Battlemouth

I have always thought that being a professional musician, or even an amateur, would be absolutely fantastic. The thrill of getting up in front of an audience and rocking out some wicked Journey would probably be one of the highlights of my life. Unfortunately for me (or fortunately for you, depending on your love of Journey) I never could quite hone my musical skills at any instrument enough to form any sort of band. I suppose I did kick some ass at the baritone in middle school…but “Don’t Stop Believing” just doesn’t quite have the same impact on an audience when heard in the mellow tones of a baritone. At one point in my life I even gave DJ-ing a shot. I had two wicked technic  tables and a pretty snazzy cross-fader that I think any amateur would be proud to own. Yet again I found myself wanting…old Rolling Stones albums are not meant to be “scratched”. Also, it was pointed out some time later, that not all DJ’s have to “scratch” every other word…in fact…none do. After years of sorry attempts I gave up the dream and decided to stick to playing easy Beatles tunes on my acoustic for an audience made up of my two dogs and occasionally my wife (They love my work…but usually get tired after the 4th encore). So imagine my excitement when that new game called “Guitar Hero” came along! Finally a final chance to be a rockstar! Then of course came “Rock Band” (which I FINALLY just picked up today…thanks honey) which led me to believe that I could not only be a guitar hero…but I could ALSO rock a wicked drum solo AND sing!

Then just when I finally felt as if my imaginary musical career couldn’t get any more diversified…they announce “DJ HERO”. I have to say that when I first heard about this I was immediately skeptical. Guitar, bass, drums, vocals, all of that is fine…but how the hell are you going to make a DJ game that isn’t either way too easy or way to ridiculous? The answer? I am not sure how…but they did it…and it is…legendary.

Earlier today (thanks to my earth shaking skills at all musical video games, including Parappa the Rappa) I got a chance to try out “DJ Hero”. This is the tale of how it went down, and what I thought about the game after my hands-on time. Firstly if you haven’t seen the “turntable” you are in for a treat. The controller has a fairly simple look to it. The small turn table containing a green, red, and blue button on the platter (sorry in advance if my DJ terminology goes over your head, I can’t help it that I am a DJ-ing aficionado now).

The platter is free to spin a full 360 degrees in either direction and was surprisingly loose compared to what I had assumed it would feel like. I think due to the fact that I do actually listen to music on a turn table (also known as a record player…) occasionally I was expecting a little more resistance that you feel from a record when it is spinning. This looseness added to the difficulty, but I will discuss that shortly.

Depending on which hand is your dominant, the rest of the controller can be moved to either side of the turn table itself to allow you to use your good hand for the platter action. This feature was quite handy (no pun intended) for me, due to my use of the (superior) left hand. This movable part of the controller contains the cross-fader lever (the left to right slider) and a tuner (the spin nob, effectively a whammy bar) as well as a silver button that allows for mid-song ” special moves”, for lack of a better word. My first reaction upon realizing that I was about to play this game was “I hope no one is watching”. That thought quickly turned into “Holy shit balls this is AWESOME!”…which then quickly turned into “Holy shit balls this is HARD”. The blue button (inside of the platter) controls effects for the track on the right side of the screen, while the green controls the same for the track on the left. The red button in the middle is essentially an effects button that is pushed at odd intervals to add neat little synth type sounds (depending on the mix). Of course, there is plenty of “scratching” which essentially involves holding down whichever button is called for and spinning the platter back and forth or sometimes just one of those directions. This is where the looseness of the platter added to the difficulty. Getting caught up in the thump of the bass or speed of the beat I frequently found that I would spin the platter right out from under my fingers. Clearly a problem as you have to be pushing a button in order to actually “scratch”. Every song in the game is actually made up of two different songs, the cross-fader is responsible for making one track heard over the other, or for allowing both tracks to be heard at once…got that? Look at this picture below… Each time the blue and green lines shift to the right, you shift the fader to the right in time, and left obviously the same. When the lines are in their normal spots you leave the cross-fader in the middle…which I struggled with quite a bit actually.

This makes for some seriously intense dual hand action(…). The biggest difference between this game and the guitar games that I noticed, (other than the obvious) is the timing in which you are expected to hit buttons and/or “scratch” with the platter. Unlike the other games in the same vein “DJ Hero” demands more attention to the button movement on the screen in addition to a higher demand for the ability to pick out the beat. You aren’t just hitting the buttons on the up or downbeat, and you aren’t hitting the buttons as consistently as in some of the other games. It is truly a difficult game to even describe, which immediately forces me to give it credit for its originality. This title has gone from one that I thought I would barely make a splash, to one that I will most likely purchase. The immense and diverse track list, combined with the ability to add a player on guitar to select unique mixes (for example I played with a guy on guitar through a Beastie Boys x Foo Fighters mix) makes the playability level shoot through the roof.

I would recommend heading out and trying to snag a RENEGADE Special Edition of the game before it’s October 27 release. The Renegade comes with an all black with gold trim controller, hard shell carrying case that also turns into a nice DJ table…it looks pretty smooth!. I know that I am certainly going to pick this baby up, AarontheStrong is going to be spinning the black circle…all…night….long. *Insert Misc. Jungle Beat*

With a much more prestigious set list than what most expected, DJ Hero promises plenty of initial content to keep you spinning long into the night. Check out the official list of artists:

• 2 Pac
• 50 Cent
• 88 Keys
• Aceyalone
• Afrika Bambaataa
• Beastie Boys
• Beck
• Bell Biv DeVoe
• Benny Benassi
• Billy Squier
• Black Eyed Peas
• Blondie
• Bobby “Blue” Bland
• Boogie Down Productions
• Cameo
• Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers
• Classics IV
• Common
• Connie Price & the Keystones
• Cut Chemist
• Cypress Hill
• D-Code
• Daft Punk
• David Axelrod
• David Bowie
• David McCallum
• David Penn
• David Penn
• Dizzee Rascal
• DJ AM
• DJ Demo
• DJ Grandmaster Flash
• DJ Jazzy Jeff
• DJ Kool
• DJ Shadow
• DJ Yoda
• DJ Z-Trip
• DJ Z-Trip ft. Murs
• Eminem
• Eric B. & Rakim
• Eric Prydz
• Evidence
• Fedde Le Grand
• Foo Fighters
• Foreigner
• Freedom Express
• Gang Starr
• Gary Numan
• Gorillaz
• Grandmaster Flash
• Gwen Stefani
• Hashim
• Herbie Hancock
• InDeep
• Isaac Hayes
• J. Period
• JAY-Z
• Jean Knight
• Jurassic 5
• Justice
• Kid Cudi
• Kid Sister
• Kool Moe Dee
• KRS-1
• Little Richard
• LL Cool J
• M.I.A.
• Marvin Gaye
• Masta Ace
• MC Hammer
• Mobb Deep
• Motörhead
• Murs
• N.E.R.D.
• NASA
• No Doubt
• Noisia
• Paul van Dyk
• Paula Abdul
• Pharrell
• Public Enemy
• Q-Tip
• Queen
• Rakaa
• Reel 2 Real
• Rick James
• Rihanna
• Sandy Rivera
• Scratch Perverts
• Shlomo
• Street Sweeper Social Club
• Tears for Fears
• The Alchemist
• The Aranbee Pop Symphony Orchestra
• The Jackson 5
• The Killers
• The Mad Stuntman
• The Trammps
• Third Eye Blind
• Third Eye Blind
• Tiësto
• Vanilla Ice
• Wale
• Weezer
• Wild Cherry
• Young MC
• Zombies
• Zakk Wylde