DJ Hero: Review
Reviewed by: SalThe makers of Guitar Hero introduce a new way to experience music. DJ Hero features a variety of music across genres. Using an authentic turntable controller, you will spin and scratch songs into unique mixes.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT7qyNRWrMw[/youtube]
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Challenge
The makers of the Guitar Hero series have taken it to a new extreme with the creation of DJ Hero. In the game, you work your way through tiers by getting 0 to 5 stars on every song. By amassing stars you unlock new characters and songs that you can play. This puts more of the focus on enjoying the mixes you play and even adding your own interesting twist to them. The hardest part of the game is getting used to the turn-table controller.
Graphics
DJ Hero has great graphics and camera views while you play the game. DJ Hero will show you your avatar while playing and will also show clips of the fans in the venue you’re playing in.
Replay Value
Like Guitar Hero DJ Hero has a high replay value. The songs are all original mixes, which makes them fun to play them again and again. Every time you play you really feel like you’re a DJ.
Narrative
There is no narrative in DJ Hero. During the game you just work your way through the tiers of songs to progress and unlock new songs and characters in the game.
Ease of Controls
The turntable definitely takes some getting used to. Once you learn how to use it though it’s a ton of fun to use. It really makes you feel like your a part of the game. The only annoying part of the controller is sometimes the slider doesn’t stick in the middle when you slide it back during game play.
Social Playability
In DJ Hero, like Guitar Hero, you can play head to head against your friends. A really neat part of co-op play is for some of the songs you can incorporate the guitar in while you’re DJing, which really makes for a lot of fun.
Overall Grade: B+
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Replay Value
While DJ hero is a really pricey game which may make you reluctant to buy it for your child, it won’t be a game they put down in the foreseeable future. DJ Hero is a game that they will keep going back to and provides a challenge that can’t be surmounted in a matter of days. Like most Guitar Hero games, it will take several months to beat.
Social Playability
Regardless of the number of children you, have DJ Hero is a great game to buy them. It is great to entertain your child’s friends when they come over to play or for siblings to play with one another. It has plenty of songs to keep them entertained for hours.
Objectionable Content
As far as this goes, the only content that you need to look out for would be the lyrics to some of the songs you play during the game. They may be a little much for young children, but for kids 13-14+ they should be fine. Other than that some of the characters and people within the game may not be fully clothed to the extent you want your children to see. I would say overall this game is at a PG-13 level as far as content goes, so if they can watch that they’ll be fine.
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In our dealings with video games, we have also explored the academic research on the topic. We understand the roles that presence, narrative, and even aggression have and we also understand that certain video games might influence learning, gamers’ social interaction, stereotyping and sexual messaging. We have included in our review this section for those interested on the academic perspective of video games and how certain game characteristics can affect video game players.
Academic Perspective
DJ hero provides a great sense of immersion (i.e., feelings of actually be IN the game) throughout game play. The main technique it uses to achieve this is through the uses of a very real looking controller. When playing songs, it real feels as though you are a DJ especially because actions on the controller directly correlate with mixing a song in the game. Also, within the game there is a great sense of flow (total psychological absorption including loss of sense of time) and presence (perceptions of nonmediation).
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Available for:Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360
December 10th, 2009 at 4:10 am
While co-op DJ + Guitar is good for people who already have guitars, its really a gimmick. Theres only 10 track to play with the guitar against the 90+ tracks that are in the game (Not including DLC of course) and the guitar parts are often looped so you play the same sequence over and over again. Also DJ hero is made by an outside developer that was picked up by Activision during its 2nd year in development. It wasn’t made by the people of guitar hero, it just happens to use the “Hero” name to sell more.