Guitar Hero: Aerosmith

"Reviews on popular games with this low of a score are usually written by trolls, but I can assure you this game is bad."

I am going to keep this review short, because I know the average angry reader will not read too far before sending me angry e-mails, and I would rather not have a large portion of work unnoticed. When Guitar Hero: Aerosmith was announced, the public's response was not too favoring. Aerosmith is not a bad band, but a game released with their songs is a bad idea. For one, the people want a variety of bands. Each song is different, but they also possess a similarity between them that is noticeable in most of their songs. But what would we, the fans, be if we did not try the game out just because it is composed of songs from Aerosmith?

Another thing the fans noted was the style. When Guitar Hero: Rock the 80s was announced, it was very identical to Guitar Hero II. They did not even change the random tips displayed when loading a song. They changed the characters slightly, changed the color of the background and create a mediocre set of songs. Then they released it for the price of Guitar Hero II. The same lazy labor can be seen in Aerosmith. Except this time they took the liberty into making a new main menu screen, new characters and some bonus songs (thank god).

If there's one thing in this game that makes me want to burn it—it would have to be the background. Each character has a different background behind the notes. Some characters have a clear, less annoying background than others. In this game, when you play a song composed by Aerosmith (85% of the songs), you are forced, regardless of whether you're playing in career mode, quick play mode or practice, to look at a HORRIBLE and DISTRACTING background. This is not a small flaw—it's an annoying game play feature that made me write this review in the first place. I cannot play their songs with this very dark and bulky background.

Now readers are probably sharpening their knives and other killing utensils. “Did he just give this game a 4 JUST because of this?” is probably a question you are asking yourself. Yes, I did. If you were to play a game with the most graphical set of characters and objects, vivid backgrounds, and superior sound and amazing controllers yet with a huge game play flaw such as the game play in Lost Planet, would you enjoy it?

There is also a big drop in difficulty from previous games. I am not that great at this game, but I 5 starred every song in expect difficulty in a single try (with the exception of the last song, which is a pain. It took a few more tries).

The best part of this game would go out to the achievements. A great improvement from Guitar Hero III, I'd say. Unlike Guitar Hero III, the points are actually balanced on how difficult the achievement is. No one understood why you only got 30 points for getting 100% on 20 songs in expert (though there is a glitch that allows you to obtain that much more easily). When I completed expert difficulty, I was surprised to find out that I also got the achievements for the hard, medium and easy difficulties. In Guitar Hero III, you have to play through each difficulty to get the achievement.

I play Guitar Hero II and III just about every day. I am not some random troll typing this to be ignorant and anger people. In fact, I only list one major flaw in the game, and it probably will not bother most people. But this is a review on MY opinion. Do not take this as an affront towards the fan base, as I am part of it, and I do not insult myself. Hopefully this will change your opinions on whether you should rent or buy the game.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 06/30/08

Game Release: Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (US, 06/29/08)