This was always going to be a difficult review to undertake, and yet, in a strange sense, ‘Guitar Hero: Aerosmith’ absolutely defines the evolution of the videogame industry in this day and age. These bite-size chunks of entertainment within an already established delivery framework epitomise the financial dreams of many publishers, and it’s an approach that generally makes sense for consumers whilst allowing the economies of scale to develop for big-budget titles that normally have a short shelf life in an incredibly crowded market. That shouldn’t allow the publishers and developers to have carte blanche on whatever they choose to force onto their public however, and this inaugural band-themed edition of the Guitar Hero franchise treads an extremely fine line between being a worthwhile product and pure marketing cynicism.
‘Same Old Song And Dance’
Whilst there is little point in reviewing the actual mechanics of the game at this stage, suffice it to say that Guitar Hero is a rhythm-action title that involves making a fool of yourself to a large degree. If you don’t end up looking in the mirror whilst holding the plastic guitar and wondering how your life actually got to this point, then you simply haven’t played enough yet. But whatever the magic is, GH is a franchise that’s captured the collective imagination of millions of gamers, all the while still seemingly evolving in it’s infancy. Quite a scary thought when you consider that worldwide sales of the latest edition are already pushing the boundaries on even the largest of entertainment properties.
What some of you might notice when coming back from the relatively progressive ‘Rock Band’ however, are the elements that are very conspicuous by their absence. It’s almost second nature to expect an individual solo section to be marked on-screen now, and the visuals seem more candy-coated and saccharine than ever before. Not that you can blame Guitar Hero for sticking to it’s stylistic roots of course, but everything just seems that little bit more bombastic and less considered than you may be used to at this point. Thankfully, it still plays in the same manner as GH3, with comparatively forgiving hammer-ons and pull-offs that really allow you to feel – as intended – like a Guitar Hero.
‘Walk This Way’
The career mode is the real meat of the property again, with the peripheral elements staying almost exactly as they were last time around. Over the course of six venues, you’ll play through a total of 31 songs that chart the band’s rise to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, beginning in the early 70′s and making their way through to 2007. Support comes in the form of two songs per tier from a number of acts that were influential or actually toured with the band during the relevant era, with ‘She Sells Sanctuary’ by The Cult probably the highlight of the bunch. Interspersed between each segment is a short video documentary that briefly explains the significance of the venue that you’ll be playing at, although lasting only a few seconds each, they certainly don’t interrupt the flow.
Although you will be playing through until recent years, there is a heavy focus on early material here, and those of you looking for songs off latter albums such as Permanent Vacation, Get a Grip or even the multi-platinum greatest hits compilation ‘Big Ones’ will be in for a slight shock. That isn’t to say that a lot of the tracks aren’t great of course, and playing through ‘Sweet Emotion’ will be a highlight that lives on for a good time to come, but when you consider that most people under the age of thirty won’t have heard of most of the set list, you have to question the wisdom on putting them in prime position in a title aimed at a teenage and mid-20′s audience.
‘Eat The Rich’
Of course delving too far into musical criticism would be an abject failure in this type of review (that’s a discussion to be held in the wider reaches of videogame coverage in general), but there are elements here that are genuine targets for concern. Chief amongst these is a general lack of fan-service. Sure, you can unlock a series of documentaries that last for a couple of minutes each, but – outside of the character models and range of guitars – that’s really about it. There are no extras, no in-depth commentary from the band, and outside of the trivia and brief soundbites, you’ll be hard-pushed to come out of the experience having learned very much about Aerosmith at all. I might be wrong here, but I expected more from a game aimed squarely at a single demographic.
Also, for a title that’s pitched as a full-priced release, the fact that there is absolutely no technical or gameplay progression here leaves a rather bad taste in the mouth. It never used to be this way after all, and an add-on disc was a cut-price experience for precisely those reasons. We’ve already paid for the development of the game and the engine with the incredible success of Guitar Hero 3, we really shouldn’t be made to pay the same price again what amounts to a small selection of additional content. A budget release would have made it a much more palatable temptation.
All things considered, and when the engine and framework are as locked-down as Guitar Hero is at this stage, the value in a title like this is almost purely subjective, and the score at the top of this document is almost meaningless as a result. If you like early Aerosmith material and you can find it for a decent price, then it may well be worth picking it up. For anyone else, don’t expect many extras, gameplay innovations or even fan material; and be warned that the whole package errs very close to being the minimum of effort. Let’s hope the up-coming Metallica edition manages to cram in a little more content.
Professional enthusiast, videogame "journalist" and all-round spectacular sofa dweller. "
