From the Vault — originally published October 9, 2009. Some links, videos or prices may be out of date.
Last night we attended a press event for DJ Hero. The usual free drinks and loud music. The only DJ Hero stations worth using were the ones with headphones. Thats how loud it was in there at the event. I spent a good 30+ minutes playing DJ Hero solo and with someone on guitar. Dj Hero is not easy by any means on the normal difficulty setting. Maybe to veteran Guitar Hero or Rock Band players it will be but I am a player of neither Guitar Hero or Rock Band so keep that in mind.
My biggest issue with DJ Hero lies with the hardware itself. The Turntable device lacks a huge mechanic found in every turntable set. The snap back! There’s no pull and snap back mechanism. The actual turntable that you “scratch” is loose and it felt like it should have some type of resistance, or snap back.
The game itself seems decent enough. By that I mean that there seems to be depth. I had a few “a-ha!” moments messing with the cross fade bar and scratch mechanic. There is indeed something to the game and I could totally see it having that crack factor for music game fans. Not really sure about the average or casual gamers though they may get frustrated.
Players new to the whole Rockband and Guitar Hero thing may want to proceed with caution before purchasing because there is a clear learning curve. I was totally not used to the particular brand of eye-to-hand coordination required to do well in the game. The hardware could be a bit better but in all I think fans do have something to look forward to with this release.
Chauncy "TRU" Talon
Thanks for the heads up on DJ Hero. I think they should let the "record" spin with a weighted mechanism. That would of shown the world what a "simulated" 45-record-player plays like.