Brutal Legend (Xbox 360) Review

Posted by Sean Garmer on 11.21.2009

Tim Schafer's ode to Heavy Metal strikes a wonderful chord between Action, RTS, and fun.

Tim Schafer has been in the business of making video games for over 20 years. Starting with the Secret of Monkey Island and ending the last generation of consoles winning awards with Psychonauts in 2006. It's taken him a few years but his next adventure is here and its gonna rip your face off with the power of rock. Jack Black stars in a game that's only fit for the Metal gods.



Title: Brutal Legend
Publisher: EA
Developer: Double Fine
Genre: Action-Adventure
Players: 1 Off-line, Multi-Player Online
Rating: M for Mature



Graphics:



Tim Schafer actually got his first job at LucasArts because he included a comic of him interviewing and getting his job with said company along with his resume. And if you played Psychonauts, you would expect nothing but beauty from the art in this game. It's not Final Fantasy or God of War but beauty is almost an understatement here. After the opening cutscene, you'll enter a metal music fantasy world. It's all complete with demon nuns, skulls, haunting places, and Panthers that shoot lasers out of their eyes. There are nice little easter eggs for fans of the metal genre all around the large world of Brutal Legend. The best part is the game encourages you to heavily explore the world too, so it really immerses the player into the whole old-school metal thing. All of the characters are animated well and match exactly what you would imagine a roadie, a biker, an emo kid, or a demon to look like. There are pretty much three worlds inside Brutal Legend and they are all represented very well. Whether you enjoy knocking out those hair metal dudes, slashing those emo kids, or sending demons burning back to hell, it's all here for your enjoyment. There is some major slow down when there is a lot going on in some of the battles, and also while driving. However its not anything that ever caused me to die. It is a bit annoying during the battles because sometimes the game does this slow motion thing to show you the impact of a kill. So it can be difficult to distinguish when the game is sending you into slow motion or it is just lagging.


Gameplay:



Brutal Legend follows the story of Eddie Riggs as played by Jack Black. Eddie is a roadie for a rap metal band (the game's shot at Nu-Metal.) Eddie constructs sets, fixes guitars, and saves his band mates from certain doom while remaining hidden from sight. One night he is crushed by the stage and Ormagoden is awakened, after this, Eddie is taken into his own version of metal heaven. Right before that, you will be asked if you would like to see gore and hear bad language, if you want the true metal experience you must click yes for both. If you are playing with kids or don't like that stuff than go ahead and hit no.

Brutal Legend is mostly an action-adventure game that has a large RTS element in it, along with other small elements from other genres. There are three main weapons for you to use in Brutal Legend. A literal axe for close combat called The Separator, a Flying V guitar for magical long distance attacks, and a hot rod called "The Deuce" to drive around the world and eventually blast enemies. You also have a special attack called "The Earthshaker" that plays a chord so loud it sends a blast of energy into multiple opponents. It's up to the player to use their best judgment about what tactic works best on certain enemies. Regardless, the slashing, blasting, and shocking never gets old because you can unlock new combos and different coverings for the weapons. Not to mention you have the ability to team-up with your roadies to do double team moves too. There's nothing like headbanging your way through a group of baddies or riding with the Killmaster into battle.

A great part about the game is that it encourages you to explore the huge metal world with your Hot Rod. Not only will you be going to different places with the 23 story missions. There are also around 35 sidequests to complete, which pop-up at different times. There are also plenty of items to hunt for around the large landscape too. These items will range from slabs that unlock new guitar solos to raising old relics that give you extra fire tributes. There are also 120 restrained serpents you have to free and Ancient relics that provide pieces of back story. Too many times in games we see item exploration mean absolutely nothing (other than maybe unlocking a couple of achievements.) It's nice to see that finding these items rewards you with things players can actually use.

The fire tributes I spoke about earlier serve as the game's currency. You can use these tributes in an item store called the Motor Forge. As you venture through the game's various story missions new things become unlocked. Some of these things are completely cosmetic such as paint jobs for your Hot Rod. There's also faces you can unlock that can be carved into Mt. Rockmore. There are things you will need in the store, such as, Deuce, Guitar, and Axe upgrades and new fighting combos. The game explains what each upgrade does so it gives players a freedom to choose what they want. Brutal Legend adds awesomeness to their item store by having "The Guardian of Metal" voiced very well by Ozzy Osbourne attempt to sell you on the items. Ozzy always has something new to say every time you enter the Motor Forge, so its nice to see that Schafer took the time to give him lots of lines to voice.



The game's story missions are varied, there are a few defend the bus missions, fetch quest missions, missions where you just kick some ass, and even a few boss battles. They are all woven directly into the game's story that goes through different themes. However, these are all minor compared to the main form of battle in the game. Where you play a simplified version of an RTS, in big fights called "Stage Battles" that the game uses to settle huge fights between Eddie and three evil factions. Just like any other RTS you will have a base and setup troops to defend it. You also have to setup troops to go out and attack the other squads base. At first I didn't really like the stage battles because I felt they weren't really needed. Then the further I got into the story I realized that they meant something. Throughout the game you will meet roadies, and various other people that can be used in these stage battles, so I guess that's good for continuity.

The best part about these stage battles is that you still control Eddie. Eddie basically serves as the commander for your roadies, who's main responsiblity is to make sure the other commander doesn't get involved in the battle. You also can still run around or drive "The Deuce" and do damage to the other squad like any other mission. That's what makes these battles fun, because unlike many RTS's where basically the sergeant just watches everything. In Brutal Legend you have to be a part of the action.




I only had two issues with the game. The sidequests, which are easy to find through the in-game map, are not totally optional because its the best way to earn fire tributes. So they get a bit repetitive after a while. Though they do venture out into other genres of gaming. Such as, racing and shooting. I think the development team did a good job in making them easy. They also give you the opportunity to retry the mission if you fail it. Because in the end, sidequests are just that, side missions that are supposed to help you in the main quest. They aren't supposed to be these incredibly difficult tasks that seem like a chore compared to the rest of the game. Just a little more variety would have helped this be more fun.

Though the story flows nicely and wraps up well, I wish I could have been able to do one-on-one boss battles with General Lionwhyte and Ophelia to kind of be the ultimate end to those factions, similar to how you fight the final boss Doviculus. Where you have a stage battle against them like you do against the other two, and then fight in a one-on-one battle. I understand that they probably did it this way because Lionwhyte and Ophelia are essentially the minions of Doviculus. But it could have added some length to the story that I wish would have lasted a little bit longer.


Sound:



I loved everything in this department of the game. The sound effects are all spot-on and so is the voice talent. You can easily tell Eddie Riggs was created in the image of Jack Black. Not just because he looks like Black, but his attitude and gestures allow Jack Black to easily step-in and voice the character. Tim Schafer did a terrific job getting all the voice talent for the game. Video game voice veteran Jennifer Hale plays Ophelia, Rob Halford voices General Lionwhyte and The Baron (who looks exactly like him), and Lemmy voices the Killmaster (who also looks like Lemmy.) Lita Ford voices the leader of an all female group of natives and I already mentioned Ozzy. I also like Tim Curry as Doviculus. Jack Black's partner in Tenacious D, Kyle Gas, even makes an appearance as the Canonier, who you meet in various side quests.

Black does his usual comedy bit but it is still very funny here. There are a few other comedians that do voices in the game and they lend themselves well, adding more humor to this ode to all things heavy metal. Halford shows off his screaming vocals with Lionwhyte and displays his more serious nature in The Baron. Lemmy and Ozzy are basically themselves in their character roles, but I don't think it would have worked for them any other way.

Of course, this wouldn't be a game about Heavy Metal without the music that inspired the cover art and Brutal Legend itself. There are over 100 Metal tracks in here that explore all of its sub genres. There is stuff from my favorite band ever, Def Leppard, also there is Judas Priest, Motorhead, Saxon, Angel Witch, Accept, and Diamond Head all representing the New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene. There's also Motley Crue, Ratt, Riot, and a few others from the Hair Metal scene. Though the game does take quite a few shots at the Hair Metal genre as a whole. There's doom and black metal here, as well tracks from three of the four gods of trash metal. I'll leave it up to you to guess who's the one left out. There is also quite a few tracks from Black Sabbath, Ozzy, Tenacious D, and Manowar. The list includes contemporary classics as well, like DragonForce's Through the Fire And Flames and Marylin Manson's Beautiful People.

All in all, if you love metal there's no need to worry about this setlist. Jack Black and Tim Schafer had a hand in picking most of these tracks, and other than no Iron Maiden (I'm surprised since they were in Madden 10 and Rock Band this year) (I'm also sad because they are in my Top 5 favorite bands) or Metallica, they pretty much sum up the genre here.


Lasting Appeal:



I love music, but my heart is dear to Hard Rock, particularly to the Heavy Metal side of it. so this game is going to have a lot more lasting appeal for me, than maybe someone that doesn't like the sub-culture. Anyone can enjoy the game for being a fun action title, for the treasure hunting, the RTS battles or Jack Black's humor. However, to understand why this is such a big deal for the Eddie Riggs character, Tim Schafer, all the people involved in making the game, and the iconic rockers that lend their voices, you have to at least be able to stand the metal genre. There is a lot of Tim Schafer wrapped up in thisi game similar to all his other games. However, this is his first title that really has global appeal because of the stars behind it. Regardless of that, it is still a very niche game. Something I don't think Schafer minds at all, neither do i, but there will be many that may not give this great game the time of day because of it's subject matter.

The game does have multi-player where you can do stage battles online and be one of the four factions.The stage battles work even better online because you are playing against a human opponent that may have the same strategy as you and it can create a nice match-up. The multi-player is fun, especially you like the stage battles. Double Fine has also added two new stage battles as DLC for free about a week ago.

As I mentioned earlier if you like treasure hunting or getting acheivements there is plenty of that. As there about five or six of those that you get for collecting things in the game. Most are obtained through playing the story missions and the sidequests, so if anything there are also some easy achievements to get in this game too.

But that's why I wrote the stuff at the beginning of this section, because chances are unless you are an achievement whore, if you don't like the metal genre you probably won't connect with the characters too much to go treasure hunting and find the easter eggs. So there may not be much for you to do after the story is complete.


Fun Factor:



I never stopped having fun with Brutal Legend from beginning to end. I laughed, I screamed, I became frustrated, sad, and happy too. The story in Brutal Legend is so well crafted that it will keep you wanting to play those story missions. Too bad it had to end because I just wanted it to keep going. I also enjoyed searching for the ancient relics so I could see the back story of the game. Not to mention slicing, electrifying, and smashing up enemies never got old either. The multi-player will keep the attention of anyone that enjoys the game's stage battles too.

The game can be a short experience for those that just go through the story missions and do nothing else, but that's why everyone's experience with a game is different. For me, Brutal Legend was loads of fun, and I loved jamming to metal while driving around exploring too. For others it may not be that.


The 411: This is one of the best games of the year and there is a reason it won awards at E3. The game is a blast to play, the story is very well written, the characters are voiced well, and the music is awesome. If you love metal this game was made for you. If you don't there are things to like about the game, but you won't get the full experience its intended to be.

Graphics	9.0	Other than some bad slow down when stage battles get heavy, this game's art design is beautiful
Gameplay	8.5	The game melds the action and RTS elements well, plus it encourages exploration of its big metal land. However, the sidequests can get repetitive and some missions may annoy players
Sound	10.0	The voice work is fantastic and there are over 100 metal tracks in the game waiting to be heard. It truly is a Metal fan's delight
Lasting Appeal	8.0	There is online multi-player of the stage battles and lots of treasure hunting, but most will probably just play through the story and be done with it.
Fun Factor	9.0	I never got tired of taking out enemies and searching for things, there's also the story and music to keep you playing along too.
Overall	9.0   [  Amazing ]

Screenshots
All 6 Brutal Legend Screenshots