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| Source // Giant Bomb |
Guitars? Done. Drums? Done. Keyboards? Don't be silly. Band-specific games? Done. What new territory was left for the likes of poor Guitar Hero and Rock Band games to move into? What new peripheral could capture the attention of the masses. What does everybody secretly wish they had the talent for?
Uhh... turntablism? Time for DJ Hero.
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| Source // Giant Bomb |
Frustrations
Only it's not, of course, because if I'm going to spend £20 on a peripheral, it's going to be a cheap flight stick that has multiple uses (including gathering dust) and not a plastic turntable with a few Guitar Hero buttons on it.
You know me by now. I don't do rhythm games, certainly not when it comes with a custom controller required for playing them. What's the appeal? Why must I channel my inner DJ for these remixes and mashups of popular tracks of today and yesteryear?
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| Source // Giant Bomb |
Fans of DJ Hero will tell you it's because of that controller. It's not just button presses, despite the notes streaming into view like Guitar Hero. Button presses don't capture the feel of being a DJ. You need to scratch records and twiddle knobs and sliders... so that's what DJ Hero has you do.
So far as I can work out, you press buttons for notes, scratch when sections of the track tell you to scratch, make use of the slider to keep your green and blue buttons in the right place along their tracks, and fiddle with the knob for something else I've no knowledge of.
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| Source // Giant Bomb |
On paper, it sounds doable. Trying to follow along to a YouTube clip of it in action quickly reveals two things: I sure as shit wouldn't get anywhere close to competency with this thing, my brain melting the very second more than one input was asked of me at once, and you just don't look or sound cool while doing it.
To be a DJ is to sort of exist in your own musical bubble, feeling the tunes and feeding off the crowd in front of you desperately waiting for the drop, or some warbly effect you make with your knobs - I really don't know what a DJ does, but I know it's not sitting down and slapping the hell out of a plastic turntable. The clacks are here in full force.
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| Source // Giant Bomb |
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| Source // Giant Bomb |
Final Word
And that's the key point. Reasons known only to you because I've not played nor are likely to play DJ Hero. I don't understand why you'd want to. You can listen to the remixes without faffing about with the peripheral, and you'd get more enjoyment out of it, surely? Or do you actually want to feel like a DJ in the comfort of your own home, where errant scratches won't ruin a set, and nobody can hear your mistakes over the clacking?
From what I've read, DJ Hero was a failure not because of the technology or the tracklisting, but because people just didn't buy into the dream of becoming a DJ in the same way that they bought into becoming a guitar legend.
It is supposedly a very good rhythm game. If you like rhythm games, I guess you should check it out. I don't know. I don't need to know.
Fade out. Rewind! Brrbrbbrbbrbrbbrrwikiwiki.
Fun Facts
There was an option for local multiplayer using two turntables, or one turntable and a guitar. Surely you've got a Guitar Hero guitar lying around, right?
DJ Hero, developed by FreeStyleGames, first released in 2009.
Version watched: Unknown, 2009 (adrihomer)