Brutal Legend: Review
Brutal Legend is a Double Fine Production, and EA release, out now for Xbox 360, and PS3.
The story is entertaining and well laid out, the cut scenes are very well directed and it plays out like you would think of a Hollywood movie with unlimited budget and Jack Black as the star. The voice acting is top notch, with Jack Black being himself, Tim Curry does an excellent job as the villain, also with other voices you will recognize. The music playlist is rocking, with many ‘80s metal bands, if you bought your metal on vinyl then this game will be music to your ears.
Brutal Legend Trailer – Watch more Game Trailers
You play Eddie Riggs a displaced roadie who can walk, run, use axe, and an ax (stringed). He can take to the air during stage battles for a top down command view. There is no ability to jump which can be frustrating when you get stuck in an area and have to summon the deuce or reload a check point. I’m sure Eddie Riggs would say something like, “Jumping is for sissies in spandex and makeup.” It does seem to be a button masher in combat, even though you can use some combos and solos for attacks and buffs. The Deuce is a very welcome addition since the map is large and running would be a bore. It has a nitro boost and other upgrades that can be added at the motor forge. The upgrades include primary and secondary weapons as well as engine and ramming abilities. The motor forge is also where you can spend your fire tributes for axe and ax enhancements.
The game plays like an open world RPG with a bit of RTS mixed in, the demo really doesn’t give you a true feel for the game as I felt it made it seem much more like a simple hack n slash button masher. There is a lot to do besides the main quest which you could roll through in well under ten hours, but there is lots to explore, and upgrades to be had. The side missions do get to be repetitive, but for those achievement hunters there is lots of low lying fruit.
As you advance the main storyline you get to add more units to your group, and you can also double team with each different unit type to increase attack strength. You don’t always have control of the others in the open world, except when in a stage battle or when roaming the land and you come across friendly’s, then you can double up with them for attacking hostiles, (but you can’t issue commands). A fun example is roaming around and creating a mosh pit with the headbangers, and you can add more to the group as you come across them by quickly unteaming then reteaming, and making a ring of a dozen or more around you.
Some of the crescendos are “stage battles” which play out RTS style. Each side erects a stage then you have to build merchandise booths to attract fans, which become the resource for unit production. The stage battles are kinda cool but the bot pathing can be easily seen and counteracted, so it makes defending predictable.
The graphics and character detail are amazing, I found myself stopping just to look at some the some of the scenes and the creatures. I did have a bit of frame drop while driving on the juice, but I could hear the ROM drive grinding to keep up (hard disk install should make it buttery smooth). One area I was trying to get a look to see below caused a bit of clipping and I fell into the bridge, as you can see I’m walking on air.
The driving engine could use a bit a work, it is what I would expect from a RPG, but the car plays a bigger role than that of just a side job.
Multiplayer is set up for stage battles, just like the some of the “boss battles” in game. Which should give it some entertainment value, but I think the balance issues between factions is going to become quickly evident.
Overall a good game, though it’s tough to give it a full buy recommendation. I rented, since the demo didn’t give me that I must buy feel, after playing through it I don’t know if it will be something I will play again, except to finish achievements. It gets 4 out of 5 stars from me (instead of 3.5) for not only the sentimental effect of the music but how well the voice acting, script and directing work together.
The guys over at Achievement Hunters have videos of the ‘cheevos (if they don’t have them look in the comments) and a great map of item locations.
