Video Game Review: ‘DJ Hero 2’ Perfectly Expands on What Worked the First Time

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CHICAGO – The music genre has never been more crowded with “Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock,” “Def Jam Rapstar,” “Rock Band 3,” and more hitting stores in just the last few weeks. There’s a lot of competition for genre fans but it hasn’t fazed Activision, as they’ve thrown the highly-anticipated “DJ Hero 2” right into the fray and the title emerges as one of the better offerings of the month. Remarkably addictive, refined from the first game, and cleverly expanded upon, “DJ Hero 2” is to “DJ Hero” as “Rock Band 2” is to “Rock Band.” In other words, it’s pretty damn good.

Video Game Rating: 4.0/5.0

Activision long ago gave up on accusations that they were milking the music game genre to the point of exhaustion and just kept on going. There are typically more new music game offerings than hours in the day to play them. And yet, they keep finding an audience. “DJ Hero” was the number one new intellectual property of 2009 and it makes sense that Activision would want to strike again quickly with a more-refined and expanded-upon sequel.

DJ Hero 2
Photo credit: Activision

The smartest thing about “DJ Hero 2” is how much it feels like “DJ Hero.” Why fix what isn’t broken? But this is no mere expansion pack. While the core of the game and most of its controls remain unaltered, there’s both a definite sense of familiarity and refinement. It’s like a new model of a car you’ve driven before — it feels like something you know how to control and yet it’s smoother and rides better.

DJ Hero 2 Photo credit: Activision

If you’re not familiar with the “DJ Hero” model, the big game package now comes with, to quote Beck, “two turntables and a microphone.” The main focus this year has been to turn a solo game into a party one, but let’s start with the core of the game: The individual DJ experience.

The platter is designed to replicate the genuine feel of a crossfader, effect dial controls, and actual turntable. The “record” section of the table includes three buttons - green, red, blue - that should be familiar to anyone who has played a music game before. Hit the button at the right time and make some club-thumping music. The beginner and easy levels of the game are basically just a “right button, right time” methodology. As you climb the difficulty ladder, the variation becomes more intense with scratching, cross-fading, and, new to “DJ Hero 2,” wicked freestyling. Unlike the first game, there are now sections of the song where you’re encouraged to cross-fade and scratch as creatively as possible with points and even a song-end grade on the line. It’s a wonderful new addition.

One of the acknowledged weaknesses of “DJ Hero” was a lack of a solid single-player campaign and so “DJ Hero 2 includes an “Empire” mode in which your player becomes a more-renowned DJ by unlocking locations and winning DJ battles. It’s still basically a structure to support nothing more than a series of setlists but if you care about this kind of thing then it works on its own terms.

DJ Hero 2 Photo credit: Activision

What about the tunes? “DJ Hero 2” includes 83 original, exclusive mixes (which, oddly, is the same number of new songs in “Rock Band 3”…there must have been some focus group somewhere that told developers that 83 is the magic number for a music game) and, once again, it’s a clever mix of old and new. Unlike last time, the focus is not as often on mash-ups, as there are times when you’ll play one song remixed with samples and scratching, as a DJ often does. The diverse roster of artists in “DJ Hero 2” includes Lady Gaga, The Chemical Brothers, DJ Shadow, Kanye West, Eminem, The Crystal Method, Prodigy, and many more.

The structure of the game is familiar to music titles with increasingly difficult set lists that need to be passed to unlock more tunes, outfits, playable characters, etc. The game is surprisingly deep and should take longer to complete than most traditional music outings.

As I mentioned, the focus this year seems to be on turning “DJ Hero” into a party franchise. The addition of a microphone and vocal tracks, along with the extra platter is only the beginning. “DJ Hero 2” comes with a “Party Play” mode in which players can jump in and out at any time with a continuous playlist. The title also encourages you to play online, challenging friends with “Hero Feed” and online play.

“DJ Hero” first seemed like it would be a pleasant diversion, a companion to the more-robust “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” franchises. It still seems unlikely to match the pop culture phenomena of those two games but it definitely can now stand on its own as an impressively creative franchise. Get spinning.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com