Review
Das Gamer Reviews Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
July 10, 2008
Make no mistake about it: Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is basically the same game as last year’s Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock. Using the controller you got with that game, or the Aerosmith-themed Gibson you can get in a bundle, you still play along with the colored notes, still eventually get into a showdown with a rock god (this time’s being Aerosmith’s Joe Perry, naturally), and you still can’t play on Expert to save your life.
Most of the differences in the gameplay, in fact, are merely cosmetic. The Career mode now has you getting a history lesson from the band, who you also sometimes play as, and the venues are ones they’ve played over the years, including Max’s Kansas City, Mendon Nipmuc Regional High School, and the Orpheum in Boston. The only change in the gameplay is that they’ve improved the Achievements on the 360 version, making them far more, well, achievable.
The only real difference, then, is in the songs themselves, and depending on how you feel about Aerosmith, this either has the best song line-up of any Guitar Hero game by far, or it’s just as bad as the others, which are typically 75-85% crap. If you’re among the latter, the tracklist will probably feel redundant, as twenty-five of the game’s forty songs are by Aerosmith, and the rest are from similarly classic bands. There’s no Fallout Boy, no emo tunes, and nothing from before 2001. But if you like Aerosmith, or just classic rock in general, this has the best line-up of any game in the series by far, and not just because there’s no Fallout Boy, no emo tunes, and nothing from before 2001.
The tracklist includes all the Aerosmith songs you’d expect: “Sweet Emotion,” “Toys In The Attic,” “Back In The Saddle,” “Draw The Line,” and “Walk This Way” (both the original and the one they did with Run D.M.C.). But they also included such lesser known, but no less loved by fans, tunes as “No Surprize,” “Bright Light Fright,” and “Let The Music Do The Talking.” Best of all: no “Cryin’,” no “Crazy,” no “Amazing,” and no “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing.”
And then there’s the non-Aerosmith tracks, though these were chosen by the band and are still connected, be they tunes by their contemporaries (”Personality Crisis” by The New York Dolls, “Dream Police” by Cheap Trick), and their opening acts (”She Sells Sanctuary” by The Cult, “Always On The Run” by Lenny Kravitz).
Ultimately, though, this is still just Guitar Hero, so unless you really hate Aerosmith, you’ll still have a rockin’ good time. But if you do like Aerosmith, well, then this is the best game in the series so far.
Das Gamer Rating: Das depends totally on your feelings for a geriatric Boston rock band.
–Paul Semel
The Technical Info:
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
(Activision)
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Wii
