For Christmas, I got a decent amount of gifts, but much like every year, the video games were always the ones that entice the most fun. So one of the gifts my wife got me was DJ Hero. Maybe you have heard of the game, it's published by Activision ( who is now the IP owner of the Guitar Hero series after acquiring it from Harmonix, who now makes the Rock Band series blah blah blah) and the game itself is made by Freestyle games. Now, question is if the game is good. The answer is a resounding yes and double yes.
In my personal opinion, I believe the Guitar Hero series as a whole has become as stale as the Dance Dance Revolution series (don't get me wrong, I loves me some DDR, but there has been no real innovation in the series in a while). The Guitar Hero series reached it's height with Guitar Hero 3, but then they just started making rehashes of GH3 with different band labels (Mettalica, Aerosmith, etc), and I think DDR has shown us that tactic can only last so long. So, Activision has made a whole new IP with a completely different rhythm game peripheral, which I might add is another genius game add-on by Red Octane. As a matter of fact let's talk a little about this required controller for the game:
The DJ Turntable has one "wheel of steel" (read:hard plastic, but durable) that can rotate 360 degrees with 3 multi-colored buttons. It also has a crossfader bar and an effects knob. Alright that sounds simple enough, so how does the game play? This is where the real innovation comes in, as you "tap" to the beat of the music, "scratch" the wheel to scratch up the mix, use the crossfader as a music gate for the mixes for fading and whatnot, and more time than not you will be doing these tactics at the same time. Also, much like in the Guitar Hero series, there is Star Power, called Euphoria Power in this game, that doubles you score and multiplier, plus it does automatic crossfades. It actually gets even more complex than this, but that's in the harder modes and I may cover them later.
On to the music, which is the best part of most rhythm games. I gotta stab at Guitar Hero with this, because not only are the overall controls actually more difficult than Guitar Hero's, but the game uses 120 original mixed up songs from over 90 songs. This is a breathe of fresh air compared to Guitar Hero and Rock Bands license cramming for all of their games. If you are a fan of the DJ scene, you will notice some favorites and greats maikng guest appearances in the game, from Grandmaster Flash to Daft Punk to DJ Shadow, all with their own original mixes added to the game.
I want to say the game is without flaw, but here they come. First,off, not all of the music is great, but I suppose that's going to happen wtih any rhythm game. Some of the tracks are awesome, while other mixes leave me glad I never have to play it again. Next is the failure system in the game, which is when you don't do so well in a song in a rhythm game and the game basically says "game over". So, that doesn't exist in DJ Hero, which is a good and bad thing. It's bad because it takes the credibility out of the difficulty of the game, but it's good because it lets casual players enjoy the game without being forced to become hardcore players just to play harder songs. Another bad deal is the sample effects zone that occasionally comes down on the red button side of the screen. I really wish there was a way to disable this feature, because the truth is it's pointless. It sounds cool throughing in a set of samples into the song, but it doesn't add to your score, multiplier, nothing. It really just kinda shows up as more of a distraction than anything else. Question to Activision or Freestyle Games: Why leave in a useless feature to a final product? Did the alpha testers actually agree to a useless feature being left in?
My last and final gripe is the actual price of the game. Now granted, I got the game as a Christmas present, but for everyone else that has to purchase it, you gotta pay up. The game comes with the DJ Turntable and costs $120, which equals out $60 for the game and another $60 for the controller. I have this contoller in front of me, and a $60 pricetag is maybe a bit high, but I must admit it is really durable and the button presses are spot on for accuracy. But truth is, even the gaming economy is in a bit of a recovery, so expensive games can stand the potential for not selling so well, hurting this game in the short run. Let's not get started on the Jay-Z & Eminem Special Edition pack, which may come with a stand plus some extra stuff, but $200 for a single-player game and controller (multiplayer if you buy more games and controllers)....didn't the industry try this already with both Steel Battalions, with minimal results. Truth is, average customers don't like to drop a system's worth of money on one game.
All complaints and kudos aside, it's a great game with a fresh concept. Consider this a review for the XBox 360 version, as I haven't touched the Wii or PS3 versions and have no intention to. As for those that need a numeric score for the game, just consider it an 8 or 9, 8.5 if you will, great but the price of admission, certain mixed songs and for those that like country music (btw, I hate country music), this may not be the correct game for them. I say give it a try and hope for a sequel. A Belated Happy Holidays to All!
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
From Z to A.
So surprise, surprise, Microsoft gave me the finger. Allow me to explain.
I cleared my XP computer and added Windows 7 on to it (sidebar, go to Microsoft.Com and look up how to get Windows 7 for $30 if you are a student. It's legit, safe, and they mail you a back-up disc). So I had to do a clean swipe of my hardrive to install it, with hard drive back-up of course. This worked out quite well, and I am most pleased with 7, it's fast and very efficient. Unfortunately, Zune Marketplace no longer wants to work... Apparently, Zune Marketplace doesn't like to to load on to certain computers for apparently no reason at all. Worst yet, you can't load anything or take anything from one's Zune without Marketplace installed on your PC somehow.
Now, this is a known problem to Microsoft, but unfortunately, their only reccomendation to resolve this issue is to either buy a new Zune HD, which comes with the installation DISC, or buy a new computer. That's it. No other options. So my 30GB Zune I specifically bought for ease of use over anything Apple shells out, is now incapable of loading or unloading anything in it, save for the content inside it already.
To Microsoft, I say this, "You fu**ed up." I had real faith in the Zune market, but no more. So, since I like podcasts and needs me music, I decided I may as well try out an iPod Touch. The day I was going to buy one, I saw a new item that was being sold at ye olde local RadioShack, the Archos 5 Internet Tablet. After a bit of research through ye olde intarweb, it seems it's has an Andriod OS installed and apparently a decnt media player running the Linux kernal. Sold!
So here is what I thinks of the device, it is a powerful media player. It has WiFi, a large ( I do mean large) 4.8" resistive touch, some pre-installed, somewhat useful apps (like Twitdroid, a music mixer, Browser, amongst others), and a video player. Now, it says the built-in speaker is supposed to play sound out-loud, I don't know if mine is not workin' but it seems the Android one just records through the speaker. It really hasn't bothered me that much since it comes with headphones and I have an auxillary cable to play it through my car speakers. Now, you can put podcasts on the thing, but you basically have to download an app for it. I have been using A-Cast, it seems to work out pretty well, but it won't find like iPod or Zune exclusive ones. Something annoying, though it is running the Andriod, Google Marketplace is not on the device, though it can be hacked on there. I tried hacking it on there, but it's a little more complicated than the instructions make it out to be. I will try again later, and give an ecstatic woo once it works. But for right now, it comes with Appslib, which I guess stands for Application Library, and there are loads of free apps on there, but it's nothing compared to the over 10,000 on the Andriod Marketplace. It's open development, too, much like the Andriod marketplace.
All in all, the device is responsive, easy to throw lot's of apps on, the 8GB internal flash drive is expanadble with a microSD card slot, so you never really loss that much space. My one complaint is the lack of speaker, but with my headphones, it's not terrible. Bonus, it has a DVR and channel tuner, but you have to pay extra for the HD DVR stand. Also, it has a GPS reciever with voice guided directions, but you have to pay an extra $39.99 for that, unforunately. You do get a seven day free trial, but I haven't tested it to give my true opinion. Extra bonus, if you don't have an auxillary port in your car, it comes with an FM transmitter built-in. As for mention of the battery life, if you only play music, you'll get about 22 hours out of it. If you listen to music while using the WiFi for web browsing, ahorten it to around 8.
All in all, I'd say it's an excellent purchase for someone looking for a good media experience, a good browsing experience, but don't rely on it it to replace your smartphone, or netbook, just for entertainment and very lite workload.
I cleared my XP computer and added Windows 7 on to it (sidebar, go to Microsoft.Com and look up how to get Windows 7 for $30 if you are a student. It's legit, safe, and they mail you a back-up disc). So I had to do a clean swipe of my hardrive to install it, with hard drive back-up of course. This worked out quite well, and I am most pleased with 7, it's fast and very efficient. Unfortunately, Zune Marketplace no longer wants to work... Apparently, Zune Marketplace doesn't like to to load on to certain computers for apparently no reason at all. Worst yet, you can't load anything or take anything from one's Zune without Marketplace installed on your PC somehow.
Now, this is a known problem to Microsoft, but unfortunately, their only reccomendation to resolve this issue is to either buy a new Zune HD, which comes with the installation DISC, or buy a new computer. That's it. No other options. So my 30GB Zune I specifically bought for ease of use over anything Apple shells out, is now incapable of loading or unloading anything in it, save for the content inside it already.
To Microsoft, I say this, "You fu**ed up." I had real faith in the Zune market, but no more. So, since I like podcasts and needs me music, I decided I may as well try out an iPod Touch. The day I was going to buy one, I saw a new item that was being sold at ye olde local RadioShack, the Archos 5 Internet Tablet. After a bit of research through ye olde intarweb, it seems it's has an Andriod OS installed and apparently a decnt media player running the Linux kernal. Sold!
So here is what I thinks of the device, it is a powerful media player. It has WiFi, a large ( I do mean large) 4.8" resistive touch, some pre-installed, somewhat useful apps (like Twitdroid, a music mixer, Browser, amongst others), and a video player. Now, it says the built-in speaker is supposed to play sound out-loud, I don't know if mine is not workin' but it seems the Android one just records through the speaker. It really hasn't bothered me that much since it comes with headphones and I have an auxillary cable to play it through my car speakers. Now, you can put podcasts on the thing, but you basically have to download an app for it. I have been using A-Cast, it seems to work out pretty well, but it won't find like iPod or Zune exclusive ones. Something annoying, though it is running the Andriod, Google Marketplace is not on the device, though it can be hacked on there. I tried hacking it on there, but it's a little more complicated than the instructions make it out to be. I will try again later, and give an ecstatic woo once it works. But for right now, it comes with Appslib, which I guess stands for Application Library, and there are loads of free apps on there, but it's nothing compared to the over 10,000 on the Andriod Marketplace. It's open development, too, much like the Andriod marketplace.
All in all, the device is responsive, easy to throw lot's of apps on, the 8GB internal flash drive is expanadble with a microSD card slot, so you never really loss that much space. My one complaint is the lack of speaker, but with my headphones, it's not terrible. Bonus, it has a DVR and channel tuner, but you have to pay extra for the HD DVR stand. Also, it has a GPS reciever with voice guided directions, but you have to pay an extra $39.99 for that, unforunately. You do get a seven day free trial, but I haven't tested it to give my true opinion. Extra bonus, if you don't have an auxillary port in your car, it comes with an FM transmitter built-in. As for mention of the battery life, if you only play music, you'll get about 22 hours out of it. If you listen to music while using the WiFi for web browsing, ahorten it to around 8.
All in all, I'd say it's an excellent purchase for someone looking for a good media experience, a good browsing experience, but don't rely on it it to replace your smartphone, or netbook, just for entertainment and very lite workload.
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