Guitar Hero: Aerosmith

When I first read about an Aerosmith Guitar Hero game I thought it was a great idea. Sure some might call this an unnecessary installment of the Guitar Hero experience but I disagree. Why shouldn’t Aerosmith get its own Guitar Hero game? Aerosmith is one of those iconic bands that have gone through turmoil to survive more than 30 years in the business with some amazing music.

The band includes not only one of the greatest frontmen, Steven Tyler, of all time but one of the greatest guitar players in Joe Perry. It seems like a perfect fit to re-brand Guitar Hero under the Aerosmith umbrella. You can target the game towards the millions of Aerosmith fans around the world along with the millions of gamers that have been crazy for Guitar Hero.

Ok let’s skip the gory details about how the game is played and what Guitar Hero is all about. It seems like everyone has seen or played Guitar Hero before that everyone should be familiar with the basic premise and gameplay. If not check out our previous review for the earlier Guitar Hero game.

GH: Aerosmith is best described as Guitar Hero III with an Aerosmith paint job. The paint job is viewable as soon as you turn the game on but the paint disappears when you start playing. Instead of jumping right into the action playing as Joe Perry or Brad Whitford, you start off selecting the standard Guitar Hero characters from the previous games. What? Why should I have to play as a generic game character when I can play as Joe Perry? Think of the Guitar Hero characters as the opening act that you politely sit through to get to the headliner when you go to a concert.

Once you make it through the first two songs then you get to play an Aerosmith song with Aerosmith on stage for your viewing pleasure. While you’re actually playing as Joe Perry in the game, Steven Tyler takes up just as much screen real estate if not more. Everyone on stage looks similar to their real-life counterparts in a very cartoony/animated way. I could definitely tell that Steven Tyler did his own motion capture session since he was pulling off all the moves he does in concert and in the music videos.

Honestly his performance during the songs seemed more like a music video than a regular concert. He was acting it up towards the camera during several songs in the game instead of giving a concert performance, in my opinion. Some of the moves Joe Perry was doing in the game were surprises to me because I don’t recall him doing those moves in the concerts I’ve attended. For the other guys in the band they weren’t as active as Joe Perry and Steve Tyler. Joey Kramer’s character was especially static since he performed all of the same moves that the regular Guitar Hero drummer performs. One more item of notes, Steven Tyler has a big mouth but his character model must have swallowed a watermelon because his mouth seems to have grown two sizes. Yikes!

While we do get the Aerosmith paint job the Aerosmith soundtrack seems to hit a few road bumps on the way to Guitar Hero. Since you have to play as an opening band on at least two songs on every stage you do not get an Aerosmith exclusive soundtrack. There are 41 songs to play through in the regular game which equates to 12 non-Aerosmith songs and 1 Guitar Solo battle interlude. The non-Aerosmith songs range from Mott the Hoople, Cheap Trick, Joan Jett, The Kinks, The Clash, New York Dolls, Lenny Kravitz, The Black Crowes, The Cult, Run DMC (by themselves along with the duet with Aerosmith), Ted Nugent and Stone Temple Pilots. Just as in previous GH games the songs are a collection of originals, covers and re-recorded versions done by the original artists.

The Aerosmith songs in the game were a surprise to me since I expected many of their bigger hits to play a part in the game. Instead we end up with an eclectic mix of obscure songs to classic rock anthems by the band. The first two songs you play are Movin Out and No Surprise, two songs that never make it to my MP3 player when I load Aerosmith songs. For the hardcore fans the songs chosen by the band might blow their minds since a few of them are definitely not in constant rotation on the radio. Even some of their bigger songs have to be unlocked in the game by purchasing them from the Vault. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the other bigger songs in the Aerosmith catalog are being held back for either a sequel or as downloadable content, which the Wii version does not support.

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is a nice extension of the Guitar Hero franchise that will cause some to scratch their heads wondering why. Why do I have to play as a no-name video-game character during part of the game? Why doesn’t the game include more Aerosmith songs? Why does Steve Tyler’s mouth look even larger in the game? Yet even with these questions Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is still a good expansion of the Guitar Hero experience. This time you get to rock out with one of the biggest rock 'n roll bands of all time and relive some of their history over the past 30-plus years. Just make sure to stick with the Aerosmith-themed sections if you’re a fan of the band and you shouldn’t be disappointed.

Gameplay: 8.5
This is the same gameplay you’ve already played in one of the earlier GH games. The difficulty level of the game seems to have dropped a little bit from the challenging GH III. Yet I found some of the non-Aerosmith songs to be more challenging than the Aerosmith tracks.

Graphics: 7.5
All of the stages in the game are based upon key events in the history of Aerosmith. Of course this means you get the standard wacky additions you’ve seen in previous Guitar Hero games included in these stages. Huge characters and equipment that I know were never part of an Aerosmith show still provide a spectacle of eye candy. If only the other band members would have been as detailed in their animations as Steve Tyler and Joe Perry.

Sound: 8.1
All of the original master recordings for the songs sound just as you remember them. The cover versions of the non-Aerosmith songs sounded good as well with all of the vocals and instrumentation doing a great job of replicating the original versions. The re-recorded Aerosmith songs seemed to lack the punch and fire found in the original versions.

Difficulty: Medium/Hard
As I mentioned earlier the difficulty in GH: Aerosmith is more gamer friendly than Guitar Hero III. Yet once you get into Hard or Expert you better get ready to replay the songs over again, especially if you’re a novice when it comes to Guitar Hero. For gamers that have mastered Guitar Hero III you will probably find the higher difficulties almost too easy simply because of the greater difficulty found in GH III.

Concept: 7.5
Really this was a great idea that almost ran off course simply because the game doesn’t focus primarily on Aerosmith. No one really cares about the opening act so many of you probably won’t care about the non-Aerosmith songs in the game. We want an Aerosmith GH game, not a mixture of GH with Aerosmith. There are video clips between each stage where the guys in the band talk about their history. The clips are way too short and could have offered a much bigger insight into the band.

Multiplayer: 8.0
The game supports the Nintendo WiFi service which is always a blessing for a Wii game. All of the same online multiplayer features from Guitar Hero III return in GH: Aerosmith this time with the Aerosmith flavor. Please somebody read this and ditch the friend code garbage Wii players have to put up with.

Overall: 7.9
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is a title for hardcore Aerosmith fans and gamers that must have their next Guitar Hero fix. If you’re a casual Guitar Hero gamer you might be hard pressed to justify getting the game since the core Guitar Hero experience hasn’t changed. A few minor tweaks and changes but the only big difference is the Aerosmith paint job I’ve mentioned. If you can’t wait till Guitar Here World Tour comes out then make sure to check out GH: Aerosmith but be prepared. If the game would have focused entirely on Aerosmith and included all of their songs I think this would have been a must buy for all GH fans.