Posted on: July 16, 2008 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is largely based off the graphics and game of Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock. However, I don’t think that anyone really was expecting massive changes from Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, and were looking for some amazing tracks to be added to those that they have already mastered. In that sense Activision and RedOctane have hit another home run out of the park, as the track selection on this game has to be strongest out of all the Guitar Hero games up to this point.

Of course, the game is heavily skewed towards Aerosmith tracks, ensuring that players can go through tracks from the seventies (“Train Kept A-Rollin”, “Sweet Emotion”, “Toys In The Attic”), eighties (“Walk This Way” (with Run-D.M.C.) and “Rag Doll”), and the current period (“Livin’ On The Edge”, “Beyond Beautiful”). Beyond that, there are a number of tracks that were done by bands that were influential in the creation of the unique Aerosmith song, as well as tracks that were done by bands that were heavily influenced by the band. While the tracks put forth by bands influential to Aerosmith are small in number (including The Kinks’ “All Day and All The Night”, Mott The Hoople’s “All The Young Dudes”, and the New York Dolls’ “Personality Crisis”), those tracks provided by bands that were influenced by Aerosmith are legion – ranging from Joan Jett’s “I Hate Myself For Loving You” to The Black Crowes’ “Hard To Handle” and even the Stone Temple Pilots’ “Sex Type Thing”. The overall career mode is interesting, in that the non-Aerosmith tracks are seen to be the work of opening acts, allowing individuals to play a variety of tracks rather than having all thirty-one career tracks be Aerosmith songs.

This career mode closely follows Aerosmith’s rise to the chart, starting individuals off at the band’s own Meldon Nipmuc High School all the way up to the Super Bowl XXXV halftime show. The bonus tracks, which can be bought in the vault, provide individuals with further fun and replay value, representing a number of famous (“Pandora’s Box”, “Pink”, “Rats In The Cellar”) and hidden types of tracks (“Let The Music Do The Talking”, “Talk Talking”) by Aerosmith and Joe Perry. The impressive song selection and storytelling elements of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith make for a great game, and show that Activision and Red Octane can go forward with other band-centric expansions to Guitar Hero.

Rating: 8.8/10

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith (PS2) / 2008 Activision / http://www.guitarhero.com / http://www.activision.com /

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