Yep, I'm still out a current gen console and my experiences are still restricted to display rooms and friendly unannounced visits to random houses, but somewhere between my pathetic attempts as video game nirvana I managed to get a solid grasp of the (possible) new phenomenon in rhythm based gaming: DJ Hero.

Bias would have played a major part in my review for this game if my love for music was any stronger, but it wasn't exactly difficult to balance out everything. After dozens of visits to Best Buy, half a dozen to Wal Mart, and one lucky house party featuring the new game, there was enough gaming experience to formulate a solid review and the response was a resounding: "It's okay..."

The rhythm based genre of games has always been an exercise in simple gameplay and great music, and in this respect DJ Hero glitters, not so much shines. The soundtrack is, as expected from the minds behind all Guitar Hero games from 3 on up, epic, a masterful list of mash ups that encompasses elements of hip hop (obviously) and a surprising amount of other genres and artists, from Isaac Hayes to Tears for Fears. Each recording is done to perfection. That leaves the gameplay to have to match the soundtrack though, and here's where we run into a couple of snags.

The interface is almost scary in how much is resembles Guitar Hero, but it works. Three buttons and some basic scratching techniques and you have the basic level. You add the fader bar and you hit the first snag.  This particular feature is still in the earliest stages and sliding it from left to right isn't the most responsive motion.  There's a loose (at best) distinction between the left, middle and right sides of it.  The "euphoria" button (comparable to star power from Guitar Hero) is placed a little too out of the way and the ultimate idea behind it is clever but done strangely; it allows you to go back to a previous section you didn't quite excel at and try it again.  The samples are a little too generic but in some songs they are a perfect fit.