DJ Hero is awesome!

I know next to nothing about turntablism, but my ears love what they hear from this game. Just hearing old songs mashed together, or familiar songs in brand new ways, is candy for my ears. And the game itself is pretty fun. Unlike in Guitar Hero, which feels linear in comparison, DJ Hero makes you feel like you're trying to spin a bunch of plates at once. In addition to just pressing the right colored buttons at the right time, you also have to deal with scratching the turntable in the right direction, shifting the crossfader between the two tracks, and turning the effects dial. Sometimes, you need a third hand.

You can't fail in the game, regardless of the difficulty, so you're competing for high score more than anything else. Which is fine by me. Anyone like me who gets to the ninth minute of Green Grass & High Tides and fails knows how much that stings. Scoring is similar to Guitar Hero where hitting consecutive notes causes your score to multiply to a potential x4. You also collect Euphoria, the game's version of Star Power / Overdrive, which bumps your multiplier to a x8 and automatically does the difficult crossfading for you. On top of that, if you hit enough notes perfectly, you're given the ability to rewind the track by spinning the turntable backward. You get to play the same section again for more points.

Or you could be like me, overspin, and totally miss the buttons on the way back. ^_^;

I think my only gripe with the game is the crossfader. It's like the bass drum in Guitar Hero and Rock Band where you have to be mindful of it underneath everything else, but there's something about the switch or the timing that's unforgiving. Don't get me wrong - the game would be pretty easy without it so I can understand why it's there - but it seems like it may have been better handled as a different kind of switch that didn't have so much dead space to the left and right, or maybe even snapped back to the center if you let go of it. But the controller itself is excellent, feels solid, and is nice and smooth.