix. If you want to hear the mix but don’t want to play, the game offers a Party Play option that allows you to simply play tracks from the game.

The controls are simple even if the gameplay can get a bit intense. I’ve created this short explanatory video so you don’t have to read about something you’ve never seen.



All in all, what you have is a great party game and a pretty good solo game.The game is more fun with a friend, the game is also entertaining alone if you’re willing to cut loose and get into it. You can dance, you can sing along, you can throw your hands up, but you absolutely cannot take yourself seriously and play this game. While actual dancing may not be required, I at least find my head bobbing during almost every song.