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DJ Hero

EMAIL PRINT ps3

8.1 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 53 critic reviews
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Based on 35 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Activision

Developer: FreeStyleGames

Genre(s): Music

Players: 2

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: October 27, 2009

Summary

DJ Hero drops the needle with a completely fresh experience and legendary artists including Black Eyed Peas, 50 Cent, Justice, Marvin Gaye, Beck, Beastie Boys and N.E.R.D. DJ Hero features more than 100 individual songs that have been transformed into more than 80 exclusive, original mixes by superstar DJs including DJ Shadow, DJ Z-Trip, DJ AM, and the legendary Grandmaster Flash. With an innovative, new turntable controller and the hottest music collection of original music, DJ Hero is a unique new social music gaming experience that excite the millions of dance club music fans who can now play along to hit songs from a range of genres including hip-hop, R&B, pop, rock and electronica allowing them to rule the party with original mixes. Joining the internationally acclaimed DJ, producer and recording artist DJ Shadow, who has been consulting and contributed several mixes for DJ Hero, and making their video game debuts, DJ Z-Trip, a founder of the mashup movement who’s known worldwide for his sold out shows and eclectic style, and DJ AM, one of the world’s premier and most in-demand DJs today, appear as in-game characters and have each created multiple exclusive mixes for DJ Hero. In DJ Hero, faces in the crowd are transformed into the life of the party as the game’s turntable controller - created exclusively for DJ Hero and featuring familiar DJ tools including a fully-rotating turntable, sample buttons, effects dial and cross fader - immerses fans into the authenticity of DJ culture and a sea of music. By utilizing and mastering various DJ techniques including scratching, blending, cross fading and sampling, while leaving room for creative expression with a variety of effects and player chosen samples and scratches, gamers rule the party performing music as only a DJ can. Social expression is heightened with euphoric multiplayer gameplay where two DJs can battle competitively or have a player join in to emcee over any track in the game with a mic. Additionally, gamers can rock together as DJ Hero features DJ-guitar exclusive mixes played with a turntable controller and Guitar Hero guitar controller. [Activision]

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Cynamite

As much fun as Guitar Hero - and perfect for any party. The music is great, but we miss some more game modes.

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Worth Playing

In DJ Hero, I really do get the distinct sense that I'm spinning for a full house. This title will appeal to both casual and core gamers alike, with a beginner's mode even toddler children can play fairly well and enjoy.

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PSX Extreme

It's library of fantastic mash-ups are really something worth listening to, and certainly worth playing. The turntable controller isn't perfect, but it's good enough to experience a vast majority of the game and love every single second of it. With every session I pick the controller up for, it becomes harder and harder to put the game down - it's that good.

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IGN UK

Hands-down, it's the most exciting, refreshing music game we've played in ages and, whether on or off the decks, DJ Hero succeeds admirably in its goal to bring people together to party - and isn't that what music's all about?

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Games Master UK

In all it's a great package, and even if you're only vaguely into the kind of music on offer, you'll get weeks of fun out of it. [Dec 2009, p.59]

Play UK

A truly progressive effort. [Christmas 2009, p.66]

RealGamer

If you like the Guitar Hero games there’s a good chance you’ll love DJ Hero and I recommend it as probably the best music game I’ve ever played.

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TotalPlayStation

Your total enjoyment will of course hinge on your love of the artists cobbled together, but there's no denying that DJ Hero's gameplay triumphs over all else, and in the end secures its place as the breakout music game of this year.

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GameZone

DJ Hero is a great game that will challenge you and give you countless hours of entertainment. If you’re at all a fan of DJ culture, then this game is definitely for you.

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Playstation: The Official Magazine (US)

If you can swing the $120 for the whole package, go for it--it may not be exactly like real DJing, but if you're into the scene, it's a helluva good time. [Holiday 2009, p.78]

PS3bloggen.se

DJ Hero has managed to take the rhythm action genre yet another step forward with it's smart and simplified DJ controls and delightful remixes. This is the easiest way to feel like a real DJ right now without having to pursue such a career.

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PSM3 Magazine UK

Overall polished to near-perfection, this is the next step in music games. [Dec 2009, p.84]

IGN

In an overcrowded genre of music games, DJ Hero resides at the very top with the best of 'em. The original mixes are stunning and scratching the turntable is just as fun as it seems.

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GameDaily

DJ Hero is without question Activision's coolest rhythm game. The turntable has its drawbacks (it's a bit small for larger folks), but that soundtrack will give you a new appreciation for music and perhaps satisfy your DJ fantasy. Just don't pass this off as another game with a useless peripheral. It's one of the sweetest, most original games we've played in a long time.

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Game Informer

I’m hooked on DJ Hero. In many ways, it feels like a new beginning for the music genre. Freestyle Games has pulled off an impressive trick, crafting a game that holds true to its sister franchise while at the same time putting a unique spin on both the gameplay and the music.

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GamingTrend

As long as Activision supports this title with solid downloadable content (which they have a great track record of doing) DJ Hero is a game that you’ll keep coming back to.

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Meristation

Activision creates the Guitar Hero for disc-jockeys with DJ Hero. With impressive music themes, a great and easy-to-use controller, and paying attention to every little aspect, we find a videogame that is a starting point for a whole new series; with this game, club culture is in an even better position than with the classic Beatmania.

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3DJuegos

DJ Hero is the confident debut of a new musical videogame genre. If you are into the electronic music you will greatly enjoy this one.

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Vandal Online

Rock followers will keep favouring Guitar Hero, but now everyone can turn his home into a disco, and a friend meeting in a fun music session.

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VideoGamer

DJ Hero is possibly the best rhythm action game I have ever played. There's not a dull track in the entire game - hardly surprising given how much superstar DJ input FreeStyleGames has enjoyed.

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Multiplayer.it

DJ Hero brings fresh air inside the rhythm game's genre, with a challenging and funny gameplay, plus a superb tracklist. FreestyleGames was good to "hide" the lacks inside the game thanks to a new title with an interesting gameplay mechanics, but we expect many improvements for the next installment of the game.

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BigPond GameArena

It's absolutely the new generation of the Hero franchise - I just don't think the general public is ready yet.

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Telegraph

DJ Hero is an exciting and brilliantly realised package, and while it may not offer the fantastic co-op experience of some of its contemporaries, its slick gameplay and fantastic presentation make it a must-have title in an overcrowded genre.

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Playstation Official Magazine Australia

A surprise package, impossible to write-off as a gimmick: utterly and totally addictive. [Dec 2009, p.68]

Strategy Informer

It has an appeal to it that cannot be denied. Gameplay is there, the soundtrack is there, and the pieces fall together well. Whether you see yourself playing with a turntable controller or not is up to you, though chances are if you’re unsure, you’ll find yourself trying it out at a party or friend’s house very soon.

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GamingExcellence

After playing the game nonstop for days now, I think it’s safe to say that DJ Hero has me excited about music games again. While there’s clearly some room for improvement in future instalments, this initial foray into the world of DJ’ing is one well worth making.

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Game Over Online

DJ Hero doesn’t stray too far from the formula that made Guitar Hero and Rock Band into household names, but it has a fresh quality about it that the former titles expended long ago.

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PSFocus

DJ Hero is brand new in the music game genre and at its first arrival directly good. The gameplay is different and challenging but also fun. The game has got a brilliant soundtrack, a lot of playable modes and you can also use your Guitar Hero controller in cooperative gameplay.

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Extreme Gamer

With DJ Hero, Activision definitely take some of the thunder back that was stolen by Rock Band. While it doesn’t give us something completely different, it does give us one fantastic twist on a flavour that might be in the early stages of getting stale.

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ZTGameDomain

DJ Hero is almost a breath of fresh air in an already overcrowded genre. The rhythm game is becoming too much of a business and this really feels like it was designed with a lot of passion for the music.

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XGN

DJ Hero brings you a complete new experience which will be loved by every music fan.

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PALGN

DJ Hero is a very fun music game, with great music and a decent amount of challenge. Personal taste in music may keep some away, but for those that do try it there is plenty to like here.

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Gamers' Temple

DJ Hero makes you more of a mimic than a mix-master, but it's still fun to play.

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Gamervision

While I won’t go so far as to call DJ Hero the greatest thing to happen to music games since the first Guitar Hero, it certainly is one of the more exciting things to happen to the genre.

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GameShark

DJ Hero will only give you a glimpse into the realities of mixing and scratching, with some of the coolest mash-ups I’ve ever heard to entertain along the way.

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Gaming Age

A pretty fantastic first entry into the series, and turned out better than I had thought. The controller itself feels well built, and I don't get the sense that it'll breakdown from any extended plays.

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Game Chronicles

It is far from the DJ simulation I was expecting and more of a button and slider memorization game set to killer jams, but enjoyable nonetheless.

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Edge Magazine

All things considered, it’s about the best game called ‘DJ Hero’ we were ever likely to see. It deserves extended play.

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Giant Bomb

It's a bit barebones, and the turntable controller feels like it could have been better in a couple of spots. But as the start of something new, DJ Hero provides a very strong foundation that things like additional downloadable content or full-fledged sequels could really build on.

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Cheat Code Central

DJ Hero is a well made title that even old farts can enjoy. From the quality set list, accessible turntable peripheral, and generally nicely implemented mechanics, there's a lot for any gamer to enjoy. On the downside, the multiplayer elements aren't nearly as convincing as they should be, making this a game you'll likely play alone.

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Everyeye.it

The Turntable is a great peripheral, and DjHero is a new and fresh rhythm game, intelligent and funny. It's a pity for the lack of an interesting career mode.

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TheSixthAxis

DJ Hero could easily have been perfect – there’s a huge amount of potential in the idea but I can’t help feeling that a little more time would have evened out the poor mixes and given more in the way of a creation mode.

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GameSpot

This new frontier in rhythm gaming is electrifyingly fun, but the cover charge is steep.

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Hardcore Gamer Magazine

That being said, DJ Hero is a quite fresh approach to the rhythm genre despite the areas where it obviously falters. It’s certainly an expensive game to grab, but its unique style of play and well-done mashups do a good job towards warranting it.

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Gamer.nl

DJ Hero is all about one thing: experiencing music, that one moment where you are totally in the zone and the music becomes part of you. With 93 great mashups that is no problem at all.

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Playstation Official Magazine UK

A rewarding and tactile experience overall despite the inconsistency. [Christmas 2009, p.118]

Eurogamer Portugal

This is the first foray into the DJ world by Activision with the Hero series, and the final work has higher quality than expected.

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GamePro

The music really does most of the heavy lifting here and I'd gladly purchase the soundtrack if one was made available but the game's lack of polish left me a little flat.

Video Game Talk

DJ Hero is the ace up Activision's sleeve, simultaneously reinvigorating their music game slate while opening up a whole new genre to the mix (pardon the pun). And unlike the assembly line feeling of the Guitar Hero sequels, DJ Hero really does give a fresh spin (I can't help it with the puns!) on the music game world.

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InsideGamer.nl

DJ Hero is a new concept and a risky attempt to bring DJ’ing in to the living room. With a great soundtrack, enough content to keep going and a style that feels trusty but new at the same, they succeeded to do that. The price is a little bit high and only the die-hard fans will consider a purchase. But the quality of the game shouldn’t be clouded because of the price.

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1UP

DJ Hero attempts to mold turntablism into a mainstream medium. It succeeds, but stumbles along the way. I didn't experience the sensation of scratching and mixing, until I turned it up to Expert difficulty. Beginner is way too easy, and Hard is lackluster.

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Game Revolution

There’s plenty of room for improvement, since there isn’t much in the way of creative ability or battle variation, but the diverse track picks and simple control scheme help put together a game that will definitely keep the crowd hyped.

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IGN AU

It’s just too hit and miss, too divorced from its stated purpose and is too anaemic in its dispensation of the funk.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 35 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Christian J gave it a10:
This game is absolutely brilliant, it manages to make you feel like a DJ, like you are really pumping up the sound and everything! The complaints ive seen of the crossfader are true in a way, but, in my case, I got used to it after a few sitings, believe when i tell you this.. THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST MUSIC GAMES OUT THERE! (its well worth the price tag) Oh and another thing .. I recommend you to start on the Hard difficulty because, in my case, I found Medium and Easy to boring.

Doug Childs gave it a10:
VERY Hesitant at first. Thought it would be some cheezy rap game. Boy was I surprised! I have had more fun playing this game then anything in recent memory. I would recommend to anybody who loved guitar hero as it is a fresh spin (no pun intended) on the genre.

Mark B gave it an8:
First things first, I am a guitar hero fanatic and I love this game. This doesn't mean that there isn't any way to improve it. The Good: The set list is good, after a while, some songs start to blend into each other but that is only to be expected with almost 100 mixes made from popular songs (note: not pop songs). Overall there is a large amount of variety of DJ style songs: mixes that focus on the art of scratching simple beats (DJ shadow's set is good for this), famous DJ songs (Daft Punk, etc.), surprising mixes that still work quite well (Marvin Gaye vs Gorillaz) and even down to cleverly mixing lyrics ("We will, we will... Robot Rock ... you"). I was surprised by this aspect of the game and since playing it, I've been listening to a lot of Scratch Perverts, somethings that every hero game should do: Introduce you to music. A lot of the reviewers complained about the difficulty curve and I agree to an extent. Hard is lackluster in that it can go from almost boring to "Holy crap, how the hell can they expect me to do that?". Other than that though, easy is made for people who haven't tapped a button along to music before. Medium is to start to introduce the elements that make the game fun, like crossfading and scratching. Hard starts the directional scratching and crossfade spikes while Expert introduces long scratch sequences that make you feel pretty damn good when you hit them. This actually ties in with one of the negatives of the game but we will get to that. One last thing I will say is that I have personally found the travel to expert difficulty much quicker and easier than it was to get to expert drums; It took me weeks to get good at drums but a few solid play sessions and a music game background of DJ hero and you should have a good feel for it. The controls are really where this game shines. The controller is quality and feels solid, the buttons are firm but responsive and not noisy like on some of the guitars. My only complaint here is that the crossfader is a bit sloppy in the way it works. There is a small, almost unnoticable stopper halfway along and if you are even a little too hard when pushing the crossfader back to the middle, it will flick right over to the other side and drop your combo. You do get used to it, but it gets a bit frustrating when you start out. The Bad: I really only have a few minor complaints about this game. The first of which is the plain exclusion of a few features that have been in guitar hero since early days. We know they work and they wouldn't still be in GH5 if they weren't seen as necessary. They are: Quickplay - You either have to play the predefined sets or make your own set, there is no simple "I want to play this song" option Practice - Play any of the heavy scratch sequence songs and you will wish you just slow it down for a sec just to check that that one arrow that you keep dropping is actually an up arrow and not a down arrow. These aren't huge things but I just don't understand why they got left out. My biggest criticism of the game is that it just doesn't feel like a party game any more. Sure you can pass the controller around and each take turns but the real party experience in guitar hero was with two controllers, facing off to see who could mash those buttons the fastest. This game just doesn't deliver on this front. Guitar vs DJ mode is just a cheesy way to tie in the guitar to the game where 10 of the songs in the game have one of the tracks played by guitar and someone can join in with a guitar controller if they like. DJ vs DJ I played for the first time the other night and it just doesn't give the same feeling of the epic guitar battles that my friends and I used to have. Lastly, tying in to what I was saying about the difficulty, this game is really complicated. Not really something that you can just pick up without it being explained to you. It has excellent tutorials and in the end, the game has more depth to it because of being so complicated but if you are looking for a pick up and play game like guitar hero, you really aren't in luck here. The End: The game just has a good feel to it, the beautiful 3d scenes, the weird art in the menus and loading screens, the nice track list and responsive well made controller, this game has a lot going for it. If it wasn't for the fact that I feel that they are taking a bit of a step back in the accessability and multiplayer of the franchise, then this game would be a perfect 10 as far as music games go.

stephen H gave it a0:
Although fun single player is very short lived compared to the Guitar Hero franchise simply due to the fact that multiplayer is nowhere near as brilliant and seeing as how multiplayer is usually what keeps these games alive for me, it will simply die off for me.

Zach M gave it a9:
This game is one of the funnest music games I've played in a while- And I think I've played every one except for Pop'N'Music. I'm not sure what I would rate as more fun than this- but there's one downfall of it- The song list. The mixes sound great, but no one's heard of them before, so pulling it out at a party will result in awkward times where you're all sitting there trying to decide which mixes might sound good, and those which won't.

Chad S gave it a9:
Very fun, well done game.

jay b gave it a9:
Hey, I'm having fun at this, as I thought I would. I never could play guitar Hero (yeah, I suck bad) but this is more my way of fun with a music game. Plus, all the mixes are pretty good to listen to....can't wait to get to the DJ shadow mixes.....His CD should have been included in the RENEGADE pack instead of MC's Jay-Z and Eminem!!

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