Parents' Guide to

DJ Hero

By Marc Saltzman, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Fun, tricky music mash-up game with turntable controller.

Game Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 2009
DJ Hero Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

  • DJ Hero Game: Screenshot #1
  • DJ Hero Game: Screenshot #2
  • DJ Hero Game: Screenshot #3

Community Reviews

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age 9+

Based on 7 parent reviews

musicgeek
musicgeek Adult
January 29, 2011
age 10+

Fun game, if you are old and mature enough then you should overlook the swear words

its not necessarily the actual game u need to put off as a 13+ game. it's the songs or lyrics. that doesnt mean the actual wii game is bad itself!!!

This title has:

Too much swearing
mfillyaw
mfillyaw Parent of 2, 8 and 11-year-old
December 16, 2010
age 11+

Mom...Dad...Two Turntables & a Microphone! Wiki Wiki...

My oldest daughter , who is 11 loves music games. She has a great time plaing the Rock Bands. The first thing she said was I want to play as a girl but they are all not dressed modestly. So That may be a concern to some parents but as you barely are looking aththe characters and more at the upcoming signals I'm not worried about it too much. especially if she's pointing it out and conciously trying to avoid it. I picked up the second intallment at Best Buy for just over half what it was selling at a month ago and this one for about a third!

This title has:

Too much swearing
See all 7 parent reviews

What’s It About?

Rock music, move over. It's now time to dance. From the folks who brought us Guitar Hero comes DJ HERO, a fun but tricky rhythm game that challenges you to "mash-up" two songs together into one head-bobbing mix. With the aid of a wireless turntable-shaped peripheral (included), you must scratch, cross-fade, and press multi-colored buttons according to what's shown on the screen. Instead of flying down a guitar neck as in the Gutiar Hero games, your eyes (and ears) are on a spinning record. Interestingly, the nearly 100 mixes often pair up two very different tracks -- such as Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl" versus Rick James's "Give It To Me" or Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust" versus Daft Punk's "Da Funk" -- resulting in a unique sound that should get any house party grooving.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (7):
Kids say (16):

DJ Hero is very good, but it's not a cakewalk. Patience and practice -- and choosing the right difficulty level for you (out of a total of five) -- will ensure you'll have a good time with this game. It takes a while to master the controls -- even for Guitar Hero fans -- but this is a good thing overall as it adds some challenge and longevity.

However, to like DJ Hero, you must like dance music (just as you must like rock to play Guitar Hero). Adding to the game's replayability are some fun multiplayer modes (online and off), the ability to add a microphone or guitar for extra fun, and the ease with which to download new songs from the Internet for a couple of bucks apiece. There's not much to complain about with this clever game, and it certainly feels like there's enough uniqueness to the experience for it not to be written off as just "Guitar Hero with a turntable."

Note: The PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii versions of the game are the exact same (though with low-resolution graphics on the Wii), but the PlayStation 2 version doesn't support online play, nor can you download extra songs.

Online interaction: You can play online wearing a headset, which means it's possible to hear profanity if the person you're playing with is using it.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about whether this game deserves a "Teen" rating or not. What did you think about the lyrics in the songs?

  • How does this game within the bloated genre of music games. Is it refreshingly different or just more of the same?

Game Details

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