Brutal Legend (PS3) Review
A BrutalGamer.com review.
So according to the fine ladies and gents at EA “Brütal Legend is an epic action game from visionary developer Tim Schafer. Jack Black stars as Eddie Riggs, a legendary roadie summoned to a world of Heavy Metal where mountains are made of amplifiers, killer spiders spin guitar strings and Rock Legends roam the landscape. As Eddie, crush skulls with a battle axe, ravage the road in a super-charged Hot Rod and unleash the power of Rock to reign down fire from the sky – all to save humanity and become a Brütal Legend”. Do we agree with that synopsis or do we find this rock block slightly out of tune? Read on my friends and we will take a ride down the road, the road of Rock.
Cameos are riff in this game - checkout in-game Ozzy!
The history of this game is well documented. It had a rough ride during the “cleaning house” that took place after Activision, Blizzard and Vivendi merged to form the humongoid corporation know as Activision Blizzard. The game was the brain child of gaming legend and all round funny man Tim Schafer. Schafer adn his team crafted one of teh best games of the Xbox generation – unfortunately hardly anyone played it. That game was the epic Psychonaughts. Well luckily for Tim and the rest of Double Fine the open arms, and bulging wallet of course, of EA embraced them early this year. From that point onwards (and a little before) Brutal Legend was a PR powder keg waiting to explode – and explode it did with scores of videos, screens and general features drowning the internet on an almost weekly basis. Talent such as Jack Black, Ozzy Ozbourne, Lemmi and many others lend their voices to the characters.
So when you come down to it the story is about Heavy Metal obsessed roadie Eddie Riggs . Eddie years for the days of “proper” metal. No turntables, no raps just banging drums, deep cuts bass and thumping power chords on lead guitars. Injured during a concert Eddie bleeds onto his very “Metal” looking belt buckle and a huge horney demon creatures comes to life, lays waste to eh band and audience and transports Eddie to an alternate dimension – one where Metal rules the show. Picked out as “The Chosen One” Eddie must help build the resistance and drive the evil of Lionwhyte from the land. Along with Ophelia Eddie sets about ridding the land of Lionwhyte’s troops with the help of hid headbanger staffed army called Ironheade.
Erm.... nice spear love; you fancy a drink or summink?
Graphically the game is varied. If you look at it still or during average play you would be right in your assumption that the game looks good enough. If you took a look at the close up action and the cut scenes you would be right in thinking this game just pure rocks. You see the engine used is technically fine. Sure it hits the odd hiccups and the odd screen tear hear and there but for the most part it streams these huge open world landscapes well. What really sets this game apart is the hugely imaginative art design, the complete “nailing” of the Heavy Metal album cover vibe and the benchmark setting facial animations/gestures of the characters. The main character Eddie is something like Jack Blacks Metal alter-ego. Not too Black but enough to make the resemblance known. Overall animation is smooth enough and the whole things just looks so… .Metal. It is a ral craedit to the design team just how Metal this game looks, although it can become a little over bearing at times.
Sound wise the game is a pure metal heads wet dream. I’m not particularly well versed in teh genre knowing mainly the more famous tracks and bands but I still managed to enjoy the soundtrack as much as any game this year. If you are a real Metal fan then this will be completely your thing. At 170 tracks the list is pretty exhaustive (see the full track list at bottom of review for details!) and the chance for repeats is minimal. That said the constant, relentless beat can get to you after a while and I did at times reach for the “Off” button on my car stereo. That is not a slight against the game just it got too much at times. Voice work almost upstages the humongous track list. The vocal track for Eddie, provided by Hollywood funny man Jack Black, is fantastic. Fan of Black or not you will like the Eddie Riggs persona. The dialogue is sharp, often witty and laugh out loud funny. The delivery of not only Black but Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmie, Kyle Glas and the host of others just help life this game to another level. All the in game spot effects are meaty and suitably metal. The sound of the car is also exactly what a souped up hot rod in a Metal world would be – just meaty and loud.
Battles can be fraught and entertaining
The gameplay is the part of the whole thing that is a little Jekyll & Hyde. From 90% of the trailers and the demo you would think that Brutal Legend is a Metal themed hack and slash title set across a sprawling open-world (ish) landscape. Trouble is you would be very wrong. Certainly there is hacking with your trusty axe and playing power chords via a rhythm action sequence unleashes power chords that do devastating damage. This is all well and good but suddenly you are thrown in to a part hack and slash part real time strategy game – what happened there? The RTS elements of the game see you controlling groups of loyal moshing followers and having them attach opposing armies of troops so you have break through and destroy the opposing stage area. So what was once a simple slasher game is now a hybrid that slowly entrenches you more and more in RTS elements. The single player will take you around 9 hours to complete depending on skill level and during that time you will encounter some genuinely funny moments with Tim’s sharp and witty script. There are several poorly implemented methods of control in the RTS element of the game. The biggest no-no for me is the fiddly way you select groups of your troops which can be totally frustrating at times. The whole battle areas could do with some sort of mini-map too as tracking your troops in the frantically paced fights can be a nightmare. The whole single player though just feels like it is preparing you to go online and take part in the multiplayer segment of the game.
The multiplayer takes the form once again of these RTS battles with your character the overall general of the troops. The more popular you are the more fan guysers there are to furnish you with willing drones to send in to battle. This feature is fun and gives you the chance to command from the front line or the rear-guard which ever you fancy. You can make your troop choices (attack, retreat etc) whilst hovering over the battles with Eddies new wings. This is a bizzare turn of events but works well enough. You choose from a 1v1 upto a maximum of 4 v 4. You pick your team from the factions existent in the main game, Ironheade (Eddies faction), The Drowning Doom led by Ophelia and finally The Tainted Coil lead by Doviculus. Ultimately it really depends on your love of the subject material and your like for RTS games. I am not a very big fan of the whole RTS genre yet I still had fun with Brutal Legends RTS-Lite system.
Eddies car (The Deuce) is an awesome construction!
Final Thoughts:
Brutal Legend is a fine game. Sure it is not the game that 90% of people thought it was going to be and to be honest I think it is poorer for it. If Double Fine had stuck at melding two genres rather than grabbing fistfuls of several and smooshing them together the whole experience would of played out much better. A Metal themed hack and slash with Schafer’s trademark quality scripts would of done just fine. What is here is a little weird, the styles don’t quite fit together but the whole package is still so appealing you can almost overlook the mish-mash of styles, the too frantic RTS battles and the repetitive side quests (complete with oh so annoying escort missions grrrr…). Don’t get me wrong I have enjoyed my time with Brutal Legend greatly, but the game changed for me when the RTS kicked in. The multiplayer holds little longterm sway for me personally but I can see plenty of people getting kicks out of it for a few months to come. Ultimately Double Fine have made a funny game about their beloved Heavy Metal and the sweat and tears they shed can be seen on screen – I just wish it had been a little more fun to play is all.
Ironheade's Tour Bus.. Sweet huh!
Full Track List is as follows (courtesy of Wikipedia) :-
Song  |
Artist |
|---|---|
| “A Serpentine Crave” | Bishop of Hexen |
| “Ad Noctis” | Rotting Christ |
| “Am I Evil?“ | Diamond Head |
| “Angel Witch” | Angel Witch |
| “Angels Don’t Kill” | Children of Bodom |
| “Assault Attack” | Michael Schenker Group |
| “Back at the Funny Farm” | Motörhead |
| “Battle Angels” | Sanctuary |
| “Battle Hymn/One Shot at Glory” | Judas Priest |
| “Believer” | Ozzy Osbourne |
| “Betrayal” | Lita Ford |
| “Birth of the Hero” | Tvangeste |
| “Blackout” | Scorpions |
| “Blitzkrieg” | Deathstars |
| “Bomber“ | Girlschool |
| “Breadfan“ | Budgie |
| “Cathode Ray Sunshine” | Dark Tranquillity |
| “Children of the Grave“ | Black Sabbath |
| “Crack the Skye (Instrumental)” | Mastodon |
| “Cremation” | King Diamond |
| “Cry of the Banshee” | Brocas Helm |
| “Dawn of Battle“ | Manowar |
| “Deadly Sinners” | 3 Inches of Blood |
| “Destroy the Orcs“ | 3 Inches of Blood |
| “Diary of a Madman“ | Ozzy Osbourne |
| “Die For Metal” | Manowar |
| “Dr. Feelgood“ | Mötley Crüe |
| “Drink the Blood of the Priest” | Brocas Helm |
| “Fast as a Shark“ | Accept |
| “For the Glory Of” | Testament |
| “Free Your Hate” | KMFDM |
| “Frost” | Enslaved |
| “Girlfriend” | Kabbage Boy |
| “God of Thunder“ | Kiss |
| “Goliaths Disarm Their Davids” | In Flames |
| “Hall of the Mountain King” | Savatage |
| “Her Ghost in the Fog“ | Cradle of Filth |
| “High Speed Dirt” | Megadeth |
| “Holiday“ | Scorpions |
| “Ignisis Dance” | Wrath of Killenstein |
| “In the Black” | Motörhead |
| “Insomnia” | Dark Fortress |
| “Kickstart My Heart“ | Mötley Crüe |
| “Lay It Down“ | Ratt |
| “Leather Rebel” | Judas Priest |
| “Live Wire“ | Mötley Crüe |
| “Loke” | Enslaved |
| “Love Dump” | Static-X |
| “Machine Gunn Eddie” | Nitro |
| “March of the Crabs” | Anvil |
| “Marching Off to War” | Motörhead |
| “Master Exploder” | Tenacious D |
| “Murmaider” | Dethklok |
| “Metal Church” | Metal Church |
| “Metal Storm/Face the Slayer” | Slayer |
| “Metal Thrashing Mad” | Anthrax |
| “More Than Meets the Eye” | Testament |
| “Mr. Crowley“ | Ozzy Osbourne |
| “Mr. Scary” | Dokken |
| “Narita” | Riot |
| “Never Say Die“ | Black Sabbath |
| “Nightstalker” | Cloven Hoof |
| “No Love Lost” | Carcass |
| “Oblivion (Instrumental)” | Mastodon |
| “Overnight Sensation” | FireHouse |
| “Painkiller“ | Judas Priest |
| “Progenies of the Great Apocalypse“ | Dimmu Borgir |
| “Pure Evil” | Iced Earth |
| “Queen of Desire” | Ostrogoth |
| “Queen of the Masquerade” | Crimson Glory |
| “Riding the Storm” | Running Wild |
| “Rip the System” | KMFDM |
| “Road Racin” | Riot |
| “Rock Bottom” | UFO |
| “Rock of Ages“ | Def Leppard |
| “Skeleton on your Shoulder” | Coroner |
| “Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck” | Prong |
| “So Frail” | Mirrorthrone |
| “Soul Thrashing Black Sorcery” | Skeletonwitch |
| “Stigmata“ | Ministry |
| “Still of the Night“ | Whitesnake |
| “Sulphur Injection” | Apostasy |
| “Superbeast“ | Rob Zombie |
| “Swords and Tequila” | Riot |
| “Symptom of the Universe“ | Black Sabbath |
| “Tag Team” | Anvil |
| “Technical Difficulties” | Racer X |
| “The Axeman” | Omen |
| “The Beautiful People“ | Marilyn Manson |
| “The Hellion/Electric Eye“ | Judas Priest |
| “The Metal” | Tenacious D |
| “The Somber Grounds of Truth” | Bishop of Hexen |
| “The Wild and the Young” | Quiet Riot |
| “Thieves” | Ministry |
| “Through the Fire and Flames“ | DragonForce |
| “Thus Spake the Nightspirit” | Emperor |
| “Tornado of Souls“ | Megadeth |
| “Warriors Dawn” | Slough Feg |
| “(We Are) the Road Crew” | Motörhead |
| “Welcome Home” | King Diamond |
| “Wheels of Steel” | Saxon |
| “When the Night Falls” | Iced Earth |
| “Witches” | Candlemass |
| “World of Hurt” | Overkill |
| “Y.R.O.” | Racer X |
| “Youth Gone Wild“ | Skid Row |
| “Zoom Club” | Budgie |
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22 Nov 2009, 3:17 am
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