Soooo...Santa brought me this game for Christmas. Here's my long ass review for the brotherhood, the DJs, the gamers, the parents, and the posers.
It really is a lot of fun. It was quite a hit at our holiday party. Some of my friends whom would otherwise never listen to hip hop or electronic beats had a blast trying to get the timing down. My crowd was willing to take turns and pass the deck around, but the fact that it is primarily a one player game may lose the interest of the impatient people or the "ball hog" types at a gathering.
The overall gameplay is similar to that of Guitar Hero but the structure is a little different. Each level is a DJ set of 3 or 4 songs (sometimes more) and you have to play the entire set. Some sets are compiled by contributing DJs (Daft Punk, Grandmaster Flash, etc.) where other sets appear to be compiled by style (old school, rock fusion, etc.). I have not played the co-op guitar songs with another player yet, but they are included for solo play and need to be completed like any other level.
The soundtrack is very cool and well rounded. In general, I am not a fan of "mash-ups", but the majority are pretty good DJ cut up blends (as compared to simple run of the mill "vocal A on top of track B" mash-ups). Every song was specifically designed for the gameplay, which is a nice touch and keeps the music original. The songs are usually no longer than 4 minutes but you'll be glad for the break when the track ends. I would have liked more electronic tracks, yet surprisingly I found most of the hip hop flavored grooves to be the most fun to play with; I preferred Grandmaster Flash's & DJ Jazzy Jeff's sets to Daft Punk's.
The few kids in the room were all very interested in what we were doing and they all wanted a turn. It exposed them to a lot of classic tracks and opened up some interesting conversations about the history of DJ'ing. However, I'm not sure if I would call it a family game unless you are talking about teenagers. The tracks are edited for the major curses and such, which is just silly when suggestive tracks such as N.E.R.D.'s Lapdance are included on the playlist. Also, there are images of dancing girls on par with the women of Guitar Hero, which some people may want to know before considering a game for their small children. I think the T for Teen rating is a fair one for the concerned parents on the board, but a family that communicates responsibly should be fine. Then again, most parents just don't care what their kids do and wonder why their children are asses.
But I digress...
The characters and bonus items (costumes, headphone types, custom turntables and such) are nothing special, but they're not the reason you're playing the game. It's all about the new music you unlock and playing it at every level until you beat it as an expert. For instance, the "easy" level of a given song may be challenging enough with scratching and button timing, but the "medium" level will add cross fading in addition to more difficult scratching and button patterns. I should also mention that you can earn playable DJs such as Daft Punk, DJ AM, Jazzy Jeff and others along with the ones designed for the game.
As for the technical aspect, at no point did I feel like I was behind the wheels in a club. The turntable is quite cool and the game includes some pattern counting, scratching, a backspin, 5 active sample effects (dozens to pick from), and its own form of crossfading. That being said, playing this will make you a real DJ in the same way pressing "A" and "B" in Madden 2010 will make you an NFL quarterback. It is just a game. I think most people will understand this fact and those that don't will be shocked the first time they get behind a real 1 & 2.
If nothing else, this game has style and is a push in the right direction for the artists that make the turntable a thing of beauty. Oh, and it's a bunch of fun.
Pros - Fun for a group of friends, diverse and original mixes of music, challenging and unique gameplay.
Cons - Your friends will hate the music and don't like to share, all of your favorite tracks are completely ruined, you're not really a DJ in a real club with a real DJ set up playing real music for real people that would probably walk off your dancefloor anyway.
Choose your path.
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