Brutal Legend

While Tim Schafer's games have earned him a ton of cred with critics and diehard fans, it hasn't always translated into mainstream commerical success (seriously, why didn't you guys buy Psychonauts? It was freaking awesome and should have sold a bajillion copies!). But we're pretty sure Brutal Legend will get him the financial success, along with the usual critical praise, that he richly deserves because even though it suffers from a lackluster presentation and some quirky bugs, it's still a vintage Schafer game: unique, hilarious and a whole lot of fun to play.

Brutal Legend is an utterly unique game, one that features the astonishing and imaginative environments that Double Fine and head honcho Tim Schaefer have become known for. Wonderfully zany wildlife inhabits the game's inspired cliffs and canyons, with delightfully twisted architecture assembled across its rolling landscape. Boasting stellar art direction and an expertly crafted world, Brutal Legend is, without a doubt, one of the most innovative titles I've ever played. If I could judge this game based solely on the big goofy smile painted across my face in reaction to its wit and pioneering appeal, it would be an easy 5 out of 5, but there's quite a bit more to this game than its inherent charm. This is both a good thing and a bad thing.

Brutal Legend

Brutal Legend At A Glance


    Time it took to beat: I spent a good fifteen hours making my way through Brutal Legend, and that doesn't nearly include the time it took to find every relic, unbind every dragon, and purchase every Motor Forge Upgrade.

    Most metal moment: Undoubtedly your first view of Mount Rockmore after unlocking every effigy. Epic.

    Weakest moment: The game isn't without its flaws, and the clunky combat system is sure to get on some players' nerves.

    Coolest cameo: Ozzy Osbourne as the Guardian of Metal is hands down one of the coolest combinations since Fatboy Slim and Christopher Walken.

    We suggest you: Buy it. It's epic, it's innovative, and it's a total blast from beginning to end.

Backstage Pass

Brutal Legend is the story of roadie extraordinaire Eddie Riggs, a jaded stagehand with ninja-esque abilities and indomitable musical prowess. After a lifetime of tuning guitars and building sets for the forefathers of rock, Eddie is now forced to babysit obnoxious hipster imposters as they butcher the essence of the heavy metal music he loves so much. Cue an unfortunate onstage mishap that awakens the fire demon dwelling in Eddie's belt buckle (go figure), and the hard-rocking roadie soon finds himself transported to a mystical world of magic, mayhem and metal. Stranded in a hellishly war-torn (yet undisputedly cool) landscape, Eddie joins forces with Lars Halford and his rag-tag gang of head-banging freedom fighters as they rise up in rebellion against the sinister Emperor Doviculus and his glam rocker General Lionwhyte. To sum it up, Brutal Legend doesn't lack heart or imagination.

We Are the Road Crew

With a focus on open-world exploration, plenty of unique missions await Eddie as he treks across its face-melting facade, ranging from delivery missions-Transport booze from the Sacred Beer Tree-to outright destruction-help an inept cannonier blast Doviculus' minions to kingdom come. There's a great amount of variety in Eddie's antics, but one can't help but feel that you're occasionally doing the same thing over and over again, albeit under different pretenses. For instance, ambush and defense missions inevitably turn into mindless hack and slash escapades where you repetitively drive the Deuce (Eddie's souped up ride) from point A to point B. Thankfully, this redundancy is broken up quite nicely by the game's open world exploration which urges players to locate various creatures and relics to earn some interesting extras. Each mission completed or extra discovered grants Eddie a number of Fire Tributes, which allows the player to visit the Guardian of Metal in the mystical Motor Forge, where they can upgrade their arsenal of attacks and add any number of modifications to their trusty car. The amount of customizations is great, really urging players to immerse themselves in Eddie's richly detailed world.

Brutal Legend

Comments [14]

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goldberg_evan

Can't wait until this weekend when I get my paycheck and can get the game. How is the multiplayer? why wasn't that mentioned?

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goldberg_evan

never mind, just saw the section about multiplayer, still can't wait!

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ZanonX

So many games coming out and so many bills I have to pay lol

god damn it lol

snipes1183

This game is on it's way from GameFly as I type! I can't wait! The demo was badass, and the game should hold me over long enough till CoD: MW2!!!.... and the L4D2!!!

ninjalegend

So far, so good. If you like heavy metal, and you don't get this game, I don't know what to tell you. Like what was said here, it is full of personality. It's a nice break from the standard type games like Uncharted 2, which I will play right after I write this comment. A truly stellar week in videogaming for me. Time to try and melt my 360 and ps3.

PaganFest

Epic! got the email from amazon yesterday. Waiting for this to come through the mail along with uncharted

Toneman

This game is quite fun... and just very unique. Love the commentary throughout. Game looks better than I originally though (even the demo). I haven't played many RTS games, but so far so good. I think it's a lot simpler than some of the popular RTS games, but then again, I'm only about an hour in. Can't wait to drive around some more , explore the cool world and do some side missions :)

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