DJ: Decks & FX gives you the opportunity to play at being a dance club DJ, and, as such, rather like the similar MTV Music Generator 3, it's rather hard to describe it as a "game" per se. Simulation would be more accurate - there's no special bonus courses to unlock, no real high scores to reach, and the only feeling of satisfaction you'll get is when you mix together the perfect beat to impress your friends.
At the core of DJ: Decks & FX are twin turntables, represented visually that allow you to drop on records from a relatively large selection. Faders, loop mixers and graphic equalizers dot the visual landscape, allowing you to alter the sounds you're producing quite precisely. If all that sounds rather daunting, there's an inbuilt tutorial that introduces each bit of DJ kit, piece by piece. At the end of the tutorial you'll have a rough idea of what everything does, but chances are you'll still be producing mixes that sound like they were dragged backwards through a feral cat. Like MTV Music Generator, a lot of what will make DJ: Decks & FX appealing is your own innate musical talents - in this case mixing talents - although to its credit, DJ: Decks & FX has a much friendlier interface that even the musically inept should be able to get to grips with.
While DJ: Decks & FX boasts a pretty large track listing - certainly enough to put Sony's own SingStar to shame - it's worth noting that there's not a great deal of variety in styles on offer, and everything's more or less been engineered to have a good chance of mixing well together. That's a clever step to keep the less mix-talented interested, as it's not too hard to put something decent together with a little practice, but those wanting to mix, say, Beethoven's Fifth Symphony with, say Cop Killa (c'mon, you know you want to…) will be disappointed. There's also no facility to import tracks into DJ: Decks & FX, so although you could get very good at mixing what's on offer - and that is quite a lot of house-oriented music - there's a definite stop point at which you won't really be able to experiment much further.
DJ: Decks & FX is certainly cheaper than buying a couple of decent turntables and all the associated parephenalia needed for music mixing, not to mention the cost of all the records, and on that basis, if you've got any leanings towards wanting to be a DJ, it's not a bad little title to pick up. It sits solidly in the category of games that should bear a sticker saying "niche title", however.
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Jon Barry
17/09/2004, 09:07 AM
The ultimate at-home dance party!
If you're into house music then this game is worth the $100 for the amount of tunes alone. It's got some great, current tracks. Apart from being able to mix and sample, one of the best things about it is the 'resident dj' part. You can turn this on at a party and the game will auto mix the 80 tracks! It's great.
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