A challenging, empowering rhythm game with one of the freshest, most unique soundtracks ever in a game.
This is a rhythm game unlike any other, and the feeling of playing it is exhilarating. Basically, your controller has a DJ turntable on the right and several button and slider controls on the left. It's light, it's functional, and it works. You can set it on a tablle or your lap, but either way works. Your right hand rests on the turntable, which has three colored buttons, similar to the fret buttons on the guitar. You push the buttons when the game tells you to, and scratch the turntable back and forth in distinct rhythms when prompted. It feels incredibly smooth, although in songs like "Galvanize" and "Move For Me," your ring finger will really start to ache. On your left side, you have a crossfader, an effects dial, an euphoria button, and the standard pause/analog stick controls. You slide the crossfader between three positions: left, right, and center. The center in the hardest to hit, since there is very little indication of where it is. However, you'll get used to it. Everything else is masterfully placed.
Let me give you a little background on the gameplay. You have notes scroll down a highway, similar to in Guitar Hero. Nearly every track in the game is actually a mashup of two songs. That's right, tracks like "ABC vs The Informer," "Heartless vs Lovegame," "Just Dance vs Ghosts n Stuff," and more are hybrids of two songs. The first I named goes, "ABC, easy as one two three a lickey boom boom now," swapping between the two songs smoothly. The last one I named features the vocals of Lady Gaga's hit set to the instrumentation of Deadmau5's house beats. Your crossfader switches between the songs: left is one song, right is the other, and center is both at once. The game has some very tricky crossfading sections that require precise navigation. The turntable can have somee very tricky scratching sections. As arrows scroll down the highwar indication your scrath directions, you'll be frantically shoving the turntable around like crazy. This is extremely challenging and takes a long time to get used to. Fortunately, once you masterr scratching, it is extremely satisfying. In some of the songs on Expert, you literally will be switching your hands back and forth, frantically scratching and crossfading to the point of arthritis. However, it is extremely empowering, and you will feel like a real DJ. Unlike in Guitar Hero, where you feel like you are just clicking a plastic controller, in DJ Hero 2, you feel like you are actually creating the mixes yourself. It is great for showing off, and your friends will be impressed. It takes a while to get used to because the game demands split second accuracy, but it makes you feel like a champion.
Quickplay mode is standard song selection. This game has one of the best soundtracks I have ever seen in a rhythm game. Every single mix is unique to DJ Hero and cannot be found anywhere else. The soundtrack was actually created by famous DJs such as Tiesto and Scratch Perverts specifically for this game. Everything from Lady Gaga to Flo Rida to the Jackson 5 to Deadmau5 to the Prodigy to Daft Punk to the Chemical Brothers can be found on the soundtrack. Empire mode consists of songs within the game mashed together into three-to-four mix long medleys in unique locales such as London and Shanghai. The most exciting parts of Empire mode are the Megamixes and DJ Battles. Every new location opens with a cutscene, such as a robot putting on Deadmau5's head, and a lengthy megamix of that artist's mixes in the game. My favorite part, however, were the DJ Battles. These consisted of unique battle mixes where you versed famous real-life DJs. Freestyle face-offs, alternating scratches, and more made these thrilling and exciting. The Empire mode offers lots of unlockable content, such as new avatars and songs, but it's fairly short. I got the game for Christmas and unlocked everything by New Year's Eve. However, it's fun and offers plenty of replay value.
The battle mixes are some of the best in the game, but unfortunately they cannot be played in single player mode. So unless you have a second turntable or an online friend, you never get to play some of the game's best mixes. However, online Nintendo Wi-Fi battles are awesome, and experience points unlock tags and badges. While cool, these trinkets are useless.
The songlist is simply awesome and this game is a blast. You'll spend days replaying your favorite mixes and trying to place at number 1 on the online leaderboard.
There are two main problems that mess with the spirit of the game. First of all, in every song, you can earn "Rewinds." Basically, by reaching a certain note streak (a 60 note streak in Expert mode), you earn a Rewind. This allows you to replay the last section of a song. By spinning your turntable, you go back several measures in the mix, and replay that section. However, your combo multiplier is doubled. By earning several Rewinds in a mix (in some of the hardest mixes, you can earn a Rewind in nearly every section due to the sheer volume of notes), you can nearly double the length of a song and triple your score. Playing the same section of a song over and over just to boost your score just doesn't seem to fit the spirit of the game. How lame would it be if you were in a real club, and the DJ just played the same four measures of a song over and over? My other beef with this game is the power decks. Basically, you can use one of several power decks in the game, and each one has a unique score-boosting capability. One allows your multiplier to go up to 5x from the normal 4x. Another makes Euphoria (Star Power) last twice as long. This allows players to achieve outrageously high scores that they didn't really earn, placing them high on online leaderboards. One in particular, the Rewind Deck, takes you back twice as far on every Rewind. This means that with every Rewind comes an additional fifteen seconds of playtime and another 100,000 points. One song in particular, Daft Punk's "Human After All," is very hard. Notes and crossfades literally flood the screen. This means that nearly every ten seconds of the song, a Rewind can be earned, sending the player back twenty seconds. Some people have been able to make this three minute long song last up to twelve minutes, just because of all of the Rewinding. A song that normally could have a player earn one million points has some online high scores of three million! I was able to earn five number 1 spots on the leaderboard (I'm "bassettWii") just by using the Rewind Deck! It really makes the gameplay unfair and just doesn't fit the spirit.
Despite its few flaws (exact, pixel-perfect calibration is required), DJ Hero 2 is a must have. Its improvements over its predecesor, awesome background graphics, an amazing soundtrack, and addictive gameply make this one truly unique and fun experience. Any one who loves video games or music needs this game. It is an unforgetable game.