Last night I pretty much finished Guitar Hero: Aerosmith in about 3 hours of play. From popping it in for the first time to unlocking all the songs and finishing single player on Hard.

The Guitar Hero series is what brought me to music rhythm games and I still have some affection for the series, but playing GH:A just reminded me of how much I love the innovations that Rock Band has brought. One of the most important being rectangular notes instead of circles, in addition to the other band roles.

But GH:A just felt incredibly short, and I can’t tell if it’s my stereo but the sound was incredibly muddy on almost every track, the exception being if you unleashed star power. Then the sound sounded normal and clear. Weird. Playing it, I just kept wishing it were Rock Band.

I doubt I’ll be picking up any future GH titles until I examine World Tour, and even then I will have to weigh, perhaps even physically, whether I want another set of plastic instruments in the theater room.