(Old review – from the original HNTDAAB) Publisher: EA Developer: Double Fine Year of Release: 2009 Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360 Before we go any further let’s get one thing out...

(Old review – from the original HNTDAAB)

Publisher: EA
Developer: Double Fine
Year of Release: 2009
Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360

Before we go any further let’s get one thing out of the way right now. I’m not way into metal, but I am way into Tim Schaffer. He is a god when it comes to storylines and making games funny. Monkey Island, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango and Psychconauts all had brilliant stories and likeable characters. Does Mr Schaffer bring his trademark wit to his latest game? Or more importantly is it way metal?

Brutal Legend is the story of Eddie Riggs, a brilliant roadie for a terrible fake metal band. After an accident which gets blood onto his obviously Motorhead inspired belt, he is transported to a heavy metal inspired realm where music is in fact a weapon and chrome grows from the very ground. Unfortunately, the metal lovers of this realm have been enslaved by evil S&M daemons and their glam metal loving lackeys. Now with his roadie skills, Eddie must free them all with the power of rock (quite literally). Not only must they gather an army, but Eddie must also struggle with the reason why he is in this totally awesome land. Was it an accident or fate?

The most striking thing about the game is how good it looks. The art design is one of Double Fine’s trademarks and its obvious here. Everything in the world feels like it could be straight out of a heavy metal cover, from the chrome exhaust trees to the razor pigs (half motorbike, half boar) or the laser eyed panthers. As well as that the terrain itself looks fitting, with huge swords or Teutonic crosses in one area while in another the Victorian imagery associated with Goth metal. This extends to the characters. Eddie is the classic album cover hero, with a huge axe over his shoulder and driving in his custom hot rod the Deuce. Nearly every other character is similarly stylised, often focusing on a particular aspect of metal. The Headbangers are among the best, a group of people who over the years have grown huge neck mucles after chipping rocks from the ground using only their foreheads. I won’t ruin it, but the science where you are introduced to them is hilarious. Even better are some of the small details such the fact the logs the characters often sit on are in fact a log of tyres. The team at Double Fine also has done a wonder on the animation. Particular attention has been placed on the area around the eyes, which in many games is ignored but in reality is where most of your expressive actions actually takes places. Many of Eddie’s expression are only funny because of this extra level of detail

The gameplay at first feels like an open world action adventure, somewhat similar to the Jak 3, with various side missions scattered amongst the world. You can run, attack with axe or guitar, play guitar solos to assist your allies or melt your enemies faces or drive in your customised car as mentioned before. The game has a store system, allowing you to unlock new moves, different effects for your axe or Clementine your guitar or even new parts for one of the best jokes I have ever seen in gaming. The cash for this is gained by doing a variety of missions, ranging from the main plot to simple stunt jumps or free the various bound serpents. There are also a huge number of secondary missions, but these boil down to one of a few types which can become a little boring after a while. However, some are absolute gems, including the one to clear out a bats home after it threatens to bite your head off (in a role reversal of Ozzy’s infamous stage act). However, in the latter stages of the game you jump into the Stage Battle mode, which as well as being most of the later missions is also the games multiplayer mode. It is a quite simple to learn but heard to master mode, requiring you to capture points on the map in order to call in new units. It’s a nice idea, with some quite funny reasons behind it, but can just revolve around who can get the most units around a point first.

As with Schaffer’s previous games, the characters are awesome. Eddie is voiced by Jack Black in a brilliant performance. The character as he is was obviously designed with Black in mind as some of the best lines requiring his very special comedic talent. In addition to Black, the game also boasts a whole compilation of heavy metal artists. Ozzy is the Guardian of Metal in an awesome performance, especially with the witty remarks he gives whenever he sees Eddie (“The Guardian of Metal was having a nap!). In addition Lemmy from Motorhead plays a bass guitarist shaman, healing through the sweet bass riffs (a power my friend a bass player can attest to). Rob Halford from Judas Priest snaps two roles for himself, one as the leader of a group of bikers and one as the early game main bad guy, General Lionwhyte, a glam rocker whose hair is so good he fly through the air using it. The best thing about all these characters is the fact they can swear as much as their want, which to be honest is what being a god of rock is about isn’t it? Additionally, the fact most of them have really strong midlands accents is also hilarious. On top of the line up of rock gods we also get Tim Curry being the evil bad guy (a role his voiced was designed for) and video game stalwart Jennifer Hale putting up a sterling performance as Eddie’s love interest Ophelia. On a side note, Jack Black’s Tenacious D band member Kyle Gass has a cameo role which is just brilliant. This is a game you need to play with the sound turned up just so you can hear the little snippets of dialogue you may otherwise miss.

Of course in a game about metal, the music is a vital part. The soundtrack selection is huge with a wide variety of tracks. Normally in a game like this you find you only like about a quarter, but after spending a weekend with the game I actually like all of it despite not being much of a metal fan beforehand.  As well as having the songs in the car as you drive around, the game cleverly uses some tracks in certain sequences. Two of the best moments are accompanied by the strains of two brilliant songs. The first is a chase sequences with the crazy guitar of Dragonforce’s “Through the Fire and the Flames” in the background. The other features Ozzy’s haunting song Mr Crowley. I won’t go into details as it is a key section of the brilliant plot but let’s just say that the music director at Double Fine deserves a huge gold star for that scene alone. You’ll be grabbing the car just so you can hear The Metal by Tenacious D as you race around doing your missions.

However the game isn’t perfect. Just like with Psychonauts there is a general feeling of it being unfinished in certain areas It is so easy to fall down a gap that’s impossible for you to get out of, requiring a restart. Additionally, there is too little feedback on if you’re failing a mission or not. Many times in a mission I’ve failed it simply because I didn’t have a clue what I was defending or the AI controlling it went on a bender. More of a concern is the RTS stage battles. In many of them I didn’t have a clue which was the battle was going, and many came down to simple unit spamming. Finally, a major problem is the lack of variety in the secondary missions and the decline into basically Stage Battle after Stage Battle.

My time with Brutal Legend was absolutely hilarious. In fact this is one of the few games that my Dad actually enjoyed just watching and listening to the jokes. It’s an experience not to be missed although it is not quite the perfect diamond. Tim Schafer should be proud of this game. And yes it is way metal.