Rock this way, talk this way

Guitar Hero

- being one of the most popular games worldwide, it is also one of the most prolific.

It was only the other day I reviewed and enjoyed the latest version adapted for the DS.

Now comes the first version built around one rock group's legendary music.

Aerosmith

- the so-called bad boys from Boston - may not be on every one's number one list of rock heroes but deserve to be the first to have this

Guitar Hero

collaborative because they are known as

America's "Greatest Rock 'n' Roll band".

After all, they played during halftime at the massively popular Super Bowl (no mean feat) so Americans certainly rate them as highly.

Anyway, music arguments aside,

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith

(Activision / Red Octane: rated M; for 360, PS3, PS2, Wii) is out Wednesday.

Don't think it's easy being the greatest band. I ran my fingers ragged against Joe Perry and earned myself the unenviable title of 'wuss'.

Here's one guy's pretty good go at Walk this Way the tenth time around - RMC's version is also available- and while it looks and sounds good and better than my attempts, he agrees it's hard:

But as with all

GH

outings, you can choose from easy, medium, hard and expert difficulty for each song.

Notice some cool things. Interviews were conducted with the band members and are scattered through the different stages after you progress. Motion capture sessions with each band member results in realistic facial capture e,g, singer Steven Tyler's lip movements for each song.

It traces the history of the band starting with their first ever high Nipmuc school concert (including mention of their garage-band origins) and has a nice mix of classics and more recent material in the 31 songs. It's not all Aerosmith - there are also a few songs from groups the band has played with like Cheap Trick and Stone Temple Pilots and a feat with RunDMC - finger burner that one!

For me, the biggest buzz is playing it with the Les Paul wireless guitar controller on 360.

Any budding guitarist will dream of getting their hands on a genuine Les Paul guitar -the solid body guitar that helped propel the electric guitar from the 50s as the innovative Gibson-built

Les Paul

guitar quickly became the staple for leading rock n roll artists.

The wireless controller's jet black looks are cool and it is great to use. It's comfortable and feels and sits just right. A big deal for some - the faceplate and neck are removable and there's a place to attach a strap -I prefer the strap at the base of the neck.

This guy

(not me - you wouldn't see me with a Blink 182 T-shirt!) shows one of the cool things you can do by switching around your frets.

It'll be interesting to see how far

GH

goes with this move. Will we have

Guitar Hero

for the Stones, Led Zep, or Floyd? Or how about extending it out to the Ramones and the Clash?

A

GH

for each of the top 10 rock bands ever? Yes, well, whoever makes the Top 10 of course is yet another debate - one which is always raging as in

here!

MadGamer game rating: 8.5 / 10
MadGamer controller rating: 9.5 / 10