Brutal Legend: Multiplayer - GamePro Roundtable

by Travis Moses, Dave Rudden, Andy Burt
August 17, 2009 00:00 AM PST

Travis, Dave and Andy talk head-banging groupies, regurgitated rats, and plenty more in GamePro's Brutal Legend multiplayer roundtable!

Brutal Legend: Multiplayer - GamePro Roundtable

From left: Andy Burt, Dave Rudden, and Travis Moses. Some joke about hats.

Brutal Legend may already have heavy metal fans foaming at the mouth awaiting its release, but oddly enough the game may cause something similar in RTS fans. Brutal Legend will offer up a hefty multiplayer package, which will involve massive band battles, and plays much like a more action-focused real-time strategy game. Read on for our multiplayer impressions... just don't try to head-bang while doing so.

Travis Moses: Holy shit, you guys! I was not expecting Brutal Legend's multiplayer to be a real-time strategy game. Did anyone else not see this coming? I mean, Tae and I joked about commanding armies of head-banging groupies to do your bidding, but only because it's in the single-player campaign to a degree. I was not expecting the level of real-time strategy elements to be so thorough, complete with hero commanders, unit variety, home bases and resources. With all that said and my surprise subsiding, I am pleased that it actually works. The three factions control and play differently, commanded by protagonist Eddie Riggs, villain Doviculus, and sexy Ophelia. What's more is the reference to the Tenacious D song, "Double Team," where hero commanders can join forces with any unit in the game to perform a special attack or manuever. My favorite was Doviculus riding on the back of a porcupine-type creature to move faster and use its spikes as throwing spears.

Dave Rudden: Having arguably the most experience with Tim Schafer's latest game in single-player mode, I expected my hours-worth of demos, interviews, and hands-on time to prepare me for whatever Brutal Legend could throw at me in the form of multiplayer. Unfortunately, my skills at single-player slaying didn't quite translate to managing resources and commanding armies into large-scale battles. I lost just about every match I had that night against my fellow GamePro editors, but I still enjoyed myself greatly. It took a bit of getting used to, but I could see myself playing quite a bit of the multiplayer mode online once I developed the necessary skills by plowing through the epic single-player mode. And for my money, the best double-team attack had to be the one where Ophelia jumps into the stomach of an enemy in order to be regurgitated as a troop of rats that you can move around on the battlefield.

Andy Burt: I wasn't prepared either, but I was extremely happy with the result. It's worth mentioning that aside from the large band battle areas, the scale of some of the creatures you can summon is impressive. One of my favorite creatures that I saw during the multiplayer demo was this huge green pair of legs with what seemed to be a large bleeding heart (or some other organ/creature) hanging in a giant cage between the legs. As far as special attacks go, one of the most hilarious was Eddy Riggs' headbanger summoning, where he becomes surrounded by a huge group of loyal fans who have no problem slaughtering anything and everything that gets in his way. I think with the robust multiplayer offering (and a deep RTS at that) Schafer has given gamers yet another reason to check out Brutal Legend.