DJ Hero 2: Review

As someone who was born with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, asking me to play DJ Hero 2 on Expert for five hours straight perhaps wasn't the best idea we've ever had. But despite the joints in my right hand now feeling as rigid as an old man on a cold winter's night, I'm still going, determined to perfect DeadMau5's multi-track megamix, knock out David Guetta in a DJ Battle without losing a checkpoint, and beat the high score of the guy who's challenged me over the Hero Feed. If you think you can beat me with that score - even with my crippled fingers - you've got another thought coming...


Even if you've played last year's DJ Hero, you'll probably be wondering what exactly it is we're going on about. Megamixes? DJ Battles? Hero Feed? Well, each are new mechanics designed to refine DJ Hero's existing core gameplay, and make DJ Hero 2 a true sequel, rather than an uninspiring expansion. It's these changes - as well as a handful of others - that makes DJ Hero 2 feel as fresh, if not fresher than last year's original mash-'em-up. It's instantly familiar. Indeed, DJ Hero 2 retains the same basic formula as its predecessor - pushing buttons, scratching and crossfading in time to the notetrack is still at DJ Hero's core, yet the new elements can completely change the way you play.

Freestyling is one of them, allowing you to crossfade and scratch on the fly at particular points through a mix, effectively creating your own take on the track. It works brilliantly and can be incredibly rewarding - hearing yourself pull off a thumping mix between two top tracks is one of the most satisfying sensations we've ever felt in a music game. Budding maestros, though, will be left disappointed that the feature is limited to certain sections of track rather than entire mixes. New note types also mean you won't just be scratching or tapping buttons either, but mixing up your input.

But the improvements to the game extend far beyond DJ Hero's basic mechanics. If you're playing alone, you'll be spending most of your time in DJ Hero 2's new Empire mode, essentially Guitar Hero's basic career option, that has you earning stars by performing mixes and competing against rival music- makers in new DJ Battles, themselves warm-ups for the new competitive multiplayer options. Basic or not, Empire adds in that much-needed sense of structure and progression glaringly absent from the original.

Multiplayer too has been given a significant overhaul, with full online and offline competitive modes now available, plus the drop-in/drop-out Party Play mode ripped directly from Guitar Hero. It's just a shame that the initial cost for a couple of decks is still substantially more than we expect most people are willing to stretch to.

DJ Hero's interface, too, is much cleaner than before, with the grunge-tastic and awkward-to-navigate menu screens of the original replaced by slicker and altogether better thought-out ones, while the ambience of the clubs, which sees strobe lights pulse in time to the beat and the camera swaying between dancers and DJs, presents the game in exactly the way a music game should, full of life and energy, and with an atmosphere that'll get you bopping to the beat from beginning to end. It's without doubt the most exciting music game on the market.

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