Tim Schafer, developer of classic titles such as Psychonaughts, Full Throttle and Grim Fandango, brings heavy metal to the Xbox 360 in a very big way with the release of Brutal Legend. Featuring amazing cameos by beloved metal icons such as Ozzie Osbourne, and Lemmy Kilmister, plus a live action sequence featuring Jack Black at the beginning of the game, players will realize they are in for a treat before they have even pressed start on their controller.

Brutal Legend stars Eddie Riggs, voiced by Jack Black. Eddie Riggs is a roadie, somebody who works behind the scenes making sure the band he follows always has a successful show. Unfortunately for Eddie the band he is following isn’t exactly “metal” sounding like a horrible cross combination of The Backstreet Boys and KISS. During a show Eddie has to save the life of one of the band members and in the process almost gets himself killed. Blood from one of his wounds wakes up the god beast Ormagoden who transports Eddie to an alternate world that could have been ripped from a Heavy Metal comic. Once he catches his bearings Eddie learns that the human race has been enslaved by the demon emperor Doviculous, and using his new found powers of rock, Eddie sets out to help free his brothers and sisters from bondage.

Gameplay:

When we first started off playing Brutal Legend the game felt like a mixture of open world gameplay akin to Red Faction Guerrilla, combined with hack em slash and collect-a-thon elements similar to a Zelda title. About a quarter of the way through the game this all changes as the player learns that a big part of the gameplay is grounded in the RTS genre. This mish mash of gameplay modes at first felt somewhat awkward but in reality created a very unique gaming experience, one that mixed many beloved genres together and somehow makes it all work.

Players will start off the game in control of only Eddie who wields an axe and a magical guitar that can call down lightning from the sky with his rifts, and the ability to play solos that can do such things as melt enemies faces off. Eddie travels the world mostly in a hot rod called the “Deuce”. Throughout the game Eddie will discover many different secrets buried throughout the world that teach him new solos to take into battle, add new music to the game’s play list and earn fire tributes which represent the game’s currency. Fire tributes can be used to buy new skills and equipment at the Motor Forges which are hidden throughout the world. Perhaps one of the most pleasing elements of the game for us was the discovery of hidden secrets and exploring the open game world in search of these secrets.

As Eddie continues his quest and starts to build an army, players will be introduced to the RTS elements of the game. During major story sequences the player’s army sets up a “stage” and must harvest fans (resources) from gushing geysers in order to build more troops... The objective is to take out the opponents stage. Somewhat similar to older titles such as the PC Battlezone series, Brutal Legend attempts to meld third person action with RTS elements. Unlike traditional RTSs the player take a personal hack and slash role in each battle only stopping every so often to issue the occasional build order. It’s a unique take on the genre, although we’re not so sure it all comes together as well as we would have liked.

While the game world is open and filled with many secondary objective missions, the main story plotline and mission sequence is linear. This is not necessarily a bad thing as Tim Schafer has crafted a truly legendary story, one that will pull most players in and keep them engaged right until the very end of the tale. The game story is very compelling, containing humour that is genuinely funny, yet still keeping a managing to keep a serious note regarding the gravity of the characters situation. You wouldn’t expect it to work yet somehow it does and does so very well.

Graphics:

The game has a very distinct feel to it, the game characters are quasi 'cartoony' in a Toy Story kind of way. Despite this there is plenty of gore (with the option to turn it off) for those that enjoy lots of blood when chopping down enemies, and the game’s framerate seems to hold pretty solid even when there is a lot happening on the screen. Despite some issues with pop in, overall we were pretty impressed with what Double Fine accomplished.

In truth where the game really shines is the overall art direction the game has taken. As the player follows the main storyline he or she will see some truly incredible sights, things that no game before it has ever even come close to accomplishing in an artistic sense. The team at Double Fine have created not only a believable fantasy world but one that is breathtakingly beautiful in terms of design. There were many times when we would pull our Deuce over on a hill and just pan the camera around oohing and ahhing at the landscape below. The set pieces are absolutely incredible and it’s obvious that painstaking efforts were put into making this world feel real. There was a real sense of being in a fantastical movie created specifically for the player, and not 5 minutes would go by where we weren’t having our jaws drop at another absolutely incredible scene in front of us.

Sound:

The game features an enormous track list featuring dozens upon dozens of legendary heavy metal bands from the 70s onward. Anyone who is a heavy metal fan will be in ecstasy and even those who are not will be able to appreciate the amount of sheer talent that has gone into the track list. The track list even becomes a part of the game as Buried Metal Titan blessed caches hidden throughout the land add more songs to an already massive track list. Perhaps even more importantly the music serves to create atmosphere, as certain songs will automatically queue up during various key gameplay sequences. The music fits perfectly with the art direction of the game and really adds to the overall flavour of the title.

Longevity:

The main campaign took us 10 hours to complete and that was without doing many of the secondary mission objectives scattered throughout the map. Our total completion time sat at 58 percent meaning there were many secrets left out there for us to discover. Thankfully upon completion of the campaign players can go “wrap a few things up” as Eddie puts it, allowing completionists to shoot for 100 percent.

In reality the single player campaign serves as a massive entertaining tutorial for multiplayer. In multiplayer gamers can take on the role of any one of the three factions in the game, Ironheade, Drowning Doom and Tainted Coil. All three factions are completely different from each other while being very well balanced. Unfortunately most players will only be familiar with Ironheade as the single player campaign walks players through this faction. While there is no tutorial for the other two factions the game is designed to be fairly pick up and play. We expect fans of the game will learn the other two factions fairly quickly.

The online component of the game features 7 maps and allows for up to 8 players in one match. While multiplayer seems fairly robust only time will tell if the game gathers a large enough online community to keep it sustainable.

Truth be told however, we would recommend Brutal Legend even if there was NO multiplayer. The single player campaign although short, is quality every single step of the way.

Overall:

As a reviewer it’s easy to get a feeling of having been there and done that when playing the supposedly newest title. So many games nowadays look the same and provide very little in the way of new experiences. Brutal Legend therefore was a complete treat to us, allowing us the opportunity to experience an entirely new world, envisioned in a way that only our 13 year old selves could ever have dared to imagine. The art in this game WILL take your breath away, from the majestic set pieces all the way down to the wondrous landscapes. Combined with some absolutely amazing storytelling and Brutal Legend is an interactive fantasy storybook come to life.

While online multiplayer will very likely be a love it or hate it affair for many, the single player campaign is a unique gaming experience that no player should dare to miss.