Week 13

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Welcome to week 13 of Press Start to Play Article Edition. I know I made a promise to review a 2010 game this week but it’s taking me longer than I thought to beat. In the mean time I will review a game I’ve played for a while. That game is DJ Hero for the X-Box 360.

DJ Hero is another simulation game Published by Activision Blizzard and FreeStyleGames. Activision Blizzard is the company behind games as Guitar Hero and Call of Duty: World at War. This is FreeStyleGames’ second game previously releasing B-Boy.

DJ Hero starts you off with a three part tutorial to get you use to the feel of the controls and the concepts and tricks you will see in the game. There is no real career mode in DJ Hero. There is no story or anything. You go to the main menu and you have a collection of set-lists that you can play through. More set-lists are unlocked when you earn enough stars from previous set-lists.

There is a bit of content in DJ Hero but nothing that is not easily attainable. You earn stars during set-lists to unlock new characters, decks, skins, venues and DJ sound effects used in game. Now the most important thing in DJ Hero is the controller. When you buy the game you get a turntable. This turntable has the cross fader, equalizer, the euphoria button and the turntable itself. It’s not too complicated to handle but will take some practise to get use to.

DJ Hero gives you difficulties to start practising. The only problem is that the game is a lot more fun when the difficulty is higher. There is just more stuff to do that you enjoy yourself more and you feel like you’re getting a challenge. There are parts of a song where you can do your own freestyle sound effects and even rewind to replay a certain part. Unlike star power in the Guitar Hero franchise you get euphoria in DJ Hero. This is used exactly the same in DJ Hero.

The real deal that make rhythm games are the songs. DJ Hero features 90 tracks with songs new and old. The only problem I have with some of the tracks is that they recycled some songs and mixed them with something else. This doesn’t really show that they went to the extent to create a good set-list. The special edition version comes with tracks done by Eminem and Jay-Z. The turntable that comes with the special edition has a more metallic feel and feels sturdier than the regular.

The graphics look just like a Guitar Hero game so there is nothing new there. I will say though that the venue design is superb. I really enjoy watching the backgrounds and hearing the crowd come to life. Lighting is very good.

If you’re looking for another simulation game and have not played this yet than you should go ahead and purchase DJ Hero. I give DJ Hero 3.5 out of 5.

Don’t forget to check out the Press Start to Play Podcast at pstp.podbean.com hosted by Patrick and Ricardo and if you have any suggestions for games you can reach me at ric_edone@hotmail.com.

Next week will be the game I promised so don’t miss it. Until next time, good luck gaming!