Video Game Review – DJ Hero

Ah, the Hero games. I really liked some of the Guitar Hero games and I’m looking forward to Lego Rock Band (not part of the same series, but at least the same idea). Mind you, I pretty much suck at these games, but still I find them to be enjoyable.

Now comes DJ Hero, the latest incarnation of the Hero series. I spent some time last night playing with a demo version of it, and I found it… decent. Not great, but decent.

The basic idea is the same as the other games. You hear music, you see the screen telling you what buttons to press and you do as you’re told. Easy to learn, difficult to master, as some might say.

I actually found the learning curve on this to be steeper than I liked. The easy setting isn’t as easy as I might prefer and the medium setting (where you have to use the cross-fader), is entirely too difficult. I had a friend over and he aced the easy section, but once the cross-fader was introduced, he was totally doomed.

One nice feature of the game is that you can have someone use a guitar controller and play in a vs mode against each other. My friend and I did that, and it worked out fairly well, though you’re each playing a different track and that might take a little getting used to.

I also found the positioning of the blue button on the turntable to be a little awkward. Scratch moves are a big part of the game, and they’re easy to do with the green button, but very hard with the blue button. On the other hand, the turntable controller includes lefty support, and as a southpaw, I’m pleased with that.

The game’s equivilent of the “star power” feature from the guitar games is called “Euphoria” and it works out ok (though I don’t know why they used the word “euphoria” when a perfectly good word like “ecstasy” was sitting around waiting to be used), as does the “rewind” feature that allows you to back up a few seconds and reply a few notes.

I was also reasonably pleased with the selection of songs. I had only a demo version of the game, so the selection was limited to only a few songs, but they were well done and easy to listen to. As for the graphics, they were supremely good and looked great on my new 42″ LCD TV, though my DJ looked hideous.

Overall I enjoyed the time I had with the game. I don’t know that I’d buy a copy any time soon, but maybe once it’s a Greatest Hits kind of thing. I just don’t enjoy the whole dj experience or dj culture enough to want it at full price. Those who do enjoy such things will likely really get a kick out of this game!

Video Game Review – Lego Batman

Ah, the Dark Knight. That towering sentinel, watching over Gotham and protecting her citizenry from the most evil and vile of villains. With his faithful sidekick, Robin, he’s a noble guardian, righting wrongs and doing good.

In this game he does all that, in plastic form!

Yes, welcome to LEGO Batman, the aptly named companion to such games as Lego Indiana Jones and Lego Star Wars. In this game you play Batman, Robin, Batgirl, Nightwing, the Joker and a great many other heroes and villains through thirty-plus levels of fun and excitement!

It’s all here: the cool gadgets, the colorful characters, the really annoying, repetitive music (you’d better really like Danny Elfman, is all I’m saying), and the nifty vehicles. In fact, unlike the other Lego games, the vehicle levels are some of the most fun!

The game has significantly more depth and unlockables than Lego Indiana Jones, though it’s not quite as intense as Lego Star Wars (this is to be expected, given that the latter has many more levels and about twice as many characters). You do, however, get the fun of playing both as heroes and as villains, each with their own overlapping story lines. It’s a lot of fun and includes the usual trademark humor we’ve come to expect of this franchise.

The only real drawback to the game is that there isn’t a lot that’s new. It’s pretty much just the other Lego games with Batman’s face drawn on. This isn’t a bad thing, but it’s worth noting.

Otherwise, a great game, lots of fun and worth every penny!

Non-Shocking News!

Well, not to belabor the obvious, but apparently video games don’t make people into killers. This is no shock to anyone who thinks about these things for a few minutes. The whole notion puts me in mind of the fear of comic books back in the 1950’s.

Always remember: saying that people who play video games will become violent is like saying people who play Monopoly will start taking out adjustable-rate mortgages.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go back to randomly killing people in Liberty City.

Now a Moment from Adam Sessler

My friends, let me draw your attention to a little video. It’s from a guy named Adam Sessler, who is a host of a video game show on G4 called X-Play. Recently he got into a discussion on NPR with Jack Thompson, a free-speech hating censorship adovcate. Radio being what it is, he didn’t get to make all the points he wanted to. Take a look at the video here and see what he has to say. I think it nicely sums up censorship in general and video game censorship in particular.

You know, people keep wanting to say that video games are different, and the violence in them is more powerful, so they can corrupt our children! Well, they used to say that about comic books, TV, radio, movies, music, etc. Hell, Glog the caveman probably got unhappy about his kids seeing pictures of mamoth hunts on the cave walls.

People like Jack Thompson are far more dangerous to America than people who make and sell video games. Censorship is bad, no matter what form it takes. Please try to remember that. Thank you!

Grand Theft Auto IV: First Impressions

Last night, in anticipation of my stimulus check (which I finally confirmed I am getting, so yay!), I bought an X-Box 360 and a copy of the already infamous Grand Theft Auto IV.

This is a really, really interesting game. I’m only about 90 minutes into it so far. The physics for both driving and fighting are vastly improved from the previous games. The graphics are really amazing! The city is a lot more “alive” than previous versions, too.

Fun bit: I was sitting down in the game watching TV (which you can do), and surfing between the channels. At one point I ended up on some sort of stand-up comedy routine being performed by Ricky Gervais! I loved both The Office and Extras, so this was a nice treat for me. I hear he actually does a performance at a club in the game, so I gotta make sure I go there and see it.

Nothing like a little time-waste…