The biggest question anyone faces with contemplating on buying a new music game is whether the music is actually good or not. Most likely due to the fact that none of us wish to continue needlessly littering our houses with even more plastic instruments than we already have. If you are not a music lover like I am, than most likely you have already made up your mind on not buying DJ Hero for that very reason but if you are than I will try to answer your most important question. Does the soundtrack suck or not?


A QUICK HISTORY
First and foremost I am absolute sucker for these Hero games ever since the original Guitar Hero on the PS2. This may slightly be from nostalgic affection from my early days in university where my friends and I would return back from a night of clubbing or drunk debauchery at 3 O'clock in the morning to a house party where people would take turns wailing their favorite solos on a plastic guitar in between chugs of Snakebite and Black before hitting the local McDonald's for breakfast. These game were quick, fun, sociable and it was hell of alot more entertaining listening to people play compared to the usual bubblegum bollocks that rested on the top of the charts during the mid to late noughties.
Eventually Activision published DJ Hero and it kicked arse! Providing you bought the necessary turn table in order to play the game you were not just able to scratch and mix songs together like a pro but the songs you got to play where very original in some aspect. Original because there were songs mixed together that I never even considered would work as well as they did. Like mixing Shout by Tear For Fears with Pjanoo by Eric Prydz. Both extreme different genres of music but are synchronized so perfectly that you feel like such a bad arse on your turntable blasting it from your TV's speakers. You can listen below to see what I mean.






DJ HERO 2: FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The first thing I noticed when looking up some of the game's soundtrack online before it was officially released in the UK was the inclusion of alot of mainstream artists like for example Lady Ga Ga and the Pussy Cat Dolls who I don't exactly have much affection for in regards to the music they make. I was actually concerned from early appearances that they were trying to shoe horn in some of these artists in to make the game more appealing to the American market. Happily to my surprise not only did they work fantastically well in the songs they were mixed with (apart from Soulja Boy who will always suck) but this game has something for everyone music wise. Whether you're into Hip Hop, House, Drum n' Bass, Rave Music, Pop, Funk, Reggae or Trip Hop no one is forgotten and I found myself nearly loving all the tracks apart from Timbaland and Soulja Boy because they suck that hard.

CHANGES AND IMPROVEMENTS

To my delight most of the small changes made in DJ Hero 2 really helped in the experience of gameplay. For example you're now able to have more freedom in free styling and within certain moments of songs you are able to switch back and forth between songs at will creating your own beat and adding your own scratch effects. You are also still able to battle against players online which can be a bitch on your wrist but is extremely sattisfying when you're building up your reputation online.

One change they have made that I haven't been able to experience but from watching multiple videos on YouTube I thought was kind of poinltess was the introduction of a microphone and being able to sing or rap to the songs with lyrics hilighted on your screen where you get judged in your timing and pitch. From what I've seen this becomes a huge cluster fuck because since this is a DJ game the tracks are always switching back and forth between songs and not to mention the repeats and breaks that it is almost impossible to keep up. However this is only an option and is not required in order to play.

FINAL CONCLUSION

Athe end of it all what we have is an extremely well rounded game which I definitely recommend for the hardcore music gamers out there. With a soundtrack than can appeal to everyone from golden oldies to more up to date music dominating the charts you will finding yourself scratching to your hearts content and putting your speakers volume to their maximum capacity. If this game came free with a lazer show and hits of ecstasy then your fantasy of being a world class DJ would be perfected. Overall I'd give DJ Hero 2 a FULL PRICE.