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Brutal Legend Review for Xbox 360

Brutal Legend Review for Xbox 360

Not Quite Legendary

Brutal Legend has a lot of heart and soul – unfortunately, the hybrid gameplay and lack of main-line content simply doesn’t match the hype. Still, the setting, character design, music, and voice talent are strong enough that most gamers who pick up the title will enjoy their time with it. In other words, don’t expect Brutal Legend to rock your socks off, but it’s definitely worth a play-through.

Brutal Legend screenshot

I’m the youngest of five, born in 1978. As such, I was weaned on Black Sabbath, AC/DC, and Motorhead – heck, we even listened to a terrible Asian metal band called Loudness (I’ve still got Thunder in the East). Wanting to emulate the coolness, I spent hours laying in my brother Andrew’s bed thumbing through his rather impressive vinyl collection. My favorite album – in terms of cover art – was definitely Dio’s Holy Diver. That LP had a satanically delicious image of the Dark Lord himself strangling a priest in a stormy sea with a chain whip. I became even more entranced when my brother let me in on the secret that the font used to write Dio actually spelled out Devil if you looked closely enough.

Beyond the overtly dark nature of the genre, the heavy metal fantasy depicted in the album cover art was a completely outrageous mélange where anything was possible. Listening to the technically superior riffs and brooding melodies whilst reading through the liner notes sent me into wonderful, youthful daydreams – transporting me to a world where shiny, chrome dogs bayed at a blood-soaked moon and where muscled, axe-wielding warriors made the listeners of disco pay for their lame ways with their very souls. This same story is echoed by innumerable others of my generation.

It is from the nostalgia of such daydreams that Tim Schafer and Double Fine forged Brutal Legend. Setting out to create an over-the-top game world fueled by the awesome that is classic metal – before being tainted by hair-bands and synthesizers – the development team succeeded in realizing their vision. The setting in Brutal Legend, without a doubt, is the most satisfying portion of the title. From the amazing character design that liberally slathers on the chains, leather, spikes, and S&M to the shiny, metal-infused vehicles and environments, Brutal Legend looks like it was pulled directly from my childhood meanderings. As such, the imaginative visual presentation resonated with me.

Brutal Legend screenshot

However, while overall the game world looks great, it is mostly due to the wacky creativity – the game could have been a bit sharper as far as technical execution is concerned. You’ll often see framerate hiccups and sluggish cutscene transitions. In fact, the entire presentation is held back by a fuzzy filter; I even have a friend who played the game say that Brutal Legend looked like a Wii offering. While I wouldn’t go that far, the use of hyperbole is not surprising because the game simply doesn’t hold up graphically when compared to other next-gen action titles. Technical issues aside, Brutal Legend still hits a homerun in terms of visual presentation by virtue of its intelligent, creative interpretation.

Moreover, presentation is bolstered by the utterly impressive sound featured in the game. The metal tracks on offer are not only awesome, they are incredibly varied and perfectly introduced to enhance gameplay. If you love metal, are remotely interested in metal, or even if you have no idea about metal, you’ll be very satisfied with the tunes on offer. Even if you loathe metal, you won’t be able to deny the sheer quality of the soundtrack. From Ozzy and Megadeth to Skeletonwitch and Ostrogoth, there’s something for everyone (though I’m not sure how Def Leppard’s Rock of Ages made it in). Furthermore, the talent-infested voice work found throughout the game will have you giggling and engaged the whole way through. The only aural downside is that catchphrases become annoying due to lots of repetition.

Brutal Legend screenshot

As you can probably tell, I loved the world of Brutal Legend. I found it quite engaging, which kept me playing long past the time when gameplay left me flat. That’s right; the hybrid gameplay of Brutal Legend is not particularly interesting. Playing as legendary roadie Eddie Riggs, players have to free humanity in an alternate metal-reality. The narrative, while humorous, isn’t particularly tight; in fact, it gets quite predictable as you get deeper in.

Brutal Legend screenshot

Still, it’s the repetitive, uninspired gameplay mechanics rather than the story that do the game wrong. Switching between overly simplistic action, arcade racing, Guitar Hero/alternative QTE inputs, and RTS controls gets old fast. Sure, learning a few combos and adding special Solos to your arsenal is initially enjoyable, but it all loses its luster quickly, turning into little more the a frantic button-mash at the best of times and lifeless micromanaging at its worst. Even the boss battles, which feature truly cool beasties, are no match for any seasoned gamer.

What’s worse, those who end up enjoying the unsophisticated controls and repetitive hybrid gameplay will be loathe to find out that the mainline story can be finished in under six hours. Yes, there are a lot of side quests and even an RTS-based multiplayer component (gather fans, build units, attack enemy stages) as well as a ton of unlockables to keep you coming back. However, moving through the main quest is always the biggest draw for me, and there simply isn’t enough content in Brutal Legend for players who like to merely play the game from start to finish without paying too much attention to the other, more or less superfluous, extra content.

Brutal Legend didn’t live up to my expectations. While I absolutely loved the immersive world, despite the graphical shortcomings, and the amazing voice work and soundtrack, despite the inclusion of Whitesnake and Skid Row, I was left miffed by the lack of main story content and the uninspired gameplay. When all is said and done, Brutal Legend is not nearly as epic as it could have been, yet there is still enough enjoyment to be found in a number of aspects that you’ll likely get your money’s worth.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.8 Graphics
The character design and immersive world is awesome. Unfortunately, this not a particularly sharp game technically. 3.0 Control
The game is easy enough for anyone to master in a matter of moments. However, there isn’t depth to challenge core gamers. 4.8 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The soundtrack and voice work is off the charts! Repetition of catchphrases does its worst to hamper the sound. 3.3 Play Value
The main story is far too short, and the extras in terms of side quests, multiplayer, and unlockables still seems insufficient. Worst of all, the hybrid gameplay eventually falls flat. 3.7 Overall Rating – Good
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • 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.
  • Streaming open world! Brütal Legend gives you the freedom to walk, drive, or fly anywhere in a fullystreaming 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.
  • Heavy metal will never die! 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.
  • Kill ’em All! 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 Xbox LIVE or PlayStation Network.

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