GC 2009: DJ Hero Hands-On
Finally, we take the turntable for a spin.
August 19, 2009 - Ever since we first laid eyes and ears on DJ Hero, we were excited for it. Our hands were jealous, though, as Activision was holding out on letting us actually play the game. Sure, the mixes sounded great, but it wouldn't be much of a game if the new turntable controller didn't hold up. Activision finally gave in to our incessant whining and brought the game and controller by the office for a play test. We are happy to report: it's awesome.
Like Guitar Hero, there is little correlation between playing DJ Hero and actually DJing. That means you don't have to be a real DJ to be a DJ Hero – you just need to be good at music/rhythm games. The Activision rep who was showing us the title said music game veterans usually get the hang of it after a couple songs on easy and can quickly increase the difficulty for a more involving experience. Several of us tried it out, and while it's a little confusing at first we all were playing on "medium" and "hard" before we knew it.
There is definitely more to think about than in Guitar Hero, where each of your hands only has one task to perform: the left hand presses the fret buttons and the right hand strums. In DJ Hero, your left hand works the cross fader left and right, activates Euphoria (star power), and twiddles the effects knob. Your right hand presses the three buttons on the face of the record and moves the vinyl back and forth to scratch. It might sound overwhelming, but Grandmaster Flash is here to walk you through the baby steps in a handy tutorial set to Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust" vs. Daft Punk's "Da Funk"
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Check out this training vid to learn how to scratch like a pro.
The outside colored buttons on the record face correspond to what would be record A and record B in your DJ setup. All of the mixes in the game are mash-ups of two songs, so theoretically these two songs are each playing at the same time on their own turntable. Using the cross fader on the mixer you can isolate either record by moving the fader hard left or right, and when in the middle both records are being heard and you're getting your mash-up. If all of this sounds confusing, take heart knowing that it's not up to you to figure out the best mix – you need merely follow along with the onscreen cues to produce a professional, expertly-crafted slice of dance music. The red button in the middle of your green and blue turntable switches is used to trigger one-shot samples during a song.
Possibly the most fun part of DJ Hero is, unsurprisingly, the scratching. On the easy and medium difficulty settings you can move the record in way you like during scratch sections. Just remember to hold down the corresponding button while you're cutting it up. If the right channel (blue) is being scratched, a scratch lane will slide down on the right-hand side of the interface. You'll need to press the blue button at the start of the scratch lane and release it right at the end. On hard or expert difficulty you'll have to follow onscreen arrows and move the record in the specific directions indicated. It's definitely more challenging, but like Guitar Hero we expect the game will be more fun on the higher difficulty levels.
As you would assume, the audio cuts out when you make a mistake, but hitting one right note will get you back in the mix. During a DJ battle, though, when two players are competing, we noticed that the audio never cut out. Each player has the exact same note stream coming at them, as long as they're on the same difficulty setting.
One quirk we noticed with the turntable controller is that when scratching the blue lane your weight is resting towards the center of the record and it's a little difficult to get the vinyl moving back and forth enough for the game to read. One trick is to rest your thumb on the outside of the platter and use that to push and pull the record. It seemed to be a minor oddity that just took some getting used to.
When any or all of your note lanes are glowing you can twist the effects dial to add a little spice to your mix. An onscreen pointer indicates where the knob is facing so you don't have to look down. During our time with the game we heard a filter effect that would cut the highs or lows from the mix depending on which way we twisted the knob. While Euphoria is triggered the game takes over your cross fader, which can be helpful during particularly tricky sections. We expect people will use Euphoria just like they do Star Power in Guitar Hero.
DJ Hero withstood our playtest and remains one of our most anticipated games of the year. You're going to see this at every party this fall. It also includes a jukebox mode so you can just listen to the game's fantastic mixes, produced by the likes of DJ Shadow, Grandmaster Flash, DJ Yoda, Z-Trip, the Scratch Perverts, and more.
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DJs battle it out.
Here's the full list of mixes announced for the game so far:
50 Cent - "Disco Inferno" vs. InDeep - "Last Night A D.J. Saved My Life"
Benny Benassi - "Satisfaction" vs. Tiësto - "Elements Of Life"
Black Eyed Peas - "Boom Boom Pow" vs. Benny Benassi - "Satisfaction"
Cypress Hill - "Insane In The Brain" vs. David Axelrod - "The Edge"
David Axelrod - "The Edge" vs. Eric B. & Rakim - "Eric B. Is President"
Dizzee Rascal - "Fix Up, Look Sharp" vs. Justice - "Genesis"
Gorillaz - "Feel Good Inc." vs. Blondie - "Atomic"
Gwen Stefani - "Hollaback Girl" vs. Gorillaz - "Feel Good Inc"
Gwen Stefani - "Hollaback Girl" vs. Rick James - "Give It To Me"
Jay Z ft. Pharrell- "Excuse Me Miss" vs. Rick James - "Give It To Me"
Jurassic 5 - "Jayou" vs. Billy Squier - "Big Beat"
Jurassic 5 - "Jayou" vs. Herbie Hancock - "Rockit"
Kid Cudi - "Day 'N' Nite" vs. Black Eyed Peas - "Boom Boom Pow"
M.I.A. - "Paper Planes" vs. Wale - "Lookin' At Me"
Marvin Gaye - "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" vs. David Bowie - "Let's Dance"
Marvin Gaye - "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" vs. Gorillaz - "Feel Good Inc"
Paul van Dyk - "Nothing But You" vs. Sandy Rivera - "I Can't Stop"
Shlomo - "Beats" vs. Billy Squier - "Big Beat"
Tears for Fears - "Shout" vs. DJ Shadow - "Six Days (Remix ft. Mos Def)"
Tears for Fears - "Shout" vs. Eric Prydz - "Pjanoo"
The Killers - "Somebody Told Me" vs. Eric Prydz - "Pjanoo"
Vanilla Ice - "Ice Ice Baby" vs. MC Hammer - "U Can't Touch This"
Guitar vs. DJ – Foo Fighters - "Monkey Wrench vs. "Beastie Boys - "Sabotage
Guitar vs. DJ – Motörhead - "Ace Of Spades" vs. Noisia - "Groundhog"
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