DJ Hero: Wii :: Game Review, Videos & Discussion

Platform(s): Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Publisher: Activision
Release Date: October 27, 2009
ESRB Rating: T For Teen

With so many music/rhythm-based games on the market these days, how do you sort the awesome ones from the ho-hum ones? Well, you can log in to Kidzworld and check out our Games Reviews, to start! Like this one, for the much-anticipated DJ Hero game from Freestyle Games and Activision.

Hey Mr. DJ

You’ve heard about the Rock Band and Guitar Hero games franchises. It’s time for something new. DJ Hero is a DJ rhythm-based game (rather than an instruments-based game) that comes with its own plastic turntable and mixer so you can perform 93 brand-new mixes, some by well-known DJs like Daft Punk, DJ Shadow, Grandmaster Flash and many more, plus music from across all genres and styles.

Turn, Turn, Turn

Like we said, DJ Hero comes with something new to musically themed video games: a plastic turntable and mixer. The turntable is fully rotatable for scratching and rewinds and includes three stream buttons. It’s up to you whether you want to place the buttons to the left or the right, but putting them on the right actually makes it that much harder to play the game. Either way, the more you play, the more you’ll get used to using the equipment, the more you’ll improve your DJ-ing skills. Next is the mixer – the other half of the hardware that comes with DJ Hero. This piece of equipment comes with a crossfader tab, effects dial and Euphoria (star power) button. Everything is sturdy, well-built and pretty light to carry.

Spin Doctor

The point of the game is to earn stars for each song you complete – the more stars you earn the more awards – setlist, characters, turntables – you get. Just play, do your best and earn as many stars as you possibly can. By “doing your best” we mean getting the hang of using DJ Hero’s various spinning functionalities, like scratching and cross-fading. Scratching is easy enough to do. Just hold the button, check for it to show up on your screen and scratch on the turntable. Cross-fading is a bit harder to master, but it’s pretty easy to learn how to do, as well. The game’s challenge-factor depends on what difficulty you choose to set. The higher the difficulty the more the game is going to ask you to do.

Probably the best thing about DJ Hero is the soundtrack. The 93 mixes in DJ Hero are made up of two songs ranging from several genres of music like hip-hop, dance, pop, R&B, rock, etc. There’s so much musical variety that it’s really easy to find something you like. Check out mixes by Z-trip, Cut Chemist, DJ AM, etc., as well as pop songs like Disturbia by Rihanna and Hollaback Girl by Gwen Stefani.

Video: Cinematic Trailer

Video: Daft Punk Trailer

Video: Jay-Z & Eminem Ad

DJ Hero: Game Rating:

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