Of the last five years or so, the Guitar Hero franchise has been one of the most successful franchises in the game industry, selling millions and millions of copies across all platforms. So it isn’t any real surprise that Activision is churning out more sequels to this music franchise.
As the name suggest, this game is all about American super band Aerosmith. This, a Guitar Hero first of having the game based on a individual band, is a risky decision as the song variety that consumers loved from the previous three games are thrown right out the window. There are a few tracks from other artists, which include the likes of The Clash, The Cult, Run DMC, Lenny Kravitz, and more, but not nearly enough really for someone to go out and buy it if you are not an Aerosmith fan. If you are an Aerosmith fan and happen to love Guitar Hero, then you are in for a real treat.
You have all the options available that were available from Guitar Hero 3: Career, Quick Play, Multiplayer, Training, and Online Play. The Career mode is basically playing though Aerosmith’s own career. A nice touch, especially for the fans, is a video before each venue with the band members each telling a story on the significance of each venue and what impact it had on the band. Think of the career as a world tour: you play the opening act, where you choose the guitarist like in previous installments, and when the last song is finished, you play two songs with Aerosmith and one song as an encore, if you choose to do one.
There are a few tweaks to the formula that are apparent. The most noticeable is the difficulty of the songs themselves: the medium setting, for example, has been toned, down making it more consumer-friendly. Online play seems to run a lot smoother than it has previously, while the game’s graphics seem to have had a little touch up. The bands likeness has been copied down to a T; their facial expressions, movement, and how they play their instruments are all like the real band. The attention to detail in that department is good in that respect.
There are the few extras in the "Vault." With the money you earned through the career, you can go into the shop and buy extra guitars, finishes, and extra characters. Extra songs to play in Quick Play that didn’t make it into the career and full videos of Aerosmith can also be bought in the shop. The videos themselves are worth a look at if you a fan of the band.
Some of the problems that lie with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is the fact that it’s not a real update, not the step forward in the series. It’s only a spin off, but still, a couple new modes or features would have seen this off the “cash in” people may tend to see it as. Not being able to play any song from the get go for Quick Play is still an issue that needs to be addressed, instead of having to go through the entire career to unlock them. One huge problem I have with this game is the song choices that have been made: being a fan, I expected to been able to play the likes of "Dude Looks Like a Lady," "Cryin’," "Crazy," "Amazing," and "Don’t Want to Miss a Thing" are just some of the tracks that have been bizarrely left out.
All in all, this is an Aerosmith fan’s ultimate dream, being able to rock out to "Dream On" and "Walk This Way," but for everyone else, it’s a skip. Wait for the proper update to the franchise, Guitar Hero: World Tour, if you are on the fence about buying and not to sure to waste you’re money on it; Guitar Hero 3 will keep you busy in till number four.
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