Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
Score: 89% ESRB: Teen Publisher: Activision Developer: RedOctane Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Rhythm/ Online
Graphics & Sound: Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is the newest member of the ever-expanding Guitar Hero family. It is the first one to focus solely on one band. Just because it focuses on Aerosmith, doesn't mean that there aren't songs on there from other bands. When I first heard it was coming out, I wasn't going to get it. I mean yeah, I really like Aerosmith, but the idea of not having anything else to play just wasn't very appealing. Luckily though, they were smart enough to predict people like me and so they added songs from bands that have some connection to Aerosmith. That means we also have songs like Cheap Trick's "The Dream Police", Ted Nugent's "Cat Scratch Fever", and my personal favorite, Joan Jett's "I Hate Myself For Loving You" to choose from. Graphically, the characters that you play with look a lot like the ones from Guitar Hero: Rocks the 80's. Izzy Sparks is especially 80's glam looking. So much so that when you play with him for the first time, you'll achieve the "Dude looks like a lady" achievement. There is also a new character or two available for you to play with. All the characters have a second outfit available by default and several more that you can buy later on.
Gameplay: If you've ever played any of the Guitar Hero games before, you know what the gameplay is like in Guitar Hero Aerosmith. What I found really neat about this one, though, is that it follows Aerosmith's career. The first stage you play is Nipmuc High School, which according to the video and the Tour Book, is the first place that the band played under the name Aerosmith. First, you'll have to play the non-Aerosmith songs. After you beat those 2 songs, you'll unlock Aerosmith to play as. After you beat the stage, you'll get to see a video with interviews of the Aerosmith members talking about the location that you just played. The interviews are really good. I learned a lot of stuff that I didn't know about the band. As you keep beating stages, you progress through bigger and bigger venues that have been a part of the Aerosmith career. I am going to recommend to you that you play the Tutorial, even if you already know how to play the game. I say this for two reasons. First, the Tutorial god is hilarious, especially when the other guy comes in and makes fun of him. The back and forth banter is amusing. Second, you get 10 achievement points for playing it, and whether or not we admit it, we're all achievement addicts! Besides, it's less than 20 minutes total. If you don't want to play the Career, you can also do Quickplay and Multiplayer. In Quickplay, you can choose any of the songs that you've already unlocked or purchased to play. Multiplayer is also exactly the same as it has been in the past. You have the screen split in 2 with each of you on different sides. You can even select which guitar you want on which side of the screen so that you don't have to switch guitars or swap places in the room just to be able to play the notes on your side of the screen. You can play Face-Off, Pro Face-Off, Battle, or Co-Op in Multiplayer.
Difficulty: Compared to previous Guitar Hero games, I found Guitar Hero: Aerosmith to be a little more forgiving. (Note, I have not played Guitar Hero III, just all the ones before it). That's not to say that the notes were any easier to hit, but it seems like to me that you could miss quite a few more than before without failing the song. Now maybe I've just gotten a little better, but my friends playing here said they felt the same way. I really liked the ability to be able to choose which side you were playing on in Multiplayer also. That really did make it so much easier on us not having to swap guitars around the room anymore! Oh, and one other note, the Rock Band guitar works fine on Guitar Hero Aerosmith, as the guitar included with Aerosmith also works on Rock Band. I was really happy to see this was the case so that I didn't have to go buy any more guitars (my PS2 guitars from Guitar Hero definitely weren't going to work!). The Rock Band guitar did seem to have issues with activating Star Power at times, but that might have just been the person using it too. It is very easy to start earning achievements. I think I had 5 after only playing the first 2 songs in Career, and I hadn't even gotten the tutorial one yet. But that's not to say it's easy to get all of them. I doubt I'll be getting the one for beating Career on Expert. I'm just not that good. But if you can beat Medium at least, you can get about half of the achievements just by playing for fun.
Game Mechanics: If you've never played Guitar Hero before, then I'm not sure where you've been hiding out at, because it's everywhere! The controller is relatively simple to learn how to play, but will take you quite a while to master! You play with a controller that is shaped like a guitar, and if you get the bundle, your guitar will have the pretty red Aerosmith logo on it. There are 5 buttons on the neck: green red, yellow, blue, and orange. There's also a flipper and a whammy bar in the body of it. When the notes come by, you simply hold down the right color button and strum the flipper at the right time. The whammy bar is used to get even more out of the star power notes. Now I know that doesn't tell you everything you need to know, but play the Tutorial. It is very good and will tell you everything. I have personally thoroughly enjoyed Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. I am a big fan of Aerosmith, and I really like the other bands' songs that were available on there too. It is a good addition to the Guitar Hero series. If you've liked the rest, you should go get this one as well. If you're an Aerosmith fan, it is a must. The interviews alone make it worth it.
-Cyn, GameVortex Communications AKA Sara Earl
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