I talked about Modern Warfare 2 recently, but Activision had a lot more going on behind closed doors at E3. In particular, it continued to march its Hero brand forward in the form of Guitar Hero 5 and DJ Hero.
Guitar Hero 5 is more of what you’d expect: the same basic core game with some key additions. From what I saw, the competitive modes stood out. For a series that seems to keep upping the hardcore ante (tough note tracking, a music editor), it makes sense to add a slew of modes that cater to those who love showing off. Perfectionist mode, for example, breaks a song into segments, and the player who hits the most correct notes in a segment receives four points, the next most three, and so on, with the winner being the one that compiles the most points by the end.
Still, like I said, that’s still more of what you’d expect. The direction I liked seeing Hero go in was with DJ Hero. I don’t follow the DJ scene, nor did I expect much from this game going in. When I got to the demo, though, it grabbed my interest. The peripheral looks like a decent enough approximation of the real thing, with a turntable complete with buttons, crossfader, mixer, and an effects dial.
The demo went on to show how the gameplay worked — a setup similar to other rhythm games with streets on which notes travel down — but that’s not the point. For me, a game can capture my attention if it’s just damn fun to play, like with a Mario game, but also if it’s so enjoyable that it gets me genuinely interested in the subject matter. This is far less common, but the payoff can be greater.
For example, friend and Sports Anomaly host Todd Zuniga is a huge soccer fan, so much so that you would have assumed he was his whole life. But he actually got into the sport as a result of Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer series. The game impressed him so much, from the flow of the match to seeing how strategies developed on the fly, that he couldn’t help but fall in love with the sport itself.
As for myself, the Tony Hawk series sucked me in to such a degree that I almost made the effort to step foot on a board (OK, I did, but I never actually learned how to skate). The point is, that series of games raised my awareness and appreciation of the real thing. Likewise with the Fight Night games and Guitar Heros (though in my case, I know I have no rhythm — school band class taught me that years ago).
Back to DJ Hero: I have no idea if this will have the same effect, but just seeing how the basics work already has me more intrigued with the whole subculture. What I do know is that its “everyone in” approximation of the real thing will get some people into the turntable scene, and I find that to be damn cool.