Brütal Legend is an action-adventure that marries visceral action combat with open-world freedom. Set in a universe somewhere between Lord of the Rings and Spinal Tap, it’s a fresh take on the action/driving genre, which in this case is full of imitation cover bands, demons intent on enslaving humanity and Heavy metal tunes. Featuring the talents of comedian, actor and musician, Jack Black as super roadie Eddie Riggs, as well as cameos by some of the biggest names in metal music it's a wild ride in the belly of the beast that is not to be missed by gamers and Metalheads alike. 
Classic action slasher gameplay with a comic twist.
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Unleashable Heavy metal powers.
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Over-the-top vehicular combat.
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8-player multiplayer support.
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Challenging bosses & baddies.
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A driving 108-tune Metal soundtrack.
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The vivid and wildly creative world of Brütal Legend is brought to life through a spate of chrome, leather, rocker babes, epic music, fire-breathing/stud-wearing beasts, mountains made of guitar amps, and more. Follow Eddie as he embarks on a tour of epic destruction with an axe, a guitar, and his minions as he commands the power of rock in epic band battles. It’s lighter-flicking awesomeness that will melt your face clean off. Action Combat
Brütal Legend’s core gameplay is classic action slasher, but with a twist: ranged combat comes from your demon-slaying, electricity-creating guitar. Add that 1-2 punch to a guitar solo mechanic that can summon objects, buff your teammates, or cripple your opponents, and you have a deep, gratifying core gameplay combat loop that is fun for the hardcore and accessible for the casual. A Streaming Open World
Brütal Legend gives you the freedom to walk, drive, or fly anywhere in a fully streaming open world whose art style is inspired by some of the most iconic and hilariously rad metal album covers ever created. Every vista in the beautiful universe of Brütal Legend looks like it was pulled from a Frank Frazetta painting. Packed with Cameos and Voice Talent
Brütal Legend is full of cameos from gods of Metal like Lemmy Kilmister, Rob Halford, Lita Ford, and many, many others. It has a MASSIVE metal soundtrack from every era of metal music: 1970’s classic metal to 1980’s hair metal to the scarier cousins of 1990’s metal. And of course, Jack Black pays the ultimate homage to metal as Eddie the Roadie, continuing the theme from the work of his band, Tenacious D and his previous films like School of Rock and High Fidelity. Multiplayer Mayhem
4v4 “skirmish” multiplayer marries action combat with a strategic unit-control mechanic. As the leader of one of the factions in the game, the player will direct his armies in a Battle of the Bands where the trophy is survival. Brütal Legend’s multiplayer is online-enabled, so you can conquer your friends online via PlayStation Network (broadband connection required for online play). Soundtrack
The soundtrack of Brütal Legend is truly massive. Made up of 108 of the most rocking tracks from 75 different bands representing every sub-genre of metal, it is something to experience in and of itself. The complete track list includes: | |
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 For fans of Heavy Metal there is no better! |
| Review Date: November 5, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Frederick M. Krueger, |
To best describe this game, you have to imagine a time before the internet and when MTV and radio played no metal music at all. I would bring my allowance to a Camelot records shop every Friday and look at the covers of tapes in the metal section then buy the one looked the coolest. Ah metal in the eighties... takes me back to when coping a tape from a friend or a Metal Edge magazine was the only way to discover new bands.
This game is like taking a romp through my favorite metal covers come to life. A world of grossly distorted large engines and god like effigies all in the name of metal.
The game play itself is a miss mash of modes that mostly feels like Grand Theft Awesome. You drive around a large sandbox environment doing things like helping to ambush enemies, save friends in trouble, doing special jumps in you car, hacking up enemies with your axe etc... The main thing that separates this game is a real time strategy mode that is involved with all of the games major plot points. You become the on battlefield general for you army of headbangers. This means that you are hacking enemies and commanding troops at the same time. This is a little tough to get used to at first, but none of these parts kept me from progress for more than 2 to 3 tries on the hardest difficulty.
With a sound track of over 100 great songs and Ozzy, Lita Ford, Lemmy, and Rob Halford doing voice over, Brutal Legend is a unashamed tribute and celebration of all things metal.
If you like metal you'll love it. |
Brütal Legend: Not Perfect, But Beautifully Crafted & Fun
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| Review Date: November 3, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Nick Wagner, Maryland |
"Oh man...I hope I haven't been slaying hot chicks this whole time!"
Damn you Tim Schafer. You've been gifted with the ability to turn the most outlandishly wacky ideas (and not to mention potentially unmarketable) into some of the most funny and original games ever created. This makes you a godsend since most games these days are neither original nor funny (even when they try their hardest - I'm looking at you Halo and Grand Theft Auto clones). While I speak from a lesser-exposed point of view (I haven't yet had the pleasure of playing The Secret Of Monkey Island or Grim Fandango), I have played Full Throttle, Day of the Tentacle, and Psychonauts and I know a special game when I see it. While Full Throttle and Day of the Tentacle were fun, Psychonauts is Schafer's first grand work, and one of the best games of the sixth generation. Psychonauts was full of all kinds of wacky characters, über-creative levels, subtle dark humor, innovative gameplay mechanics, responsive controls, and mature themes under all those bright colors (the Memory Reels are quite tragic and sad, mirroring the losses and hardships we've all faced). I consider Psychonauts to be one of the finest games ever made, and I guarantee that no matter what type of gamer you are, there's something for you in Psychonauts. And y'know what? This was Schafer's first game to be released on a console. Talk about starting with a bang! But with the video game market shunning innovation and constantly reproducing the same drivel over and over (I can't wait for another futuristic first person shooter that blatantly rips off Halo or Madden: The Same Game As Last Year), would Schafer be able to continue his tradition of creating something original in a sea of unoriginality?
Thankfully yes! Enter Brütal Legend, a game about heavy metal, made by a metalhead, for metalheads. While this will most likely turn off some people, it is insanely fun for me and will be for anyone who gets the slightest enjoyment out of listening to heavy metal. Pretty much everything about the game is great, save for a few minor things. The level design, characters, controls, gameplay, and especially, the soundtrack are all top-notch.
On the surface, the game is a basic hack-n-slash with free roam that turns onto a real time strategy (RTS) game at certain points. The hack-n-slash part is fun; you have an upgradeable battle axe and guitar that serve as your weapons, as well as a customizable hot rod, dubbed "The Deuce", armed with weapons and nitro. You can also perform solos with the guitar, similar to playing the the ocarina in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. They range from summoning The Deuce, playing a literally face-melting solo against enemies, and my personal favorite, calling in an air strike from a giant Zeppelin. While I don't care for RTS's, with the exception of Command & Conquer, it works here and is integrated nicely in the heavy metal universe. Instead of using gold or harvesting some other resource for funds to buy and build units, your "currency" is fans. You construct "merch booths" that spawn fans, which allows you to create new units for your army. The more merch booths you construct, the more fans you're allowed. Your home base is a stage which you must protect. You have all the usual units, but with a wonderful heavy metal spin: infantry are headbangers, ranged weapons are groupies with guns, tanks are skull covered ballistas, stealth guys are roadies carrying speakers, etc. The imagination and design of these things is amazing and heartfelt, showing Schafer and the design team really have a love for the source material. That being said, the RTS element is my least favorite part of the game. While the victory is indeed "brütal" when you win, the controls are a bit lacking in this regard. Issuing attack/defend commands can be a pain, and controlling an individual unit is nearly impossible. The cool part is that you can jump right into the battle and start dealing out death personally along side your troops.
The strategy element isn't really there, but that's OK for me. My "strategy" was to spawn as many units as possible, while upgrading my stage to produce more powerful units, and go gung-ho and destroy everything. This worked well until I realized you could spawn The Deuce and use it IN battle. This made things ridiculously fun and much easier since I upgraded it to maximum kickass-ness with missile launchers, flame jets, and one heck of a battering ram. I was shooting the bad guys, setting them on fire and running them over while simultaneously spawning more and more troops to help me kick butt.
The other missions are standard (and a tad repetitive) as far as most games go: recruit these people for your army, escort your caravan to the next area, stage battle, repeat. This isn't really a complaint because the repeated missions are always done in new and beautifully designed areas, so it still manages to stay somewhat fresh. There are side missions to earn you "fire tributes", which serve as the game's currency and let you upgrade your inventory. The game also has tons of things to unlock, collect and discover. I get an immense satisfaction from collecting stuff, so this made the game even more fun for me. Brütal Legend has upgrades, concept art, new solos, and new songs you can unlock by finding certain things. You can also free "bound serpents" to give you health and armor upgrades and find legends that tell the history of the metal land. And the game looks absolutely stunning. The entire game world is designed in the style of heavy metal album covers, conveying epicness in every sense of the word. Google Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo to get a sense of the game's style.
The soundtrack is the best part of the game. A good deal of my time was just spent driving around listening to The Deuce's radio, dubbed "The Mouth Of Metal". All different genres of metal are present here in the game's 108 songs, including the originators of heavy metal Black Sabbath, the thrash metal of Motörhead and Megadeth, the 80's hair/glam metal of Mötley Crüe, the modern power metal of DragonForce, and tons of tracks by lesser known but utterly awesome artists (Brocas Helm, Omen, Riot, etc.) that perfectly compliment the game. I think this is why I found the game to be so damn good compared to other reviewers because I truly love music, especially heavy metal, and because of this I was able to have more fun with the game than the average "radio listener". The original score by Tim Schafer's long time collaborator Peter McConnell is also superbly done.
And mark my words: Brütal Legend will suffer "Psychonauts Syndrome", receiving a decent critical reception but not becoming highly regarded until later.
So the bottom line? Brütal Legend rocks! While it's not without its flaws, it is lovingly crafted by true fans of metal and will be much more enjoyable to those that like metal. It may turn off the casual, but I say definitely check this one out.
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Perfect for me but on the short side all the same
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| Review Date: November 7, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Benjamin S. Sprague, North Carolina |
Brutal Legend is a great game. So great in fact it's only down fall is it concludes very fast. The saying goes "Time flies when you're having fun" and no quote could be more genuine when summing up Brutal Legend.
To be honest I was excited about this game until I found out that in addition to the action oriented hack n slash game play it was also a real time strategy game. RTS has never been a genre that appealed to me. I'm more about being a loner or in a small group as opposed to dictating the actions of up to 50 or so troops with different strengths and weaknesses. Yet somehow Double Fine had me addicted to the RTS "battle of the bands" set up as well as the driving escort missions, gunning death rack tower segments, and even helping my head banger bros score beer and babes. Getting a gamer to be captivated by genres he normally dislikes is no easy feat. As a matter fact to date I'd say Brutal legend is the only title that had me enjoy types of game play I'd normally be insanely frustrated by.
While Brutal Legend is influenced by Heavy Metal I don't necessarily think you have to love that genre of music to be enthralled by what is offered. It tells a decent fantasy tale with its' own unique mythology. Despite the fact Brutal Legend throws Grand theft auto, God of war, Zelda Ocarina of time, and Over lord into a blender it retains being original and non confusing.
Starting off Eddie Riggs is a likable hero. When I saw the first Brutal Legend trailer I thought maybe Eddie would end up being like Kratos aka a dumb enraged testosterone jock covered in leather and spikes. Instead Eddie cares about others, refuses to be a glory hog, and is more akin to that lovable best friend you knew in high school whom despite looking "scary" was very charismatic, generous, and optimistic.
However Eddie does not start out our tale as a happy camper. Pretty much the game drops us into a scene where Eddie's talents as a roadie are being exploited by a tween pop band trying to pass themselves off as the new equivalent of heavy metal. Eddie's awesome stage is referred to as "ironic in a retro sort of way" and one of the rockers gleefully enjoys breaking guitars just so Eddie has to fix them. In a humorous kind of way the scene reminded me of Cinderella only Eddie is a guy and instead of having 3 wicked step sisters he has to contend with three jerk wad step brothers. Most of us would understand if Eddie cussed out the manager and quit on the spot but instead he selflessly saves one of the band members from plummeting to his death. Eddie's heroism is ironically rewarded by having a stage prop fall atop his burly frame. Riggs' martyred blood mingles with his magic belt buckle summoning an angry yet noble monster of yore. With a mighty roar Omigodan the fire beast slays the blasphemers stopping their terrible music than it whisks Eddie away to an enchanted dark fantasy world influenced by the awesomeness that is "True Metal".
Yes, I realize this sounds cheesy. We can draw parallels to it being similar to Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonder Land. However the rock n roll death metal studded presentation of the tired "Stranger in a strange land" plot device works perfectly.
Upon arriving in an alternative lifestyles version Never Ever Land Eddie slays a bunch of blood thirsty occultists with an axe he finds then meets a sweet yet fierce young woman named Ophelia. She tells Eddie the robed weirdos he decapitated are the servants of the demon emperor Deviculous and that there is a human resistance trying to over throw their evil master. Equipped with his battle axe and electric guitar that can raise relics of ancient power or melt faces Eddie constructs a hot-rod on the spot, riding off into the sun set with the mysterious yet hot Goth girl to save mankind.
You will proceed to interact with the lovable yet eccentric guardian of Metal Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy the hellacious biker healer, Lita the spirited Amazon, and Lars the golden haired hero who fast becomes your new best friend. If these famous real life cameos were just thrown in to sell a bad product I would have felt cheated. As it stands they are woven in seamlessly with the world they are apart of. Every person in the game has good motivations for being the way they are and they seem more concerned with contributing to a good yarn than with out-staging each other.
Brutal Legend has a sand box world. In truth you can blow through the story line as fast as a guitarist riding the lightning but if you go that route you are going to miss out on a lot of land marks, extra missions, hidden music tracks to play while driving around in your Druid Plow, world folklore, and secret guitar riffs which grant Eddie arcane war-spell techniques whilst battling making victories come much easier. Unearthing these mementos of the forgotten age likewise increases "fire tributes" which you use to upgrade your hot rod and fighting combos within Ozzy's motor lodges.
The thing I really hope developers learn from Brutal Legend is its' perfect balance of campy humor and emotionally driven sincerity. While it can be stated Tim Schaefer's newest offering doesn't take itself too seriously it also doesn't undermine itself with an over abundance of bad ham and moldy cheese. Jack Black whom voiced Eddie walks the delicate line between satire and tragedy with perfect harmony. I honestly have more respect for him now. I'm hoping future movie producers see Jack's true potential and stop giving him roles that undermine his hidden talent.
By this point I've explained enough. I cannot say anymore without edging dangerously close to spoiler territory. This game is one that has to be experienced instead of merely read about. Words alone fail to express the creativity, awe, and mirth packed into this sour yet sweet nostalgic road trip through Heavy Metal heaven!
Pros
+Breath taking twisted yet beautiful world to traverse.
+ Good blend of RTS, driving, exploration, fun mini games, and visceral combat.
+ Acting and sound track are the best in the business.
+ A tale that is not too grim yet not ridiculously silly either.
+ Fun multi-player RTS battles over Xbox live
+ The enemy types are scary yet outrageously hilarious at the same time. Every creature encountered is some sort of parody or tribute to the various kinds of heavy metal music.
Cons
-Game is a bit short but to its' credit the ending brought a smile to my face. (Unlike Fable 2. Cough.)
-The upcoming down-loadable content is "meh" if you are more intrigued by the single player story line than you are the RTS aspects.
-Tim Schafer is not renowned for making sequels. For those like myself who want a sequel we may have to bite off a bit of bad tasting disappointment.
-Side missions get repetitive and there are only around 4 types of them. For what its' worth these mini quests extend the game and they're fun for what they are.
-Though I took to the mish mash of game styles some may be more puzzled than pleasantly surprised by BL's patchwork Frankenstein of genres.
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Brutal Legend Rocks! (pun intended)
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| Review Date: November 11, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Anthony, North Carolina, United States |
| Tim Schafer has done it again. This game combines music and video games in a way that is not just a copy of rockband, and it succeeds marvelously. The storyline is compelling, and the challenges aren't too hard or too easy. It keeps your attention, and once you finish the game you'll be wishing for more. |
Gets better the more you play
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| Review Date: February 18, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Frederick R. Hickey, Reading, PA |
I am in love with this game now. I bought it around Christmas time and finished it in normal difficulty mode pretty quickly without really understanding what I was doing. After taking a few weeks off, I had a hunch I was missing something so I restarted in brutal mode. This forced me to learn how to really play and I can't believe how much stuff I missed the first time around. I'm learning knew things every day and I'm totally addicted. Once I finish in brutal mode, I'm going to start the online multiplayer play. I've heard that's good but I wanted to make sure I really know how to play first. I'm thinking that I will be playing this game for a long time and although I've played both Drakes fortune one and two, I've already spent more enjoyable time with this game than both Drake's Fortune games combined.
My main point is that this game seems to get better all the time. I wasn't that impressed at first because there is a lot to learn making the game seem somewhat confusing and random, but now it is all making sense and it is super fun to play. I can't imagine there being a better game available on the market right now. |
Great fun with great music
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| Review Date: October 19, 2009 |
| Reviewer: CleoCat, Lynchburg, VA |
My husband and I are both metal heads. We were in high school back when the metal gods like Ozzy and Judas Priest and Motorhead ruled. We both talk about how glam rock destroyed metal and made it commercial. Well this game basically tells that same tale in another world. The story line is hysterical and the game play itself is really fun. While I think anyone would enjoy this game I think true metal or even ex-metal heads will appreciate the underlying message. It's also funny how the hairbangers all bare a resemblance to Brett Micheals of Poison. TOO funny!!!
The sound track is excellent and the multiplayer experience is quite challenging.
Those of us in our late 30's finally have a game that speaks to us!! |
Great fun
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| Review Date: October 28, 2009 |
| Reviewer: M. Scaletta, IL, USA |
Pros:
- Story is interesting and engrossing. Not always sensical, but it's a good kind of bizarre.
- Characters are very likable. Even the minor characters have had lots of effort put into them.
- Design is beautiful. Every visual aspect is extremely well-done.
- METAL! Even people who aren't fond of the genre will get into it in the spirit of this game.
- Varied gameplay. Part exploration, part third-person adventure, part RTS. It keeps things constantly fresh.
Cons:
- No fast travel. While it's great riding around in your roadster listening to metal, it gets frustrating if you're trying to go from one end of the world to the other.
Overall, I found this a great game, which isn't entirely unexpected from Double Fine. |
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