By Sherwin Loh

IT EMBARRASSES me to admit this but I enjoy the latest music game, which is inspired by the DJ's turntable.

For those who think they look silly banging away on plastic drums or strumming along to toy guitars a la Rock Band or Guitar Hero, well, DJ Hero sits up there on the camp factor.

You have a light, plastic turntable-like toy with three coloured buttons, a crossfade slider and an effects knob. Picture yourself "spinning music" on it, acting all cool, and you can see where the laughs will come from.

With DJ Hero, you are the turntable jockey who must wow the crowds. Like the sea of instrument-based music games out there, the aim is to tap the buttons once the colour-coded cues appear.

What sets this title apart is its exclusive soundtrack.

The art of spinning is usually focused on the mash-up - combining two songs into one. DJ Hero features over 80 remixes from 100 original songs. These are from the likes of Queen, The Jackson 5, Tears For Fears, Beck and more - and each one stands out in its own mash-up.

Where else can you get Gwen Stefani's Hollaback Girl mixed with Rick James' Give It To Me Baby?

Two of the coloured buttons are used for controlling the tracks, while the third adds sound effects. With the fader, players control which song takes the lead.

When coloured buttons appear on the screen, you press the corresponding coloured buttons on the console. When they turn into directional arrows, that is the time to "scratch" the turntable in quick succession and in sync with the direction of the arrows.

Do well consistently and you accumulate something called Euphoria. When activated - you do this by hitting the blinking red Euphoria button on the console - it doubles your multiplier points.

The Rewind function is enabled after consistent play and you get to repeat portions of songs to have another go at them, making each playthrough a unique musical number.

All these add up to a mad scramble of hands. The buttons and arrows come raining down along with indicators to change the tempo, scratch a beat and activate the sound effects. All this while, you must stay in sync with the music.

Is this game for everyone? Probably not, if you have never aspired to be a DJ.

However, distributor New Era is banking on the soundtrack and has brought in two versions - the regular one and the Renegade Edition, which is packed with a special turntable, a case-cum-stand and a two-disc CD by Jay-Z and Eminem.

Nevertheless, game developer Activision should consider changing the plastic turntable. While adequate, it feels cheap to the touch.

The turntable provides no resistance when you scratch it and the crossfader tab slides back and forth with only a thin groove to lock it in place.

During fast motions, this can result in you moving the tab more than you need to.

Cheat sheet

Crossfading

Shifting the slider left or right lets you determine which of the two tracks is the master one. A small catch locks the slider in place but in the flurry of activity, you can shift it by too much. Simply moving it about 80 per cent of the way usually activates the crossfader. Just tap the lever with your palm to knock it back to its original position.

Rewind

To activate Rewind, you must first gain "x4" multiplier points. The instructions tell you to spin the turntable counter-clockwise to activate it but there is no need to do a full 360-degree spin. A quick nudge ought to do it.

Once you activate Rewind, you get twice the number of points for the duration of the replay. However, you cannot use this together with Euphoria.

This story was first published in The Straits Times Digital Life.

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