An Aerosmith soundtrack with Guitar Hero Graphics and Rock Band difficulty.
We all know the GH formula by now, good songs, a few covers, some goofy cartoonish videos and some major guitar shredding. For the most part, GH: Aerosmith sticks to that formula. It's got the good (scratch that, great) songs, a few covers (don't worry, non were original Aerosmiths), some goofy cartoonish videos (mostly starring a guy with a really intense mouth), and some major guitar shredding (on two or three songs).
Ok, so I'm sure there are two things you really want to know, what's the set list like and how hard is it. The latter is a lot easier to answer. GH: Aerosmith is nowhere near the finger bleeding difficulty of GH3. In fact if you can play the first quarter of GH3 on Expert then you should be able to handle almost the whole game while failing at all on only a hand full of songs. There is a single battle in the game against Joe Perry and trying to play the whole thing yourself is by far the hardest thing to do in the entire game. While the difficulty is hardly, well, difficult by the series standards, it is perfect for non-guitarist junkies and it is difficult enough that you will gladly accept it to play Aerosmith songs because, we all know, that's what this game is really about.
For a list of songs it has pretty much all you could want if you're really an Aerosmith fan. Of course it's got the classics like Sweet Emotion, Dream on, and Walk This Way - both versions! For those of you who were a fan of Aerosmith's less rocky "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing," I'm sorry to tell you that it's not here. It also throws in things like Toys in the Attic, Make it, and the originally Rock Band exclusive Train Kept a Rolling (as the final song) as well as a few re-recordings of songs like Mama Kin and Movin' Out.
As for non-Aerosmith things in the game, the entire regular roster of rockers returns who you'll play as during the non-Aerosmith and non-DMC songs. They included just as many guitars and clothing styles for your rocker though it seems that, for the most part, everything is cheaper than it was in GH3, which is good because there are only about 30 songs in the regular set list and 10 in the bonus list. As for the rest of the songs, Sex Type Thing (Stone Temple Pilots), Complete Control (The Clash), and King of Rock (Run-DMC) are scattered amongst Aerosmith gold. Also worth noting are a few songs in the bonus list from the Joe Perry Project like "Shakin' My Cage" and "Mercy."
Obviously the game sounds fantastic with all that Aerosmith in there and minus what seems like a slightly lower volume on the screeching sound of when you play the wrong note, there really isn't much to say about it which you would think would be odd for a music game. The truth is there is no real need for sound effects in this game so all that's really worth noticing is the music which will of course be pleasing if you like Aerosmith's music.
As far as graphics go, the game isn't really all that different from GH3 for all the regular rockers, who are largely unchanged. The stages don't look as cartoonish as GH3 though they seem to have managed this, oddly, through an art style that feels very reminiscent of cell shading. The place where the graphics really will amaze you is in Aerosmith. The band looks fantastic in almost every way and Steven Tyler in particular steals the show with a few extravagant and extravagantly detailed outfits.
The last thing of note would be the interviews and loading screens that are filled with tidbits about the band. They'll give you a bunch of things you didn't know about the band to fill your time between songs. The unfortunate part about these is that there are only a few interview videos (I think six) and all together they are probably no longer than the two interviews from GH3. In fact, you are probably more likely to learn from the loading screens than from the interviews. So if you were hoping for some kind of biography in this game, it isn't really here, but if you like Aerosmith and are more focused on playing the game then the information is just enough to keep you entertained and a little bit extra to the game.
All in all, GH: Aerosmith is pretty good game worth playing if you're an Aerosmith fan of any measure. Perhaps the most unfortunate part of this game is that you can't take all this Aerosmith greatness off the disk and bring it with you to other Guitar Hero games.