what bothers me most about Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is
Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is, according to Activision, just the first of many band-specific Guitar Hero games--a concept that I inherently find to be pretty questionable. It doesn't help that Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is a pretty slapdash product which features fewer songs, a narrower range of songs, and no DLC support, yet it commands the same premium price as Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. A deep appreciation for Aerosmith is an obvious necessity to really enjoy this game, but even then it's missing a number of tracks by the Boston quintet that seem rather essential.
It's not All Aerosmith All the Time, though, with the first two songs in each set being provided by bands that have actually played with Aerosmith, including Cheap Trick, The Clash, Run DMC, The Black Crowes, Ted Nugent, and more. With the exception of Run DMC's "King of Rock," which unnervingly features a digital DMC mouthing both vocal parts, the opening bands are all portrayed by the same house band seen in Guitar Hero III.
Once Aerosmith takes the stage, though, you'll be treated to a muppety, dead-eyed version of the band. The mo-cap looks authentic, but the exaggerations of real, recognizable people border on grotesque, with Steven Tyler looking more like an iguana than usual. There are grainy, quick-cut interviews with the bones-and-bones members of Aerosmith in between sets. The details here are thin, and it's disappointing, if not terribly surprising, that the game glosses over the band's drug-fueled meltdown in the late 70s.
Besides charging the same price as Guitar Hero III while providing just a fraction of the songs, what bothers me most about Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is the fact that, not long after its release, it was made essentially obsolete by the announcement that the next full installment in the Guitar Hero franchise would follow the Rock Band template of letting you play a variety of instruments. I think there's some merit to the notion that games like this may be the future of commercial music, but the execution here reeks of an outdated mentality.