Visiting the launch party for Xbox’s new initiative, Reverb, I was very surprised to see demo pods of the new IP D.J. Hero.

Not being one to shy away from an opportunity I had a few goes to see how it feels and how it plays.  D.J. Hero, if you didn’t know by know, is Activision’s new incarnation of the Guitar Hero series that will aimed aimed at dance music lovers rather than the traditional rocker fare that the Guitar Hero franchise has brought.  Because of this I was a little sceptical that this could provide the same feeling as holding that plastic guitar could as you dance around your living room thinking you are Slash.

If you are around my age then you would have been brought up in the Acid and Rave craze and whether you were involved in it or not you certainly remember the news reports of illegal raves around the late eighties and early nineties.  Although, the music is more refined now and techniques more complicated I was a little dumbfounded at how D.J. Hero was going to work to maximum effect.

The much publicised mixing desk was certainly solid with 3 coloured buttons on the deck, a wheel that moves and a cross fader positioned to the left of the wheel.  There were a couple of other switches above the cross fader for effects etc too.  The build was very sturdy and the wheel was very smooth to move and have to say that it felt more comfortable than the guitar’s from the Guitar Hero franchise.

The game itself works exactly like Guitar Hero does.  The colours come around on a disc while the music plays and you have to press the required coloured button as it comes through the mark.  The music changes and mixes in correspondence to these patterns and offers some really good mixes of tunes that you wouldn’t think were worthy of implementing into a game.  Gorillaz “Feel good Inc” mixed with Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” mixed very well and the it sounded very fresh indeed as did the other pre-determined mixes I played did also.  The scratching is also symbolised in the game by long patterns on screen which require you to press the right colour and also synthetically scratch with the wheel and felt good, real good and I started to nod my head around as though I was on stage and have a little boogie.  I am sure there are some photos on the internet of it happening and after 5 glasses of wine and a couple of beers my inhibitions had left me.

Overall, D.J. Hero is not going to appeal to all.  If you are not into dance music then it will be a no brainer you will stick to Guitar Hero but if you have an ounce of funk in your body then this will grip you the same way as the other famous franchise did.  Probably aimed at more the younger market, D.J. Hero is shaping up to be another big hitter from Activision but the price point of around £130 for turntable and game may put a few people off with the expendable capital diminishing in many a families income.