Brutal Legend is the newest game by Tim Schafer’s Double Fine. A lot of the hype regarding Brutal Legend was due to it being made by Double Fine, the involvement of Jack Black, and the games (awesome) metal soundtrack.
You play as Eddie Riggs (Jack Black), a roadie for a band that has to be a joke on Linkin Park. After an accident feeds blood into the mouth of your belt buckle, you get transported back in time to the land of metal.
For the first hour or so the game is a pretty basic and fun hack n’ slash adventure through the landscape. Once you begin to free the lands youth, the real-time strategy(RTS) aspects of the gameplay take the main stage. The rest of the game plays out with RTS battles against the opposing forces until the game culminates in a final battle that feels the same as most other battles you’ve already experienced.
YAY:
- Personnel can make a big difference and it works to the credit of Brutal Legend. You can tell the people who created this world you explore cared very much about what they were putting forward. Also, the voice acting is very good. Jack Black is great for the role as expected.
- The world you explore is very well put together and driving around it can be entertaining in it’s own way. The whole world is full of engine parts, swords, and mildly creepy imagery you would find on a metal band’s album cover. Another nice touch in the game was the addition of landmark viewers. They’re a ‘metal’ version of those tourist binoculars that require quarters and are at every popular viewpoint in the country. When you use one it gives you a zoomed out view of special structures throughout the game world.
- The soundtrack is really awesome. If you’re not into metal you’ll probably want to turn the music off while you drive around. But, if you do like metal the soundtrack is a great addition and really enhances the atmosphere.
NAY:
- The RTS gameplay is really basic and makes the game feel tedious. If you’re looking for a straight-up action game Brutal Legend is not it. You have to destroy the opposing groups stage to win the battle. If you time your units and stage upgrades correctly, a lot of the fights seem easy, like they have a distinct formula you can use to beat them no matter how many times you try them.
- I know it’s hard to make a really good open world, and like I said the art is very good. But, on more than one occasion large animals that populate the world popped in right in front of where I was. For reference, if Eddie Riggs was six feet tall, these creatures just appeared in the world about 15-20 feet in front of him.
- The multiplayer component is exactly the same as the stage battles in the single player game. It’s hard to understand why someone would want to spend time playing the stage battles against other people after completing the game. If you’re both competent players the fights can take forever and the only rewarding part is being able to try out the different factions.
I, just like many other people had very high hopes for Brutal Legend considering the people working on the game and the love they have for the subject matter. I also can’t say that I’ve ever purchased a game for the soundtrack and in-game art. The gameplay just isn’t strong enough to warrant a purchase or even a second playthrough. Once you have beaten Brutal Legend, I don’t think there’s any reason for you to go back to it. If you were really excited about this game being released and you liked the demo, give it a rent. If not, you’re not really missing too much.
