The Jon Venture

Not quite.

You can put away those pitchforks and flaming torches for the Brutal Legend fanboys as I’m not going to gush about the game as you’d expect, not entirely anyways. There are some key features that bring the game into the forefront of the year’s releases, and a few that make me question whether or not the game will have as large a mass appeal as I had anticipated. That seems to be the overall theme in Brutal Legend; a dichotomy of the good and the bad. Not “stuck in an elevator with John Mayer music” bad, just not what I was expecting.

The main appeal of Brutal Legend is definitely its strength in storytelling. After his untimely demise on stage, roadie Eddie Riggs is transported to a heavy metal fantasy world by the fire demon Ormagoden. Tim Schafer, the game’s creative director and the mind behind Psychonauts, does a great job of immersing players in a land that resembles something between a Viking wonderland and an S&M outlet store. Riggs arrives in this strange land and is touted as the legendary warrior that will free humanity from enslavement… or possibly destroy it. With such epic implications, it definitely helps that Brutal Legend does not take itself too seriously. Had we been expected to receive the game as a serious tale, it would not have the same humor and charm we get from the great voice work and comedic timing. No spoilers here, but there are a few characters that you encounter who play their smarmy roles to near perfection.

Being a heavy metal video game, there is a soundtrack worthy of any fan’s playlist. You’ll race through the world slaughtering demons listening to the likes of Black Sabbath, Motorhead, and Dragonforce in your upgradable hot rod. If you want to hear something different while cruising in your rocket-launching Druid Plow, you can instantly change to one of the over 100 unlocked tracks chosen by Schafer himself. Even some of the game’s basic mechanics, such as playing solos on your magical guitar for attacks and buffs, employ cool guitar riffs you’ll not grow tired of too soon.

Strangely enough, there is a huge element of Brutal Legend that was not included in the demo and barely mentioned in much of the pre-release press. Yes, the game includes fun racing sequences and a few fetch quests I’d rather forget, but the real-time strategy aspect of Brutal Legend implemented in the single player campaign and online multiplayer mode was strangely not announced in the concert line-up. The whole “battle of the bands” aspect of Brutal Legend, where Eddie Riggs fights opposing factions in this heavy metal fantasy land, is set up as an RTS battle akin to playing Code Masters’ Overlord games. I did not mind these RTS sequences, as they did add variety to the chain of optional secondary quests, but they were not mentioned in detail before I reserved the game and paid it in full before its release. If you’ve got an RTS, call it an RTS, but don’t coax gamers into thinking that the game is an outright action adventure spree when there are specific needs for strategic elements to be employed. When first playing the RTS levels of Brutal Legend, it felt as if I was listening to an experimental track off of your favorite rock band’s newest album; you cringe at first, but soon begin to embrace the track’s totality as the culmination of elements that have been discovered thus far in the album. That’s basically what it comes down to: the guitar solos and special attacks learned by Riggs in the preliminary levels are but a piece of what you can use to overthrow General Lionwhyte or the Drowning Doom. You get used to the RTS elements of Brutal Legend, but it bothers me as a gamer that it was not mentioned when I first picked the game up. Still an absolute blast to play, and I now find myself replaying those sequences to achieve the best possible strategy, but I don’t appreciate having something snuck in backstage and thrust towards the fans.

Ultimately, Brutal Legend is the incredible game it has been touted to be for nearly a year, despite a few repetitive side quests and RTS elements snuck in that might turn some gamers off. Brutal Legend still remains one of the best gaming investments I have made this year outside of Arkham Asylum and the upcoming Modern Warfare 2. Not seen as a game of the year candidate for some gamers in the community, no one can argue that Brutal Legend is one of the most fun and inspired experiences you can have on a current generation platform.

Go forth and rock, gamers. Save mankind through the power of heavy metal and become a Brutal Legend.