When I had first heard that Activision was working on a DJ game, I was sceptical and believed that they were attempting to milk the success of music based games. At the Sony Holiday Preview event yesterday, I was given the opportunity to check out DJ Hero. I am happy to say that my scepticism was unfounded and that FreeStyleGames have done a remarkable job with DJ Hero.

Unlike a lot of the guitars and the drums from Rock Band and Guitar Hero games, the turntable from DJ Hero has a more robust and realistic feel to it. There are three buttons on the disc. Around the disc are metallic pieces that help in giving the player a better grip for scratching (turning the disc up and down).

The left and right buttons are the two songs that are being remixed. The middle button is used to inset sound effects. Scratching sequences require the player to hold down on the respective button and turn the disc. In the easy difficulty setting players are only required to press the buttons and scratch the disc when prompted. The thing that really impressed me was that the scratching sound effects responded to how I turned the disc. At the higher difficulty setting players are also required move the cross fader simultaneously to pressing the respective button at the visual cue.

Furthermore there are some tracks that offer two player co-op with the second person using the guitar. With a wide array of 93 tracks, a career mode topped off with a great peripheral, I am feeling a positive vibe from DJ Hero. DJ Hero will be released on October 27, 2009.