When did Guitar Hero become the new 'Madden', offering track updates with each passing iteration rather than innovation? With rumors of Metallica and Van Halen branded titles on the way, get used to it. If you have played any Guitar Hero titles at this point, you know exactly what to expect. The mechanics, gameplay, graphics, and characters remain the same from Guitar Hero III. If you have not yet tried out the series, Aerosmith is not where you want to start. True, it plays well enough, but it is not representative of what is so great about the franchise. While previous versions give you a solid amount of variety, Aerosmith, thanks to its narrow focus, does not come close to the breadth of material offered in past titles, and does not allow gamers to play downloadable tracks.
The disc has forty tracks on it, with all but twelve of them from Aerosmith in one way or another. Each of the six venues in the single-player campaign plays out the same. You start the gig as the opening band, playing two cuts from bands other than Aerosmith. After successfully completing those, you gain control of Aerosmith; or lead guitarist Joe Perry, more specifically. Unfortunately, the opening act songs are hit and miss, with a heavy emphasis on miss. What is here in terms of Aerosmith cuts feels incomplete, lacking big hits like "Janie's Got A Gun" and "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)" to name a few, in favor of a more than a few nobody cares about. It seems as though developers focused too hard on finding difficult tracks rather than just offering up ones that are fun to play. At least they do not include "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing".
Before each venue, the game delivers documentary-style snippets with members of the band talking about the journey of the band from its first gig to now. Being a light-hearted affair, they do not get into any seedy details regarding their troubles through the years, but there are some nice bits of info for Aerosmith fans to glean from it. The characters in the game look close enough to their real-life counterparts, with Steven Tyler's catfish-like appearance intact. Their stage antics are included too, with Tyler's microphone twirl a nice touch, as are the song-appropriate guitars shown for Perry, like the voice box on "Sweet Emotion" and slide guitar on "Rag Doll". You will likely be far too busy watching the notes to notice much of it, though. Somehow, they missed the most obvious opportunity for Aerosmith branding, leaving the in-game store as 'The Vault' rather than 'The Attic'.
The difficulty feels somewhat toned down this time around, falling between the crushing weight of Guitar Hero III and the much-easier Rock Band. Still, the game leaves you scratching your head at the placement of several tracks. Most notably, the groups groundbreaking single with Run DMC, "Walk This Way", is one of the toughest, yet comes at the halfway point of the single-player game. The multiplayer remains a carryover from Guitar Hero III too, with several offline and Live modes to play with another player.
In the end, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is just more of the same with a limited set list. True, if you work the math at $2 a track, the forty songs seem like a bargain, but you really need to ask yourself how many of these you would actually buy if available as downloads. For the casual Aerosmith/rock fan, you are probably looking at less than half of them, making the price tag something better labeled as 'ridiculous' rather than 'bargain'.
Recommendation: Weekend Rental.
