DJ: Decks & FX is not your usual run of the mill game. There are no levels to conquer, no scores to beat and no special combos to master. It’s purely a giant audio set that allows gamers to sculptor a tune with the 90 licensed songs, this includes vocal-less acappellas and the myriad loops from pro audio design shops like Future Music and Red Lemon.
Players have a set of twin-decks, a mixer, a sampling unit, an equaliser, a fader, a beat box, an effects unit and a loop set-up at their disposal to create their own tunes - basically, everything that’s needed to get started mixing straight away. The equipment used in the game is quoted to be worth twenty five hundred euros - virtual euros, anyway. Add this with the list of music and you've got a piece of software that suddenly seems like a steal. Despite the fact it’s in a virtual world, it’s still amazing to get your hands on a set of equipment that is used by many famous DJs throughout the world, and surprising enough, it sounds very similar when heard out of your TV.
The game is simple enough to wrap your mind around. The control set-up is simple to master, and you'll soon find yourself being able to throw on a couple tracks, cue in the effects, begin a loop of drum beats, fiddle around with the bass and treble to produce a tune that can be labelled as half decent. Probably the best part of this game is that it’s relevantly easy to pick up and play. You can simple take once glance through the tutorial mode, takes you through everything enabled on the equipment, and then you’ll find yourself blasting out the tunes to some of the funkiest music around. Of course you’ll be making a lot of hideous tunes at first but, eventually, you will become a virtual DJ.
The most exciting thing about the control system is that DJ: Decks & FX gives you almost the exact customisation of the songs that a full actual deck system would, which almost makes you feel like a real DJ. For example, rather than just pressing buttons to move a notch a certain amount, you can actually take control of the notch and move it slowly with the analogue sticks giving you a great deal of control as to how loud you want one of the turntable tracks, or how cross-faded, you wish them to be. The nice part about all the mixes is that the computer actually gives you tips on when the perfect time is to add in a beat or to fade out a song, which is very helpful for all those amateur DJs out there. However, the icing on the cake in terms of the control system would be the headphone support via USB. This allows you to mix like a real club DJ. However, PALGN didn't have the resources to test out this feature, so you kids at home want want to give it a shot.
Graphically DJ: Decks & FX is nothing special. The decks are a fairly accurate representation of actual decks and it is only the brightly coloured backgrounds that offer any differentiation. To be fair, a title like this doesn’t rely on its looks to impress, instead placing important on its aural features. Gamers can navigate around a close-up view of the decks with the d-pad, altering whatever knob or button is currently highlighted.
DJ Decks and FX features three game modes; party mode, pro mode and studio mode.
Two significant modes in the game are Pro Mode and Party mode, with the main difference being that in Pro Mode you have no assistance telling you what each button does, nor the assistance from the resident computer controlled DJ. In Party Mode you can simply have the computer controlled DJ boot-up a record to get the party started and you can sit back and listen to the good music the game has to offer. Party Mode is definitely ideal for those times when you’ve got a few mates over and you just want to sit back and listen to some music, where as Pro Mode is made simply to impress your friends of your home DJing skills.
Studio Mode, on the other hand, is where all the fun is. The mode enables you to mix some tunes and save your creations. Your mix is automatically recorded once the music begins and copied to the memory card at the end of the desired session. The sweet part is that mixes of any length can be recorded and all the capabilities of the other modes are available also. Just to show you how fun this mode is, I was able to come up with a fairly reasonable 30 minute mix without being bored.
Gamers have a variety of music at hand perfect for mixing up tunes with. However, if at any time you forget what a song sounds like you can simply listen it in the Record Box. This feature also allows gamers to preview each sound file and organize music into neat folders that’ll make more sense to you. This is handy since it’ll allow you to separate the good songs from the bad.
Unfortunately though, due to a limited issue of material, gamers will soon feel a little bored with the clubbin’ music that’s available. Naturally, the people wanting this software will be seeking this sort of genre, but with the exclusion of other genres of music your mixes are soon restricted. Gamers will later realise this problem when you hear a piece of music, a beat, or a sample out and about that is suited for a game like DJ Decks and FX.
DJ Decks and FX is one of the best music creation software products available to the PS2. It’s definitely a game that’ll appeal to all those casual gamers and non-gamers out there who are wanting a feel of what it’s like to be a DJ, or to see how fun it can be to mix tunes. The game sounds beautiful making it feel like a close replica to an actual club. Sadly with the limitation of music variation you’ll soon get bored of DJ Decks and FX.
Loading...
