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As if it would shock anybody, Activision have decided to
push fourth with the
Guitar Hero franchise despite the arrival of EA in the
market with
Rock Band. With
Guitar Hero: World Tour
having been announced to compete directly with
Rock Band,
it’s left to the band-specific titles to continue from 2007’s
Guitar Hero III: Legend of Rock, for now at least. First to
arrive is Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, with
Guitar Hero:
Metallica rumoured to be following not too far behind.
Playing the game as intended requires a Guitar
Controller (although an Xbox360 Controller can be substituted). The
player must hold the corresponding coloured and positioned Fret
Button to the scrolling dots on-screen and push the Strum Bar when
the dots cross the coloured Fret Line at the bottom of the screen.
The game plays similar to Dance Mat-based games, Donkey Konga
and the likes, as a primarily a Rhythm-based game. The first thing
that strikes you about Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is how similar
it is to Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Not that that’s to
be surprising, being developed by the same developer within six
months on the same Engine, but just exactly how similar the
title is it it’s predecessor is questionable given it’s full retail
price tag; an RRP of £49.99. The Character Models are the same as in
the previous title, although with Slash and Tom Morello removed and
replaced with Aerosmith and DMC. The Venues are all new and just as
creative as those seen in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock,
but still carry that similar
Guitar Hero aesthetic.
The Career Mode is exactly that: a parallel of Aerosmith’s career.
Playing through their most memorable gigs – with band commentary
before playing each newly unlocked
 Venue – it’s a shame that the
band’s tracks aren’t unlocked in the same timeline-based fashion,
but this is most likely a concession to having to keep a steady
Difficulty Curve. As has become traditional with the Guitar Hero
franchise, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith’s Set List is organised
into descending blocks of five tracks in order of difficulty.
However, as the title is specifically featuring Aerosmith, the
player is first asked to play two tracks that either influenced or
were chosen by the band, before performing two by the band
themselves – with the band as avatars – and a final third as an
Encore. All four tracks must be completed before moving onto the
Encore, as opposed to three of the four.
The Battles featured in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
return, in an identical fashion, although to a much lesser extent,
and Joe Perry – as is becoming customary – wrote a unique
instrumental track for the game on which to duel. Online Battles
take the form of either straight play-offs (known as “Face-Offs”) or
Battles utilising weapons – the same as those in Guitar Hero III:
Legends of Rock. Both Player and Ranked Matches are available.
The titles’ Track List, unsurprisingly, does consist of a large
amount of Aerosmith tracks, but also gems from The Kinks, Stone
Temple Pilots and The Clash appear, alongside lesser known Aerosmith
tracks and solo projects. And yes, Walk This Way (Run DMC) is
included.
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith doesn’t break and new ground. For all
of its minor refinement over Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock,
it fails to evolve the genre even in the face of competition from
the release of
Rock Band; but then, could anyone really
expect a release such as this to have done? Guitar Hero:
Aerosmith does what it was intended to do; fan service for both
Guitar Hero and Aerosmith fans, with that little bit of
polish that six months extra development brings.
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