DJ Hero 2 (Eyes-On) (Wii) Preview

Set to launch across all three home consoles at the end of October (official date to be announced at E3), DJ Hero 2 will feature around seventy tracks which have been remixed from a hundred originals. Among these remixes, players can expect to find a whole host of popular house hold names including Dr. Dre, Lady GaGa, Chemical Brothers, and club maestro Deadmau5, with many more artists thrown into the mix along with some from in the first DJ Hero. The team have polished the core game mechanics such that base samples within songs are now actually from the songs themselves rather than DJ crowd callouts. A new cross-fade system is also included which ensures that every time a song is played, the player gets a different mix thanks to the different styles of play. With any luck this will help to address any repetition issues that some felt plagued the first game.

Single player features empire mode in which scratchers will be starting off as a novice DJ working his way up the ranks with the aim of owning as many clubs as possible and becoming the best DJ around. There's also a slew of multiplayer modes available. Taking inspiration from Guitar Hero is a party play mode which allows two turntables and a mic to work in unison, with players able to drop in and out at will. For the more competitive side of play there are several head-to-head modes including battle mode or call and response. These will feature brand new tracks designed specifically for them. Players can also take it upon themselves to complete a co-op mode that is substantially more fleshed out than its predecessor's offering.

Creative director, Jamie Jackson, revealed that, in addition to the party modes that boost the social feeling of the game, the team have worked hard to balance the game for newcomers and veterans alike. They have implemented an accumulator in versus matches that allows players to ‘bank’ their streaks, and the winner is the one with the largest banked streak. This adds an element of risk – if you go for a really big streak you risk losing it, whereas small safe streaks may be better. You can also win rewinds off your opponents to boost your own streak; this gives an easy in for people who are new to music games while adding a tactical approach to play. The team have also polished some of the game mechanics such as holding a note and being able to bring that into a scratch to make things much smoother. The online multiplayer has also been made more robust with match making and award winning serving as more of a focal point. Players can now earn badges and the like to customise their profiles and rank up in a Call of Duty-esque fashion.

While discussing recnet speculation, Mr. Jackson also stated that his team had considered the possibility of using two decks simultaneously, but had found no easy way of making it work smoothly or in a cost-effective fashion for the end user. The team is, however, aiming to release DJ Hero 2 at a lower price point than the original's £99 RRP. Concluding that design was spot on (and not wanting to alienate customers) the deck's design has not been changed. As such, gone is the past guitar compatibility as it didn’t correspond with the people that wanted to play the title; instead the team have focused on the music. Jackson also commented on the future of the series, with DJ Hero 2 introducing cross-fading of songs, the next step would be the customisation of music in some shape or form. However, they did not want to overload the consumer all at once and decided to keep the system simple (with some new mechanics of course) the second time round.