Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, words that were destined to come together? It does seem that way as that word money continues to dictate which games will be made, depending of course on the success of the original. As it happens Guitar Hero has made Activison a lot of money and therefore combining one of the biggest games around with one of the biggest bands was bound to happen, for the sake of both their pockets.
My first memory of Aerosmith came in the form of Alicia Silverstone in one of their videos, I’m sure that was the case for many young males around this time, however in my case, after looking into their back catalogue of music, I actually started to think, “Hey this isn’t a bad band”. Anyway reminiscing aside, before I get into this review let’s get one thing straight, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is exactly what it says on the tin or to put it another way, it’s Guitar Hero III but wearing an Aerosmith T-Shirt.
The game takes the form of Guitar Hero III by giving you the option to choose your rocker, dress him, give him a guitar and then start a career. The career mode also follows the Guitar Hero III lead in the way playing venues is set out, however there is a slight difference, for instance, just before you begin your career you are treated to a short documentary style video, here the members of Aerosmith discuss their humble beginnings before you are thrust into the game at the place it all started, Nipmuc Regional High School. Once you are in the section for each venue you are then required to play, two non-Aerosmith songs, two examples being “Hard to Handle” by the Black Crowes (which is a cover version) and "Dream Police" by Cheap Trick, followed by two Aerosmith songs and an encore, before progressing to the next stage.
The stages within the game include the afore mentioned Nipmuc Regional High School, Max’s Kansas City, The Orpheum, Moscow, Half Time Show and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. As previously mentioned you are introduced to the first venue courtesy of a documentary style video, this is also the case before beginning each of the other venues, with the band telling you why these places are special to them. The video introductions to the venues are quite interesting and include some humour, which Aerosmith fans in particular will find interesting.
Although during most of the venues you are simply playing through songs, once you get to the last venue, you are given the chance to battle Joe Perry in order to unlock him, this was a real frustrating part of the game for me, though I did beat him eventually (take that Joe Perry).
The mix of songs in the game is fairly decent, though there are quite a few surprising omissions such as most of the songs from the popular 1993 “Get a Grip” album, however this is more than made up for by including tracks such as “Walk This Way” (Run DMC and Original version), “Love in an Elevator” and “Rag Dog”. Guitar Hero Aerosmith also includes The Vault, where you can buy Aerosmith songs not included in the main venues with your in game cash, songs here include more recent hit “Pink” as well as others such as “Rat Cage” and “Pandora’s Box”.
It’s not only music you can buy in The Vault though, here you can buy new clothing and characters, as well as Joe Perry’s guitars such as his Concept Gibson Signature Guitar, you will also find interesting facts about the guitars here, as well as being able to watch the documentary videos for each section of the main career mode.
As well as the main career mode, Guitar Hero Aerosmith also includes the same multiplayer options as Guitar Hero III, so you can battle online against friends and strangers until your hearts content.
Graphically the game does not disappoint, the venues look great and have a nice cartoon effect to them, the Aerosmith members themselves also look great, Steve Tyler’s lips have been scaled to perfection. It must be mentioned though that you will only see the members of Aerosmith when playing their songs.
Guitar Hero Aerosmith is no doubt one for the fans, if you are not a fan of Aerosmith’s music then it is probably not a good idea for you to invest in this game. On the other hand, if you are a fan of Aerosmith then this game provides some interesting facts about the band and also lets you recreate their music, meaning you can’t really go wrong.
