Arnold-KatayevI've said this many times before, but we all know that Konami has paved the way for all music games. Now, Activision is jumping into the DJ scene, with Konami's Beatmania being the original franchise to bring this type of rhythm gameplay to the public eye. Having established itself with its 'Hero franchise, DJ Hero is the first major spin-and-scratch release to hit this generation of consoles, with another game, Scratch: The Ultimate DJ to follow months later.
But because this is an Activision title, you can most certainly expect DJ Hero to pull out all the stops. For starters, there are a total of 101 songs that can be each remixed 94 different ways. Artists include everything from 50 Cent, to the Beastie Boys, to DJ Shadow, N.E.R.D, Foo Fighters, Gary Numan, Benny Benassi, and much more. I've actually had a chance to witness DJ Hero first hand, and I was extremely impressed with what I experienced.
The turntable is fairly easy to use and doesn't require a whole lot of explaining to understand and get used to. In fact, after I had my time with the game, I noticed that everyone else before and after me were able to pick up and play with relative ease, and that's a huge plus considering this is an all new instrument many of us are not familiar with. You can scratch, mix/crossfade, throw in samples, rewind, adjust and perform effects. You'll be able to enable Euphoria, which works similarly to Star Power in Guitar Hero, and using Euphoria doubles your earned score points. Activision has also touted that lefty's will be able to reconfigure the turntable and scratch away no problems.
Now here's where things get a bit crazier and more fun. You can engange in battles against a friend, or spin in a co-op mode in offline and online multiplayer modes. An autoplay feature makes its way here too, allowing people to jump in and out at any time. But it's the guitar controller compatibility that really makes DJ Hero unique, as it'll allow you to jam along with a guitar and turntable for certain songs. This will, of course, inevitably lead to enabling a full band in future iterations. A microphone can be used, as well, but you're not scored when using it – it's merely active as just a prop, of sorts.
Below is a known sample of the artists and DJs that make their presence known in DJ Hero, this is not the full list:
50 Cent
Beastie Boys
Beck
Bell Biv DeVoe
Benny Benassi
Billy Squier
Black Eyed Peas
Blondie
Chuck Brown
David Bowie
Dizzee Rascal
DJ AM
DJ Jazzy Jeff
DJ Shadow
DJ Yoda
DJ Z-Trip
Eminem
Eric B & Rakim
Eric Prydz
Foo Fighters
Foreigner
Gary Numan
Gorillaz
Grandmaster Flash
Gwen Stefani
Herbie Hancock
InDeep
JAY-Z
Jurassic 5
Justice
KRS-1
LL Cool J
Marvin Gaye
N.E.R.D.
Public Enemy
Rick James
Scratch Perverts
Tears for Fears
The Aranbee Pop Symphony Orchestra
Zombies
Also, do keep in mind that a Renegade Edition of the game with Jay-Z and Eminem will be made available, and it includes a Renegade Turntable Controller, as opposed to the standard turntable, a hardshell carrying case that can also be used as a DJ stand, and an exclusive Jay-Z and Eminem 2-disc set that features a plethora of exclusive and unreleased tracks.
DJ Hero is slated to hit October 27th. From what I got to experience, I think Activision's got another hit on their hands.
I think i'll pass on this game. Thumb me down, but I hate mainstream music. (Besides Eminem)
Last edited by Masterofallz on 9/13/2009 5:32:31 PM
Just because it's not metal music doesn't make it mainstream. A lot of the artists on there are just as little known (if not even less known) than a ton of artists on the Guitar Hero games.
How anyone could class Grandmaster Flash, KRS-1, Beck, Jurassic 5 (etc.) as mainstream in this decade is beyond me.
Hip-Hop FTL
i have made the choice to pass on all these games. i dont own a single one and never will. i have played guitar hero at a family christmas party was fun for like the half hour i was playin around but would never spend money on the crap "controllers" used for these games. to each their own. i can see why people like them but not interested and hope this crap dies down soon
Some good artists on there, but I dont even like all of the ones im familiar with.
I might end up renting this game if i hear even more good things about it, I usually dont purchase these types of music games… The last music game i actually bought was Amplitude… and that was a great game
Last edited by ThugNificent101 on 9/13/2009 6:02:03 PM
I would like to thumb you down for liking Eminem but that would just be too lame of me. Actually this game has some good musicians on it. Like DJ Shadow, The Beasties, Jurrasic 5, Bowie, Public Enemy, the Gorillaz and the legendary MC Krs-One. Not a bad band listing for this one, but it wont motivate me to buy this. It sounds really fun but will more than likely get boring like every Hero game.
No young Jeezy, young jock, old stuff from lil'wayne and Birdman(like father like son), no lil' boosie..wtf?
I think this is gonna be a niche game. Too small of a niche to be a success.
As interesting as the concept was, I'm not a fan of Top 40 tracks.
$120, Half the price of my Slim. Uhhhh…no.
$120, Half the price of my Slim. Uhhhh…no.
As much as I enjoy samples and effects incorporated into some songs/bands I hate when it's the focus, usually because there's no depth whatsoever to back it up.
I played dj hero at gamestop on Saturday and it was cool, $@%^ I ended up preordering it too. I have to say I had way more fun playing the dj hero demo then playing GH.
Last edited by Cpt_Geez on 9/13/2009 10:15:23 PM
Theres a ton of really good artists on there, I was worried that I wouldn't like this game because they could have gone for having tons of dance artists, but going for some old hip hop/rap is brilliant. Can't wait to mix some Public Enemy stuff!
I know Daft Punk are also in the game for sure as well.
Let's not forget Daft Punk is right. Those guys are masters.
Definitely man! The idea of being able to mix Daft Punk with pretty much any of those artists is like heaven to me.
The guitar feature also sounds great too, no doubt once they've fully got to grips with it that full band implementation will be mixed in. Just imagine being able to add samples of one song with the deck into a song being played by the band, now that would be sweet.
Pff, figures it's mostly hip-hop. Where is the trance/house/techno!?
Last edited by LimitedVertigo on 9/14/2009 6:02:20 PM
So you don't consider Daft Punk as house?
ONE ARTIST!?
What about Justice? And Daft Punk are Probably the biggest artist in that genre with more artists to be announced.
They are more likely to announce well know dance acts (Eric Prydz etc) to attract possible non-gamers (or atleast people who only play sports games and shooters) and older hip hop acts/fringe artists (like Beck and David Bowie) to attract people who might not normally be into the idea of a DJ game. I'd hazard a guess that the majority of house/trance fans would be more into the idea of it than rock and "alternative" fans.
Personally, I'd love to see some more dubstep or drum and bass acts in there.