Does Guitar Hero: Aerosmith for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 Have What it Takes?

Poor Song Selection and Lack of Innovation Leave Reviewer Jaded

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is the latest in the series from developer Neversoft. More of a dressed-up track pack for Guitar Hero III than a complete new game, it adds new songs and some Aerosmith-specific features but ultimately fails to bring anything new to the table.

The game plays sort of like a history lesson on the band. You follow them from their first gig and Nipmuc High School all the way through the Super Bowl halftime show to their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. You'd expect the game to be positively loaded with great songs, given the band's nearly 40 year history and their 21 top 40 hits. The game's set list is surprisingly disappointing, however.

I'm no Aerosmith expert, but I'm also far from a pop culture hermit. I like to think I have a fairly decent grasp on popular music from the last 30 years or so. That's why I was surprised to find that nearly half the Aerosmith songs in the game were ones I'd never heard of. "Make It?" "Draw the Line?" "Bright Night Fright?" Where did they find these songs? Where is "Angel" or "Jaded" or "Janie's Got a Gun"?

They managed to get some of the songs right. "Back in the Saddle," "Dream On," and "Rag Doll" are excellent songs that lend themselves very well to this type of game. Still, nine of the 18 Aerosmith songs in the career mode are ones I'd personally never heard of. Isn't the appeal of Guitar Hero supposed to be the ability to bust out your favorite rock songs, playing along with every familiar rift? I'm confused as to why they would choose to include so many obscure tracks while completely ignoring the band's more popular music. I suppose certain songs are more fun to play through than others, but I'd rather jam along to a slightly boring song I actually know than force myself through a more interesting one I have never heard.