Music! DJ Hero Edition

Before the music genre had reached absolute saturation and the eventual downswing, after all the Guitar Heroes, the Rock Bands, and the thing that nobody even had a clue about (Band Hero), one more thing came out that, to many people, seemed like just another cash-in.  Honestly?  It might have been.  But it managed to be good enough that, cash-in or not, it was alright, and as worthy as all the games everyone recognize as real installments, rather than what brought the genre down.  The game I'm talking about, of course, is the game with possibly the worst box art ever:  DJ Hero.

Now, I admit right out, I haven't owned the game yet.  But note the yet; it's an eventuality that I will own this game, which is something I can't say for just about any other music game out there.  It's not that hard to say why, really, either.  With the rest of the music games out there, you're just playing a song you can hear anywhere and already have quite a few times over.  With DJ Hero, granted you can listen to the songs on youtube (Which I did, and how I gained my appreciation of the game), at least they're different.  The effort was put in to make them unique remixes, completely different versions of the songs made by some of the more prominent DJs around, including a duo I have no qualms in gushing about.

If you don't know who these two people are, then I really feel for you.

That's not to say I don't enjoy the songs in the other music games, nor do I actively dislike any song that graces the playlist of a Hero or Rock Band game, far from it.  But they're just songs that are already out there, and while there was a creativity behind them, I have a soft spot for remixes, and remixes made exclusively for a game?  After my own heart.  Honestly, there's not too much I can say that can express my enjoyment in a way better than just showing off a few of my favorites so you can tell for yourself.  (Small boxes for static/mostly static/unimportant images, you know the score)

I'm not going to drag this out too much; if you like any or all of these songs, I'd encourage you to check out the rest of the soundtrack, and perhaps even get the game!  (Actually, you should probably get the game.)

There was a sequel, of course, which, you'd think I'd be all gushing about it as well, but, really, the mixes were a lot less quality the second time around.  While present in the first soundtrack, the second has a lot of instances where it's just one song's vocals over another song's, er, well, music.  This works sometimes.  But not all the time, and certainly not to the extent that DJ Hero 2 features it.  It's a little frustrating, honestly; the one over another remixes are a dime a dozen on youtube, but something like the three mixes I posted from the first?  That's some effort and it really shows.  I just hope that if there manages to be a DJ Hero 3, that they work that out a bit.