Same Old, Same Old

Author's Rating:

Pros: New song list for those bored with the other GH games.

Cons: Easily beaten and the game offers little new other than the music.

The Bottom Line: 
Great if you haven't purchased previous Guitar Hero games, otherwise, GH3 is better.

Author's Review
I love Aerosmith's music, but the latest installment of Guitar Hero failed to thrill me. For those unfamiliar with GH games, you use a guitar shaped controller that contains six fret buttons along the neck and a strum bar. The notes of the music scroll down your screen and at the appropriate time, you hit the correct color notes while strumming. Done correctly, you gain points and the appreciation of your audience. Hit them wrong and you hear a tinny sound and the audiences' boos. Too much booing and you'll get booted off the stage. Choose from easy, medium, hard and expert level settings.

The levels progress naturally with easier songs to start and then working your way up to a boss battle against Aerosmith's Joe Perry followed by the two hardest Aerosmith songs. There are plenty of Aerosmith tunes on the set list, but there are also songs from bands or singers Aerosmith admires. The game is broken into sets. Each set consists of four songs, and if you do well on those four, you're asked to complete an encore with a new song.

The song list includes:

Set One:

Cheap Trick Dream Police
Mott the Hoople All the Young Dudes
Aerosmith Make It
Aerosmith Uncle Salty
Aerosmith Draw the Line

Set Two:

Joan Jett Hate Myself for Loving You
Kinks All Day and All of the Night
Aerosmith No Surprize
Aerosmith Movin' Out
Aerosmith Sweet Emotion

Set Three:

Clash Complete Control
New York Dolls Personality Crisis
Aerosmith Livin' on the Edge
Aerosmith Rag Doll
Aerosmith Love in an Elevator

Set Four:

Cult She Sells Sanctuary
Run DMC King of Rock
Aerosmith Nobody's Fault
Aerosmith Bright Light Fright
Aerosmith & Run DMC Walk This Way

Set Five:

Black Crowes Hard to Handle
Lenny Kravitz & Slash Always on the Run
Aerosmith Back in the Saddle
Aerosmith Beyond Beautiful
Aerosmith Dream On

Set Six:

Ted Nugent Cat Scratch Fever
Stone Temple Pilots Sex Type Thing
Aerosmith Mama Kin
Joe Perry Guitar Battle
Aerosmith Toys in the Attic
Aerosmith Train Kept ARollin'

The biggest issue with this game is that after purchasing it for my son, he had beaten it on expert level within one day. Granted he's good, but I really wanted to see them throw in more of a challenge this time. It didn't happen. If anything, he said it was easier than Guitar Hero 3. Once beaten, he didn't play it as often as I'd hoped. After spending $50, you expect some lasting playability from the game!

The rest of my family, admittedly no where near as good a player as my son, we have enjoyed it, but no more than we have previous GH games. It's simply the same thing, different song list. Certainly not worth $50 for new songs.

Here's hoping to a lot more play time with Guitar Hero World Tour!