DJ Hero: Bored Of It

Whilst at the PlayStation Video Store event with Davs and Tuffcub on Wednesday we discussed a new feature to TSA where we look back on past reviews and see whether or not the game has held up since the score, or is better (or indeed, worse) than we first thought. As a precursor to us going down that route I felt so strongly about DJ Hero that I just had to write something. You remember DJ Hero, right? Activision’s £100 beat juggling entry into the Hero cash cow series? The one I scored an 8/10 to? I’m bored of it.

The video screams excitement, action, innovation. In reality, DJ Hero actually offers very little of any of these things – it’s little more than a memory test to music, but without all the class, subtlety and finesse that something like Rez offered, and the various mash-ups are far more rigidly fixed than the trailers would have you believe. You can’t influence the tracks, you can’t change how they sound outside of a few sample triggers, and there really isn’t actually that much to do in the game once you’ve unlocked all the various levels available.

Do I regret the £100 outlay needed to gain entry into the DJ Hero club?  Yes, I do.  It was, in my defense, brilliant fun for the first couple of days, but with the rush of new songs out of the way and only my own scores to battle against, the game has lost much of its verve and the rather expensive bit of plastic is now just sat there under my TV waiting for something else to use it on.  A sequel?  Well, perhaps, if Activision up their game and actually do something a bit more interesting with the concept, but will I be daft enough to part with another £40?  Probably.