DJ Wars

The rhythm genre is rather under developed on Saturn with only a handful of titles ever released. The whole Bemani craze started as the Saturn faded into obscurity. Being a big fan of the genre this depressed me. A short time ago I learned of a title by the name of DJ Wars. How could a game such as this pass me by? After some searching I was able to get the game thanks to a friend of mine who was visiting Japan at the time. I soon learned why such a unique game isn't more well known amongst Saturn gamers.

When I first heard of the title, I was expecting something akin to Beatmania. You know, a typical rhythm action game where you hit the keys in time to falling notes. What I got was a completely different beast. DJ Wars is a full on DJ simulator. It puts you in the role of a DJ and lets you mix and scratch like there is no tomorrow. That is, if you know what you are doing. DJ Wars has an enormously high learning curve, one which I have yet to fully overcome. Chances are, if you have never been behind a turntable you won't know what to do here. If you don't know Japanese you'll be doubly lost.

There are two modes of play, Studio and Story. Studio mode lets you go nuts, allowing you to choose which records to use, set things up and then just have fun with no real purpose. Sort of like a Freestyle mode. You can save your finished work in this mode for playback at a later time. Story mode has you choosing an upstart DJ and performing for the crowd in real time. There are five different DJs to choose from, two girls and three guys. Character designs are typical anime fair complete with a stereotypical "gangsta." Unlike many so-called DJ sims, in DJ Wars you do not prepare the track at your leisure. You are thrust on stage and must mix the track in front of the awe struck crowd, much like a real DJ. The story is played out via static images of your character and some text. Nothing exciting. I'd go more in depth but I'm still clueless as to the proper way to play the game. I guess I lost the war.

Please excuse any terminology I butcher, for I am not a DJ. You get a turntable and can use many of the functions available on a real unit. You can fade in and out from each record, adjust the pitch and volume, scratch the records or even insert samples. You have multiple records to choose from and just as in real life you can switch between them on the fly. You can mix multiple songs together to form one or just mess around with them in any way imaginable. I imagine this would be quite fun for someone who has experience with turntables. For everyone else, it'll just be over our heads.

Controlling the functions of the turntable is easy. There is a menu in the top left corner that you navigate via the d pad. From here you can adjust pitch and volume, select records, scratch the records, insert samples and fast forward or rewind. In addition to this you can fade between the left and right turntable via the L and R buttons. The C button switches your focus between the left and right turntable. Z acts as a play/pause button with Y being stop. That's about all there is to it.

Music chooses range from trance to break beats and everything in between. Typical DJ style music. The game gets points for having a song entitled Poo Trip. Basically the soundtrack is filled with music you would expect to be included in a DJ sim. All songs are vocal free for the most part and allow for easy mixing.

Story mode is entirely in Japanese while menus and turntable functions are entirely in English. Go figure. Because of this, figuring out what you have to do in story mode is next to impossible if you can't read Japanese. You can mess around easy enough, but actually progressing in the story will be very difficult if not downright impossible. Even if you know how to work a turntable, story mode will be hard. I'd recommend staying away from this game if you can't read Japanese. Unless you don't mind being restricted to Studio mode.

Due to the extremely high learning curve and prohibitive use of Japanese I recommend skipping this unique title to most gamers. It is interesting to be sure, but rather difficult to play if you can't read Japanese or have no prior DJing knowledge. If you are looking for an offbeat and innovative title and don't mind dealing with the learning curve or language issues, DJ Wars surely fits the bill. Sure, we've seen rhythm action games and music creation software before, but how many real time DJ sims do you know of? Exactly. Just be aware of the language barrier and high learning curve before setting out to find this title.

©2003 Ed Finnegan

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