This review is based on the Renegade edition, the in-game contents are identical, the extras include a well made carrycase/table with telescopic legs, a different colour turntable (black and gold trimming) and an exclusive Jay-Z and Eminem personal favorites album, this is not extra game content.

 

 

The layout of the game is very similar to Guitar Hero. You are a newcomer moving your way up through the clubs. The idea is to play a setlist of preselected tracks, earn stars and progress. You are introduced to the game by Grandmaster Flash who will continually remind you he was the first to use decks as an instrument and teach you the basics and advanced actions of the game. The controller offers a lot more than you find on Guitar Hero so practice early on is the key. The main screen has an endless vinyl record with five grooves. The first two grooves are for the left track, the last two grooves are for the second track and the middle groove is for your samples. As the song progresses you need to press one of the three corresponding turntable buttons, very similar to guitar hero. There are quick taps of buttons and also held notes, these are your scratches, early on you only need to hold the button and randomly wiggle the record, but on the harder settings you will have directional scratches where you need to scratch up or down on the record in very quick succession. Then you have the cross fader. In its most simplistic form you move it from left to right and middle to select the tracks to be played but there are insane moments where you are flipping between the two records on every beat. When all this comes together it is very difficult but also very rewarding as the game really makes you feel like you are responsible for the awesome mix being played, more so than on Guitar Hero.

 

As well as the basic controls there are a few score boosters available if you play well. The Euphoria button gets charged up if you play well, when ready the button on the turntable flashes red, hit it and the crowd goes nuts and you earn a score multiplier. Rewind works in a similar fashion, when the on screen icon flashed just spin the record back a full 180 and replay a short segment for a combo bonus. Finally there is the freestyle sample selector, at certain parts of the song you are able to use your own preselected samples. I can't see any score advantage to this and the sample list to choose from is quite limited and most don't fit the songs on offer. You do however have Flava Flav samples, "yeah booyee" which never gets boring.

 

The turntable peripheral is the main selling point here and it seems well made, the cross fader feels like it can take a battering and moves very easily from left to right. There is a sticky point in the middle to help you find centre but you don't need to be spot on to register, it's just a guide. The Euphoria button and sample selector are all close to hand and easy to use. The actual turntable itself spins freely and the three large track buttons are nice and large. Hidden in the top are the usual d-pad, face buttons and guide button but these are only really used for the Xbox menu rather than the game menu. The control panel can also be detached from the turntable and swapped around to allow left handed players a little more comfort, now that's thoughtful of them.

 

 

There are 102 tracks that make up 93 mixes in total. The track selection is quite varied with plenty of Hip-Hop from the likes of Beck and the Beastie Boys, 80's, 90's and 00's pop like Blondie, Tears for Fears and Rihanna, House tunes from Eric Prydz, Rap from 50 Cent and a bit of Grime from Dizzee Rascal. The nature of the mixes make some of the songs hit and miss. Tracks that I thought I would love like Beck and Weezer just didn’t seem to work where as others such as the Tears for Fears and Eric Prydz mash up sound amazing.

 

The graphics really do come in third place after the turntable and music tracks but are OK. Each DJ has their own look and you can customize their clothes earphones and decks. The venues also range from small clubs to huge venues and have dancing girls, security and clubbers going for it as you play. Some of them use intense strobes so be warned if playing in a dark room. Your character acts very strangely when performing, rather than concentrate on the decks they are more interested in waving their hands and pointing to the sky which loses a bit of realism as at least Guitar Hero had synchronized instrument playing with each track. The endless vinyl itself bursts off the screen and is very easy to follow with all of the flashing lights going on around you.

 

DJ Hero is a very hard sell, with Guitar Hero there was an obvious market but with this game it's a bit more open, this is more down to the tracks listings than anything else. DJ Hero is really a single player experience as to play co-op gets a bit costly and the online mode is simplistic and feels tacked on. This is reflected in the final score as whilst I really enjoyed the game it does not seem to have the same final polish as similar titles.