Not only is Brutal Legend the greatest tribute to heavy metal ever created, it also happens to be one of the funniest games I’ve ever had the fortune of playing through. In these busy days full of skipped cut scenes and tutorials, it felt nice to sit through something that I found genuinely entertaining for once.      Tim Schafer is one of the world’s longest suffering artists.  He has released amazing games from Grim Fandango to Psychonauts, but every time he releases a new title, it seems that fame and fortune evade him even if his games are amazing and loved by everyone who has ever played them.

 
Well this is his latest, and most epic, masterpiece, and if Brutal Legend doesn’t sell than maybe we should look at the fact that originality in gaming might only be supported by a small minority of people who have a good sense of humour and some imagination about them.  Brutal Legend really is that good. Brutal Legend is a game that should appeal to those that crave more than a simple headshot fest.  Brutal Legend is a game for those people who want to rock…and who doesn’t want to rock out these days?

Not pictured: The trail of dust you just left behind as you ran to the store to buy a copy after seein this!

You play as Eddie Riggs, legendary roadie voiced by the outrageous Jack Black, who is transported to a mythical realm of a heavy metal fantasy world, a world that was inspired by heavy metal album covers of the 70s and 80s.  There are beasts that have blades of steel protruding from their backs, great statues of guitars and engine pistons are scattered around the land, looking like discarded objects of the titans from a long forgotten conflict that consumed the world.  The skies lights up at night from falling meteors that shatter around you, one minute there is a lightning storm, the next a vortex will consume the skies only to be replaced with an eclipse of a nearby planet, it is as epic and as mythical as those fantasy album covers and you can’t help but be instantly smitten by the art direction.  This is a land of demons, blood, stone and the heaviest of metals.  This is a land I have lived in during my teenage years and it was damn fine (double fine in fact) to regress for a few hours and be transported back there.  

Eddie will team up with Lars, his sister and will also have a love interest in Ophelia, a kick arse rock chick with a suspicious past.  He will be armed by a battle axe called the Separator, a guitar that doubles as his primary weapon and key to summoning power called Clementine and lets not forget his kickass ride, The Druid Plough, aka The Deuce.  Read those names and you know this shit is authentic yo!  The metal Gods have given the ultimate arsenal to cruise through this open environment and tear shit up.    

So very awesome...

Heavy Metal is pretty hilarious as it is without Jack Black and company  already pointing it out, so with these really amusing characters all portraying different metal rock clichés, it makes everything so funny that I more than a few laugh out loud moments.  The world that Eddie will be cruising around in is a gorgeous landscape full of ancient rock statues of giant guitars, castles looming on distant horizons, it’s heavily influenced by the artwork of bands that sound like Vikings when they play and with the self depreciating humour you really are presented with a package that is truly worthy of awesomeness.  

Straight forward controls, easy attacks and combos to master as well as upgrade are all presented in a way that is easy to memorize and use.  Most attacks require the use of two buttons pressed in a certain order and pressed down for a certain amount of time before you unless all types of hell on enemies.  You can also use your ‘Solo’ attacks to summon magic and other things like summoning the Deuce out of thin air to raising relics that let you drive through to meet the Guardian of Rock which helps you unlock upgrades and goodies.   There are moments when you’ll have to go along with the changing of gameplay styles from open world to ‘RTS’ where you will have to command various units and create bases to go up against an enemies army, but it never feels as good as when you are just going around the world taking on bad guys and completing missions.  This is probably the weakest part about Brutal Legend, the RTS controls are a pain to master but once you have worked them out they work well enough.  It’s not broken just tricky and not as much as fun as the rest of the game is.  Actually the RTS portions of the game was the only times I ever felt frustrated…and I’m a RTS veteran!  If the game settled for a more traditional RTS setup before going back into third person mode, it would’ve worked so much better.   Like I said, everything works fine, just expect to spend a long time working it all out.

An army of four...apparently all that is needed to bring down Satan.

The soundtrack is freakin awesome as well.  Everyone who is anyone shows up to lend support.  Black Sabbath, Cradle of Filth, Ozzy, Judas Priest, Kiss, Manowar, Carcass, even Tenacious D show up and minus one or two tracks, every bloody song is perfect for this game and lends towards being one of the best backdrops to any videogame outside of the Grand Theft Auto series.  There are well over a hundred licensed songs and even though I’m not a big metal fan, I loved listening to the music when I was playing this game, the game complements the music and vice versa perfectly.  Nailed!  

Brutal Legend isn’t perfect, there are a few problems that could’ve been fixed through fine tuning.  Controls are clunky during the RTS, they are also a little bit confusing and commanding troops is a major pain in the arse.   There are more than a handful of glitches when you are driving around the map where you will get stuck or your car will making you load up the last checkpoint.  Luckily the fun times you’ll discover playing Brutal Legend seriously outweigh it’s shortcomings.

I wish I had a car called the deuce...and a heavy metal chick with spikes on her belt...

Multiplayer isn’t as epic as the single player campaign but it works well enough.  I didn’t have any troubles getting a good match online and everything functions pretty nicely.  There are a few framerate dips and if you can come to grips with the control system you’ll find yourself in the middle of some epic games, just don’t expect the same amount of polish or flair as the story mode, but at least it’s here and it does what it promises to do.  

Overall Brutal Legend is a fantastic game that is a joy to play.  It’s funny, it has a great script, talented acting, hilarious premise and the gameplay manages to keep everything moving along pleasantly.  It’s not the prettiest game you’ve come across but the cartoon-ish graphics and facial animations do a great job at telling the story and keeping the comedy coming.  Brutal Legend is definitely on my ‘best games of the year’ list and you really should check this one out.  This game rocks!