Ah, to be a young ‘un again. Headbangers ball was good, showing Danzig, Sepultura and ‘Tallica, makes me a little moist remembering that. Yes I was a metal kid and at heart, I still am. So when a game all about metal comes along, it is time to rejoice. Unfortunately, timing was not on it’s side and it got list a little in the pre Christmas shuffle. So post Christmas it’s time to right these wrongs.
Unfortunately, people recognize this as “that game with Jack Black in”, well yeah, it is. So let’s tackle that first. With confidence, one could say that he is not the most serious actor, with this in mind, you kind if expect to be pissed off with him within 3 minutes of gameplay. Well, either he reigned himself in or through very good script writing, he does not bounce around the screen at a hundred miles an hour and make your ears bleed. I’ll give credit, where it’s due, he has done a very good job of being Eddie Riggs, the protagonist that wants yo help people but remain out of the spot light. The voice acting is really top notch, with not so cameos of Lemmy, Ozzy and Rob Halford among others. Most almost play themselves, but this is a game about metal, it would be insane for them not too. As well as having good vocal talent, the music on offer was most definitely well thought out. Taking classics from across the years to produce a platter of great tunes. Highlights include Budgie’s Breadfan and Savatage’s Hall of the Mountain King.
The art style drips in liquid metal, you can really tell that the art team have a passion for classic rock design, just by looking at the menu screen (which is one of the best I have ever seen) you know its going to be special. Everything from the character models to the landscape has its origin from some form of heavy metal paraphernalia, which just makes this world so involving. The character models are on the characterture side, really allowing for some great metal stereotypes to be used, with the voice acting, really making the characters (in this setting) believable.
So, the game sounds great, looks cool, but what does it play like? For the most part you are set in a free roaming open world, with story based missions to complete as well as several types of side quest. Transport is provided by the Deuce, a very metal custom hot rod, with an even heavier radio play list. The handling on the Deuce is pretty good, very important as some games have gotten very wrong in the past. The combat mechanic is your standard hack ‘n slash affair, using your axe (a battle axe for melee) and your other axe (flying v guitar for ranged magic attacks) to dispatch foes. The while the combo system is not very deep, it does allow for some nice moves to be pulled off. You can also use your guitar to do solos, which have a variety of effects such as summoning you car to melting the face of surrounding enemies.
Side quest mostly involve killing a bunch of people in an area, racing, killing X amount of Y or spotting for a mortar. Although there are a few unique side missions such as stop the Bassists from hitting on the girls, which are rather comical. Main missions start off by you amassing an army, then the second half of the game is more about going on tour. This is where the gameplay changes, you are positioned at one end of an arena with the enemy at the other. This is where the real time strategy element comes into the game, you have to take points to gain fans, which can then be spent on improving your stage (base) for higher tech and recruiting troops. However, you still control Eddie as per the rest of the game and retaining control can become problematic, especially when you want make your troops work as different squads. This is the only part of the game where the controls let the game down, it becomes a fumble to manage resources, attack and control Eddie all in one go. In the end, most battles I overcome by just taking a few points as quickly as possible and then rushing the other stage, not the most tactical solution ever formulated. Unfortunately these battles make up the mulitiplay aspect of the game, which in my opinion the game could have done without, as it really is not needed at all.
Self improvement comes in a few forms in Brutal Legend, first off you can purchase upgrades for either of your axes as well as customize your ride. Secondly you find monuments around the landscape that will give you extra bonuses. These come in the form of unlocking new songs to listen to, extra guitar solos and freeing 10 serpents (there are 120 total) you gain different upgrades to health amongst other things. The game clocks in around 10-12 hours plus depending on how much you explore and look for the little extra dotted about the landscape to upgrade Eddie. For an open world game, this does seem rather short, but in this case, it is long enough to be worth your money spent without overstaying its welcome.
If you like your metal, then there is a very enjoyable game here to be played, the RTS element is a knock to the game, but it does still fit within the context of the game, but for the price it is retailing it (around £20-£25 new) you can easily ignore that fault as they are not too frequent as to ruin the game. However, if you can not stand heavy guitars and screaming, this is not for you, so due to it’s limited appeal, its only right that I give this…
3.5 out of 5
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