In this downloadable music game for 3DS, a group of underground DJs fight evil with their giant mallets and hip beats. In the main story mode, you’ll pick a DJ and must fight through 15 stages of their own story, and then you’ll unlock another DJ to play as with more stages and harder songs.

In each stage you’ll play a song or two or three, and during the music, enemies will charge at you high and low. When they get close enough, smack them with your hammer in time with the beat to send them flying!  You can use the control pad to swing high and low, or you can use the other buttons or even the touch screen.  The shape of the enemy will let you know if you need to hit them one at a time, in groups of two, or in triplets.  If you miss an enemy, it’ll lower your life bar a bit, and if it gets depleted, that’s Game Over.  As you hit enemies, another green meter will fill, and when it is full you’ll go into Fever Mode where every hit counts as a perfect one.  Every so often, a present will appear behind you.  Tap left on the D-Pad or on the touch screen to acquire it and it may fill your health or fever meter a bit.  But be quick because the present will go away after the beat.  Also watch out for green presents, as they are traps and will lower your meters if you pick those up.

At the end of each level you can earn stars, and the way you get those stars is different in each stage. You may have to get a certain score or keep your life meter above a certain point, pick up all the presents, avoid all the traps, and more.  Aside from Story Mode, you can play each song separately in a stage, or in random succession with varying difficulty settings.  You can also listen to the music by itself, but while the music isn’t annoying, it’s not too memorable either.  You can also view trophies (think achievements) you’ve earned.  I actually kind of liked this simple cartoony music game until I got to the last few stages with the third DJ.  Then these enemies who just warp right to you start appearing, and I could never get the timing right with them.  If it wasn’t for that steep jump in difficulty, I would’ve enjoyed this music game a lot more.  It’s a bit simplistic, but at only 6 bucks, it’s not too shabby.

Kid Factor:

Radio Hammer is rated T for Teen with ESRB descriptors of Violence and Suggestive Themes. While you do smack away enemies with giant hammers, they just fly off the screen when hit, so it’s no worse than a Looney Tunes cartoon.  Most of the suggestive themes are in the text, as one of the characters calls the enemies ‘perverts’ and one of the bosses is a bit well endowed.  Also they use the word ‘hell’ a time or two in the text.  However, I’d still be OK with kids younger than teens playing this, as everything is still very cartoony and campy.  Reading skill is helpful for some of the text and menus, and younger gamers may get frustrated at the later, harder levels.

Tags: Game Reviews