Brutal Legend Review [360]

19 Oct 2009 at 15:59:35 by Tim McDonald
Systems used to review this title: (360)

Brütal Legend, and that's pröbably the läst time I'll use an ümlaut in that title, is ëxactly whät I ëxpected. This is göing to mäke for a härd review, as my expectations wërë pretty müch “It's not going to be akin to much else on the market.”

It starts as you might expect, particularly if you've played the demo or read one of our previews. Super-roadie Eddie Riggs, capable of building any stage, repairing and retuning any guitar, and organising seemingly anything, accidentally gets blood onto the demonic belt-buckle – found in his father's attic years ago - during a concert gone wrong. As you might expect, this results in a giant demon breaking free and murdering the band (much to the amusement of the crowd, who think it's part of the show) and catapulting Riggs back thousands of years to the Age of Metal.

The Age of Metal is not a happy place. Humanity has been enslaved by demons, and the resistance army is made up of a grand total of three people. There are all sorts of incredibly useful tools around – spiders spin bass strings, the skeletal structures of small animals turn out to be lethal crossbows, and car parts literally grow on trees – but no-one's ever bothered to work out how all of these things actually fit together. In short, the resistance needs a roadie, and this is where Riggs steps in. Not to lead the resistance – roadies, as he constantly reminds us, are all about making other people look good – but to support it and make sure it works.

There's a rich mythology behind the game. Eddie' guitar, Clementine, survived the trip back with him and now guitar solos and power chords unleash hell upon his enemies. Lightning and flash pots are two of the earliest available abilities, but by the end of the game he can literally melt faces with his solos or bring down the sort of pyrotechnic displays you'd maybe see in the absolute highest end of rock shows. The open-world environment lends itself to exploration, with the truth behind the world and the origins of each of the factions detailed in a series of legend stones that have to be located and cracked open for you to really find out what's going on. New solos are hidden on “tab slabs,” bound and gagged dragon statues grant extra health, and side-missions award plenty.

And that's without mentioning how unfathomably gorgeous the environment is. Riding around is an absolute joy, with plenty of metal references and wonderful twists on reality to keep you entertained as you explore, which I really don't want to spoil. In terms of being immersed in the game world, though, special mention also has to go to the voice talent. Jack Black and Tim Curry are as amazing as always and Jennifer Hale somehow surpasses all expectations in a fantastic turn as goth-rocker Ophelia, but special mention has to go to whoever directed the voice cast, as I can't imagine metal musicians are the most natural voiceover artists - yet Lemmy, Rob Halford, Lita Ford, and Ozzy Osbourne are all pitch-perfect as their respective characters. Further mention goes to Tenacious D's Kyle Gass as a gigantic cannon operator, and while I could think of others, we'll stop there or I'll be at this all day.

This leaves us with the gameplay, which is a tad harder to describe. What begins as an almost Zelda-esque title with plenty of exploration and hidden items quickly morphs into squad-combat and then into a full-fledged RTS through the “big stage battles,” in which you construct a stage, harvest ghostly fans, and expend them to build units for the eventual goal of destroying your opponent's stage.

All of this ties together. Your initial hack-and-slash forays teach you how the combat in the game works, and as you start getting a few units under your control you can order them to defend specific locations, charge ahead and attack particular units, or “Double Team,” allowing you to perform a combination attack with a unit. These, too, feed off the heavy metal tropes throughout the game (and I'd like to make it clear that I don't believe these tropes to be in any way a bad thing) – using Headbangers to form a protective mosh pit around you is as effective as it is hilarious, and hopping onto the back of a healer's bike to deliver a chord that literally stuns those around you is often a game-saver.

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