Guitar Hero 3 might have had its thunder stolen by Rock Band, but Wii owners have had more than a little time to get acclimated with Activision’s take on rock. With Rock Band only having been recently released, there are some out there who are no doubt still enjoying the – albeit watered-down – experience. There are also plenty of gamers out there, however, that can’t afford to rock with the band and are left with a well-worn copy of Guitar Heroes 3 and a nice piece of closet décor. Oh, and with the small caveat that you like Aerosmith.

Wii owners have definitely received the short end of the Guitar Hero stick. All of the downloadable content enjoyed by its next generation – or is it current? – counterparts has been absent from Nintendo’s little white beast. Since the game’s launch, the only thing that Wii owners have had to play through is the initial disc. Hey, I had fun with 3 as much as the next guy, but if I loved the series as much as a newcomer would, then I’d be going insane by this point.

Activision, through developer Vicarious Visions, has come up with a strange substitute to the traditional expansion disc crammed with the up-to-that-point downloadable content by releasing standalone, band-oriented expansions. The first up is for Aerosmith. I’m not sure how timely this is, seeing as how they haven’t really set the charts ablaze lately, but they are an iconic band and one entrenched in the genre, so the choice isn’t a complete shock.

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith focuses on the band’s rise to fame by taking you on a trip through their history by having slightly grainy interview footage introduce a particular venue they played at and then having you perform there. Between venues are additional interview segments that talk about what you would expect – how they started, what it was like in the beginning, and so on. Now, when I say that the game focuses on Aerosmith it wasn’t to say that the only music is from Aerosmith. Instead, there are around a dozen tracks from other groups that the band enjoys, like Cheap Trick, Run D.M.C., The Cult, and Lenny Kravitz. The remaining 25 or so songs are indeed Aerosmith tracks, with several being rerecorded tracks from their earlier – and far superior – work.

As you go through the six tiers in career mode, the game sprinkles the other music in the beginning and has Tyler and Co. come on at pivotal moments (encores, to go to the next venue, and so on). As with Guitar Hero 3, there are boss battles, but this time around there is actually only one, and that’s with Joe Perry himself. He’s still a badass. So most of 3’s modes are here, save for co-op career mode. In all, it’s really not a bad way to focus on one band.

Then again, the game really is about a single band. There is no other way about it: if you don’t like Aerosmith, then you won’t like this release. But for Wii owners, this is an especially tough call. You don’t have the downloadable content to fall back on; instead, you either have to either learn to like, or at least grudgingly accept, Aerosmith, or you leave your guitar in the closet and save up for Rock Band or Guitar Hero 4. The mechanics of the game are still the same: you still match up colored notes with the corresponding buttons on the guitar’s neck while ‘strumming,’ and you still thrash about whenever you have enough star power built up to rock out with reckless abandon for extra points. So, how much do you like the Bad Boys from Boston?

Overall: 7/10

The game really should have been called Guitar Hero 3: Aerosmith, because this is the same base game but with inserted video clips and custom venues that tie in with the band’s past. Aerosmith wouldn’t have been the first band that I would’ve thought of when coming up with this idea, but they are in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and have been popular for longer than most of you have been alive. This is an interesting take on an expansion, though I think most players would have preferred a compilation of the downloadable content that Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners have been enjoying for a while now. Still, if you don’t mind Aerosmith, this is a solid buy.