DJ Hero 2 plays it pretty safe. But this sequel to last year’s surprisingly successful study in turntablism (who would’ve thought people would want another plastic peripheral?) will allow you to get at least a little more use out of your faux-DJ skills. At a recent Activision event showing off the upcoming Guitar Hero and DJ Hero 2, I tried spinning my own beats to see what’s changed — beyond the new artists and tracks — in this year’s version of the game.
While Activision’s big talking points revolved around the specifics of the added multiplayer modes (new ways to battle against friends, and prove who’s the superior scratcher), I was much more interested in the gameplay itself. See, my biggest problem with the first DJ Hero was that it didn’t give you any creative freedom, but in DJ Hero you’re playing one of the most creative and individualistic instruments out there. To a degree, DJ Hero 2 tries to remedy that problem. Like the drum fills in Rock Band and Guitar Hero, short sections in each song give you almost total control over the beat, allowing you to alternate freely between tracks and scratch to your heart’s content. They’re agonizingly short interludes, but they give you that burst of freedom you need, while not violating the integrity of the original DJ’s work.
