Perusing the leaflet stack while having an tipple on a rainy Sunday afternoon; I came across a promo book for a recently released game DJ Hero. In my typical gender based game analysis that is based on my imagination, I initially blasted the concept, complaining developers will make a game out of anything.
This preconception was further solidified when I started reading the promotional wanky literature, filled with gems like; “You’re going to buy DJ Hero because its… well, brilliant. Don’t fight it. Its got cooler mates than you have, and you’ll only improve you social station by hanging round with it.” Yes, a overpriced chunk of plastic that will be eventually used as a book rest defiantly has higher social credentials than I have. Much more than if I actually purchased a pair of 1210’s. Maybe that is the reason Technic’s production line is coming to an end; the kids decided it would be much cooler than to learn how to pretend to be a DJ, with someone elses generic commercial play lists, rather than experience the pure euphoria of finding a track on vinyl that you have been searching for what feels an eternity and then share your joy with an empty dance floor at a house party.
Maybe I am being too hasty. Besides, if DJ Shadow hand picked the soundtrack it can’t all be that bad eh? Well, there are at least 4 tracks from each of the artists that were generous enough to provide themselves as avatars. One one hand, you can play as Daft Punk, the most elusive yet omnipresent DJ’s on the planet, or Eminem who has also, like you, has probably never touched a cross fader in his life. I also can’t imagine a better floor filler than the mighty Vanilla Ice vs Paula Abdul. It sounds a bit too much like Simon Cowell has stuck his grubby mits another musical money pie.
The game has got a wealth of turntable and musical genius’s interweave into the program. The one and only Grandmaster Flash provides the narration for the tutorial, and it looks like you might need him. It looks bloody impossible. Maybe it might be easier to actually learn how to mix?
RosieMRogers 