This may have just been a nightmare I had, but with the release of Guitar Hero 17: Hanson and Rock Band: Nickelback, I have been wondering where the music genre can really go from here. The shredding of plastic guitars which only a few years ago seemed so novel and exciting has gone exceedingly stale. Sure, there have been a few innovations (like drums and vocals) and enviable track listings for favourite bands, but the "hero" and "band" games have had a serious lack of forward thinking in recent times. Fortunately, someone at Acivision and Freestyle games was listening, because DJ Hero is here, and it gives the music genre a good defibrillator shot to the chest it so desperately needs.

For the uninitiated (which included myself), the turntable and mixing board have come together to create an instrument just as real as a guitar or piano. Coming from someone who never really gave much thought into what that DJ up high was doing with those records beyond moving them back and forth creating that awesome wikka-wikka-wikka sound, DJ Hero has educated me in a big way to the intricacies and challenges that are faced by real DJs who can actually create music with these tools.

Before you can begin your record spinning education, you'll have to familiarize yourself with the new DJ Hero turntable accessory. Yup, DJ Hero requires you to purchase yet another fake plastic instrument to play, and if you're anything like me, you'll already have a stack of them sitting in your closet as it is. Still, the new turntable is a joy to wield, and doesn't even take up that much room compared to some other peripherals. The peripheral includes a fully spinnable turntable with three buttons (green, red, and blue), a cross-fader switch that goes left and right, an effects knob, and a few other buttons. The controller is built very solidly and seems to stand up well to abuse and overzealous play styles. The button portion can also be detached and flipped around to accommodate lefties and righties. Playing the game with the turntable on your lap is both comfortable and intuitive. It's a well designed piece of kit, as evidenced by the game's $120 price tag.

DJ Hero obviously takes a few cues from other well known music titles, but rearranges them in a way that makes it feel refreshingly new. Gamers who have long grown bored with music games could very well find themselves sucked back in. At its heart, you're still hitting notes and gestures coming at you from an endless highway, warping notes to add your own vibe, and activating star power (which is called Euphoria here). But there are big differences this time around. There are only three tracks to the usual five, and hitting a cue can mean more than just pressing the right button at the right time. The biggest obstacle is getting the hang of cross fading. The left and right tracks represent two records, while the centre one is your sound effects. Since every track in the game is a mash-up of two separate songs, the cross fader determines what songs are heard. Moved to the left or right will only play samples from one of the two songs, while having it set in the middle will play both. It's tricky to get used to, and hitting the centre position is not as intuitive as it should be, but I managed to get the hang of it. Just make sure to go through the tutorials hosted by Grandmaster Flash himself.

The meat and potatoes of the experience is scratching the record. The feeling of holding down a button on the turntable and vigorously moving it back and forth is incredibly satisfying and fun. It simply never got old for me.

The rest of the mechanics are expected, welcome, and can be quite challenging. Rewinding is probably my favourite mechanic of the game. If you play enough notes successfully in a row, you'll earn the right to spin the record back and replay the last section, the more you spin, the further back you go. Euphoria is earned by hitting certain sections perfectly and also takes care of the cross-fading for you, which is essential for some of the tougher sections of the game.

I say tougher sections, but DJ Hero is not really a challenging game. There's no way to fail out of a song, and it likely won't take more than a day or two of practice before you'll be ready for hard mode, especially if you have past experience with the genre. The no failing mechanic is a double edged sword. On one hand, it makes the game infinitely more accessible to any player, and it makes trying the harder difficulties out less of a chore. On the other hand, you'll have no real incentive to better yourself other than getting a high score and unlocking the myriad of trinkets available. I personally found that not being able to fail a song took out a lot of the satisfaction I got from games like