Guitar Hero: Aerosmith

"If you're looking for a review to convince you to buy this...I'm not it."

I'll admit it. I spend way too much time playing these rhythm games. I obsessed over Guitar Hero. I lived and breathed Guitar Hero 2. I'm probably the only person alive who thinks Guitar Hero Rocks the 80's is under-appreciated. I counted down the minutes until Guitar Hero 3, and I play Rock Band pretty much every day. I owed it to the rhythm genre to at least give Guitar Hero: Aerosmith a try, despite my reservations. Lets just say it's probably what you expect: an overpriced cash-in.

Graphics - 7.5/10 - For better or worse Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (GH:AS) uses the same engine and style of GH3. From the venues, to the menus, to the look of Lars Umlaut, things look pretty much the exact same. Everything is given the Aerosmith touch you'd expect, but nothing really stands out as being good or bad. However, the demonic Steven Tyler singer is downright frightening. That alone warrants a Teen rating for this game.

Sound - 9.5/10 - The game sounds great. The song quality is very good, the covers are among some of the series best, and all the sound effects are blended well into the Aerosmith theme (the crowd chants Aerosmith before the band makes the stage). Kind of hard to screw up the sound department, and the game delivers. The only minor complaint is that they left in the god awful clangs and screeches from when a note is played incorrectly.

Gameplay - 7/10 - I will give GH:AS some credit for its note charts. They're much better put together than the charts in Guitar Hero 3, and you actually feel like the game isn't just throwing garbage at you to increase difficulty. As would be expected from a cash-in, there's really not much different in this game from the core gameplay of Guitar Hero 3. It's essentially the exact same gameplay for better or worse. I have to dock the game points for keeping around the god awful boss battles / battle mode. I have yet to meet anyone who really likes battle mode, and it isn't that its so prevalent in this game (you are only forced to play battle mode once), as it is the fact Neversoft even left this joyless mode in the game to begin with. It reeks of either stubbornness, or laziness...neither one a very admirable quality.

Intagibles - 2/10 - Heres where GH:AS really fails. It really brings nothing new to the table other than a lot of songs from Aerosmith, for the real die-hard Aerosmith fans. But you get the feeling even they might be disappointed. Some of Aerosmith's biggest songs (Janie's Got a Gun, Dude (Looks Like a Lady), Cryin', Crazy and others) aren't in the game. All in all you get around 41 songs (some of which are solo work from Joe Perry). The songs are all pretty enjoyable, with a few really good ones, but you do get a sense of deja vu after playing so many songs from the same band. The fact that there are so many Aerosmith songs that sound so much the same, you actually start to look forward to playing the songs from the bands not named Aerosmith. Not exactly the philosophy you want to be promoting when your game is named Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. Some of the extra content like mini-interviews with Aerosmith are fun enough, if forgettable, and the online capability is still the strong formula from Guitar Hero 3. The achievements, for the 360 version, are more thought out than in Guitar Hero 3, but still rely far too often on repeating songs ad nauseum (and on a side rant, why the hell should we have to keep playing the 20 minute tutorial!?!?!?!?!?).

The main reason I'm going so low with this score is because Neversoft is so blatantly just trying to milk a cash cow, and it's borderline insulting to the gamer. Guitar Hero Rocks the 80's was crucified by critics for essentially the same thing, and GH:AS deserves a similar fate. For those hardcore rhythm gamers, we've already seen songs like Hard to Handle, Complete Control, Train Kept a Rollin, and Sex Type Thing in the far superior Rock Band. I'm actually pretty shocked Neversoft didn't put Last Child from Guitar Hero 2 in this. So if you wanna subtract those songs you've got somewhere around 37 songs for $50-$60. Add on probably $10 worth of downloadable content to get some of the more blatant omissions from the setlist, and you're looking at around 43 songs for $70. The math just doesn't add up, and outside of those with limitless cash, or limitless Aerosmith obsession I just can't recommend a purchase of this game. Rent it if you're a fan of Guitar Hero or Aerosmith, otherwise skip it.

Overall - 6/10 - a game without a lot of heart behind it, and it shows

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/18/08

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