Review: DJ Nights: Global Tour
by Staff Writer
November 19, 2009
Overview
DJ Nights officially entered the App Store. We gave you a sneak peek, and now it's time for the in-depth review. The overview and features were covered in the sneak peek, so lets get straight to the breakdown.
The Good
The game plays a lot like Tap Tap Revenge 3, and that's definitely a good thing. Notes flow down the screen, and you tap when they cross the bar to play the notes. Plus you shake when bars cross the screen, and even do the occasional spin/scratch. The controls work extremely well. Rather than having to tap on certain buttons like Rock Band, or the actual notes in Tap Tap, you can tap anywhere on screen in DJ Nights. This makes the interface user friendly, and you will feel like you're more in control. Also when you tap anywhere on screen, you feel more like you're tapping to the beat.
The included soundtrack is nice to listen to, and there are definitely nice beats from names in the industry. Maybe not well known to some, but if you're a fan of elctronica, this is a good place to find it. The game flashes all kinds of crazy lights like you're straight in a club which is necessary for the DJ Feel.
One definite good thing is that when you miss notes, or are off, the note doesn't play, and sometimes there is a scratching sound. This is a feature lacking in Tap Tap Revenge, and what makes Rock Band stand out.
Also included is a tour mode which allows you to master songs to be able to advance around the world showing off your DJ skills. Open Feint online high scores and achievements are used as well adding even more to the game.
The Bad
The main problem with DJ Nights is that it doesn't bring anything new to the rhythm based music game. There is really nothing unique, it's just another one of many. Though it's called DJ nights, it doesn't have much DJ, it feels more like the Tap Tap Revenge series with electronic music. I was expecting a DJ Hero type experience made for the iPhone, and instead it's pretty much a copy of Tap Tap Revenge. The only DJ unique feature is the scratch/spin ability which comes very rarely. I played on the highest difficulty, and there were about 300 notes, of which maybe 10 where scratch/spin. Also when scratch/spin appears, no other notes are playing so you just do that, and then back to tapping.
Overall the game is supremely easy. Even on the highest difficulty there are never that many notes at the same time, and the speed never gets too hectic. It's probably about as hard as medium difficulty on Tap Tap revenge 3. There just seems to be no challenge with this game making it monotonous tapping.
The songs are extremely long, without much variability. Most songs are four or five minutes, of constant beats, that don't change it up much. Most of the time I was playing I looked at the time remaining in the upper right. It just feels like a hassle to make it through these songs.
