Guitar Hero Van-Halen [Wii]

Review

by Erik Brudvig

Some rock stars don't know when to call it quits and retire. Stardom of days gone by comes knocking at the door and the allure of easy money on a reunion tour can't be passed up. All the band has to do is go through the motions and the millions come pouring in. The same criticisms could be leveled at Guitar Hero Van Halen -- a game starring a band that has seen its better days injected into a franchise that has already seen three previous releases this year. The result is a train wreck. Simply going through the motions isn't enough. Not for a band and not for a videogame.

It would be tough to pick a major band that is more irrelevant to popular culture today than Van Halen. The band that wowed arenas filled with screaming fans in the '80s through the virtuoso guitar work of Eddie Van Halen and on-stage antics of David Lee Roth is best known by the youth of today through kitchy references in Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow films. The majority of Van Halen's catalog has fallen into obscurity by all but the most ardent fans.

But let's say you are still a big fan of Van Halen. You might think that this is the perfect game for you -- a digital dream come true. You'd be wrong. Of the 45 tracks included on this disc, nearly half aren't even from the title band. The supporting acts, as they're called, feel like rejects from other Guitar Hero games. What exactly do Weezer, Blink-182 and Fountains of Wayne have to do with Van Halen? Absolutely nothing. These non-Van Halen tracks are pure filler and a piss-poor way to round out a set list.

Things get worse yet. It's not like Van Halen doesn't have enough material to support an entire game in the same way that Guitar Hero Metallica did earlier this year. However, Activision never bothered to secure the rights to any Van Halen songs created after David Lee Roth left the band. Many claim those years to not be the "real" Van Halen, but even those purists would have to admit that having some Hagar songs in there would be better than Lenny Kravitz. Or Third Eye Blind. Or Jimmy Eat World.

The Van Halen songs themselves are great fun, particularly for those that like a challenge. The last set of tunes will challenge all but the uber-pros. There aren't enough of them for a full game, though. Above all others, Van Halen begs the question as to why this wasn't simply a downloadable add-on to another Guitar Hero game.

The failings aren't limited to the set list. Guitar Hero games are supposed to be about living the rock star dream. Van Halen was the embodiment of that ideal...in the early '80s. So, naturally Guitar Hero Van Halen puts the current aging line-up on stage to prance about awkwardly, showing off their wrinkles and short hair and pudgy young Wolfgang Van Halen. That was sarcasm. Van Halen in concert today is an exercise in nostalgia. The Van Halen of today in a video game is just sad. You'll have to work through the entire Career before you get to see "classic" Van Halen in the game. Even then, they still move like they're geriatrics. Don't expect to ever see any classic stage antics here. The band doesn't even look interested.

Of course, the Career mode was only named that out of tradition. There is no career here. You don't play at classic Van Halen venues or follow their rise to stardom. You just work your way through a list of tunes earning stars. All of the bells and whistles added for Guitar Hero 5 are not here. There are no song challenges or interesting gigs. There aren't even any behind the scenes videos or interviews with the band like there were in Guitar Hero Aerosmith or Metallica. Some tracks have extra facts that can be read while listening to the songs, but not all of them. "Hot for Teacher" is one missing extra info. Talk about phoning it in.

The rest of the game is a similar disappointment. No support for downloadable content other than the GH Studio tunes. No option to import these songs into Guitar Hero 5. No Party Play mode. But hey, misery loves company. You can grab a few buddies and play with a full band or hop online to rock out with distant friends or strangers. And if this is the only Guitar Hero game you decide to own, the GH Studio is included as well so you're free to try your hand at creating your own rock songs and then share them with the world.

Closing Comments
Anybody who picked up Guitar Hero 5 shortly after release had the chance to snag Guitar Hero Van Halen for free through a promotion. They got what they paid for. For everybody else that might be looking to Guitar Hero Van Halen in stores, stay away. No effort was put into making it good. It’s a step backwards for the franchise and a totally unnecessary release.

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Dance Dance Revolution X2 [PS2]

Review

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. - Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc., today announced DanceDanceRevolution will be available in retail stores nationwide on Wii and PlayStation 2 beginning Tuesday, October 27. Also revealed for the first time, is the full song list for DanceDanceRevolution Hottest Party 3 and DanceDanceRevolution X2. New licensed master tracks from some of today's hottest acts will make DanceDanceRevolution a must for gamers old and new.

Players will be able to dance to the beat of an expansive library of over 40 great songs, including the following hits recorded by the original artists:

• Ne-Yo- "Closer"


• Coldplay- "Viva La Vida"


• Rick Astley- "Never Gonna Give You Up"


• Lady Gaga- "Just Dance"


• Depeche Mode - "Enjoy The Silence"


• Vanilla Ice- "Ice Ice Baby"


• Natasha Bedingfield- "Pocket Full of Sunshine"


• Pitbull- "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)"


• Black Eyed Peas- Let's Get it Started"

Also included are over 20 tracks of original music composed by the Bemani development team.

As you can tell, DanceDanceRevolution is sure to be the life of the party and get you into shape with outrageous multiplayer fun, a huge smash hit soundtrack including licensed master tracks and originals, entirely new modes and more!

In the latest Wii version, DanceDanceRevolution Hottest Party 3, players will be introduced to Balance Board Mode. In this high energy, low impact mode, players trade their feet to utilize their hips, waist and hands with the Wii Balance Board and Nunchuk. This all new mode will be sure to add a whole new level of gameplay to DanceDanceRevolution. Players still will be able to use their DanceDanceRevolution controller mat for classic gameplay.

DanceDanceRevolution X2, for PlayStation 2, introduces the brand new Dice Master Mode where players roll the dice to receive a dance challenge and compete to be the ultimate DanceDanceRevolution champion.

If players really would like to put their DanceDanceRevolution skills to the test against the nation's best, they can compete in the DanceDanceRevolution national tournament taking place through December 2009 in select cities across the country. The best of the best will compete in a high-stakes dance off in select GameWorks locations nationwide, culminating in the DanceDanceRevolution finals in Las Vegas.

DanceDanceRevolution will be available on October 27, 2009. For screenshots, product information complete tracklistings and more, please visit our product page at http://www.konami.com/ddr

About DanceDanceRevolution
Originally debuting in arcades in 1998, DanceDanceRevolution has been available on most consoles including Xbox video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, and Wii. Revolutionizing the get-up-and move concept for video games, DanceDanceRevolution combines high energy music with fun-filled gameplay. The game has swept into the pop culture psyche as it has had its own television program on CBS, is regularly featured on primetime television, music videos and feature films, has its own fan club and fan sites, is part of the physical education program in many school districts, and is a featured workout in fitness clubs across the United States.

About Konami
Konami is a leading developer, publisher and manufacturer of electronic entertainment properties. Konami's titles include the popular films Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, DanceDanceRevolution and Castlevania, among other top sellers. The latest information about Konami can be found on the Web at www.konami.com. KONAMI CORPORATION is a publicly traded company based in Tokyo, Japan with subsidiary offices, Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd. in Tokyo, Japan, Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. in the United States and Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH in Frankfurt, Germany. KONAMI CORPORATION is traded in the United States on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol KNM. Details of the products published by Konami can be found at www.konami.com.

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DJ Hero (2009) [Wii]

Review

by Daemon Hatfield

For many, exactly what a DJ does up in that DJ booth at the club is a mystery. But now you can find out with DJ Hero, the latest in the never-ending line of Hero games from Activision. Because this is a new type of music game, there's a lot to explain, but let's get this out of the way first: DJ Hero is fantastic. It's one of the best games I've played this year and one of the best music games I've ever played. Hopefully you've saved space for one more plastic instrument in your living room, because you're gonna' want to have DJ Hero on hand for your next party.

DJ Hero goes back to the simpler times of music games before there were world tours and fans to earn. You work through tiers of songs and unlock new mixes, characters, and costumes by earning stars -- but that's pretty much all you have to worry about. This simple design puts the focus on the music, which is excellent. DJ Hero has one of the best and certainly most diverse track lists of any music game. Unless you listen to country music exclusively, you will find songs here you love.

Even better, the 102 licensed tracks have been mashed-up to create 93 original songs that you won't hear anywhere else. 50 Cent is mixed with David Bowie, Beastie Boys are mixed with Blondie, and Vanilla Ice is mixed with MC Hammer. Many mixes were created by the in-house DJs at developer Freestyle Games, but a healthy amount was produced by well-known disc jockeys like DJ Shadow and Grandmaster Flash. The entire soundtrack is superb and could easily stand on its own outside the game. If you just want to hear the music you can enable Party Play and sit back while the mix takes care of itself (you won't earn any points, though).

DJ Hero also looks great with sweeping, dynamic camera shots of the club gettin' crunked. You can't create your own DJ but there are a bunch of amusing unlockable characters, including superstar DJs like Daft Punk and Z-trip. I only wish the DJs' movements were more in synch with the track, because there are times when you're furiously scratching and your avatar somehow has both its hands in the air.

A new type of music game means there's a new controller you'll have to learn how to use. DJ Hero comes with the turntable controller. Half of it is the record platter with three face buttons and the other half is the mixer that includes the cross fader, effects knob, euphoria button (which enables DJ Hero's version of star power), and the native controls for whichever system you're playing on. These halves can be separated and flipped around for left-handed players.

The controller feels sturdy and it's a lot of fun to use. If you've never laid your hands on a turntable and mixer before it will likely feel very alien, but DJ Hero includes a helpful tutorial (hosted by Grandmaster Flash) to walk you through everything and the "beginner" and "easy" difficulty settings live up to their names. Whatever difficulty you're playing on you won't ever fail a song. That's not how DJ Hero rolls. If you aren't performing so hot the sound will cut out and you won't earn as many stars, but that's the most punishment the game will dish out. What DJ Hero is lacking is a practice mode that lets you slow down the music and work it out at a slower pace, as you've been able to do in Guitar Hero for years. You'll wish you could slow things down when you get to the Scratch Perverts mixes in the depths of the track list.

When playing a song you'll find the familiar colored symbols coming towards you as you tap the turntable's face buttons in time with the music. But when it's time to scratch you have to hold down the corresponding button and move the turntable back and forth. On lower difficulty settings you can move the turntable any way you like, but later on you'll have to follow onscreen arrows that indicate whether to push it forward or pull it back. Like Guitar Hero, I find DJ Hero becomes more fun and rewarding on higher difficulty levels.

Then there's the cross fader, which you'll have to push left and right in correspondence with the onscreen audio stream. Think of it like an audio gate: when the cross fader is in the center position the audio from both record A and B is allowed through, but by pushing it to either side you can close the gate on one record and isolate the other audio source.

At several points during a song, Perfect Regions will scroll by, indicated by glowing notes. Hit every note in these regions perfectly and you'll earn Euphoria, or Star Power (don't know why they didn't call it Ecstasy, but whatever). When you activate Euphoria your score multiplier will be doubled and the crossfader will go on autopilot -- very handy for tricky bits. To push your score even further you'll need to use the effects dial to manipulate the sound during Effects Zones. This will add a personal touch to the mix and, again, double your multiplier.

The one mechanic that doesn't really work for me is the freestyle mode that lets you play samples at will during specified parts of a mix. Before you start a song you can pick a sample set from a list that boasts some classic hip-hop sounds (including two Flavor Flav sets). Then, when prompted, you can mash the red turntable button to your heart's content to playback those samples. But these taps aren't scored, so the feature is little more than a gimmick. You also have to spin the effects dial to cycle through your samples, something you probably don't have time for anyway if you're playing an advanced song. Eventually I just ended up ignoring this feature.

DJ Hero runs the gamut of challenges: the easiest settings and songs will allow anyone to jump in, but the later tracks on expert are absolutely insane. If you've been around the block with other music games or if you have a good sense of rhythm, you'll get the hang of things pretty quickly. Playing DJ Hero has about as much in common with really using a turntable and mixer as playing Guitar Hero does with playing a guitar. But that's fine -- this is a game and it's only required to be fun, which it certainly is. I do a bit of DJing myself and love the game, but knowledge of the practice isn't required to have a good time. IGN Editor Greg Miller is a Taylor Swift superfan who has never laid hands on the ones and twos and he loves DJ Hero just as much as I do.

Leaderboards are a little lackluster. You can view a list of scores for each song but it doesn't indicate what difficulty anyone is playing on. Like other music games there are more notes to hit on higher difficulties meaning a higher score is possible, but it would be nice to see whether the person sitting right above you on the board was playing on the same setting as yourself.

For multiplayer you can fire up two turntables or you can add a guitar on a few select tracks so that one player can rock the turntable and the other can just rock. Guitar and turntable mode is fun but the dual turntable battles are a little disappointing because each player controls identical parts of the song. With Guitar Hero we're used to being able to select guitar or bass so that each player is contributing something different to the performance. There are a bunch of turntable crews out there that perform with multiple people manipulating multiple records, so hopefully that can be added for the DJ Hero sequel.

Closing Comments
In an overcrowded genre of music games, DJ Hero resides at the very top with the best of 'em. The original mixes are stunning and scratching the turntable is just as fun as it seems. It's not as full-featured as Rock Band 2 or Guitar Hero 5, but the simpler presentation really works in its favor. Like an '80s arcade, mixmasters will be gunning for those high scores on the leaderboards. A little headroom has been left for improvement with a sequel, particularly in the head-to-head battles and the way leaderboards display scores. But DJ Hero is already the most exciting music game around and is guaranteed to get the party started. To paraphrase Run DMC: gosh darn that DJ made my day.

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