There are many games out there for many different kinds of people. You've got Final Fantasy for your emo kids, Halo for your adrenaline fuelled ADD kids, and Doki Doki Majo Shinpan for your middle aged Japanese train molester kids. One demographic that remains largely untapped, however, are your metal head kids. Oh sure, games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band might feature heavy metal, but there have been no games that really embrace metal culture. Until now that is. Brütal Legend is a game that can best be described as heavy metal incarnate. If you are a metal head, you don't need to read this review. You need to go, like, right now (yes, even if you're reading this in BOB) and buy this game, because it was made for you. If you're not a metal head, well, keep on reading.
Brütal Legend comes to us from Tim Schafer, whose previous games include classics like Psychonauts, Grim Fandango, and Full Throttle. All of these games were excellent, but the best part of them by far is the phenomenal storytelling and hilarious writing. Brütal Legend continues this tradition of narrative excellence by telling us the story of Eddy Riggs (played by Jack Black), the world's greatest roadie. Riggs spends his days serving the world's worst Nu-Metal band, Kabbage Boy until a stage accident spills blood into his magical belt buckle and transports him back in time to the age of metal. Eddie awakens in this strange land to find himself beset by a group of evil druids wielding rather large daggers. Luckily, he finds a massive axe, the Separator, with which to defend himself, and he's brought back an axe of his own: his guitar, Clementine, which turns out to be an even stronger weapon. The world amplifies the power of rock, meaning that his guitar can now call down lighting, make things explode, and shake the earth with power chords.
Using these weapons and a simple brawler combat engine, Eddie fends off a group of demonic druids and nuns and fights his way down a mountain of bones. At the bottom he encounters Ophelia, one of the last members of the human resistance, who informs him that he is in the temple of Ormagöden, the fire beast, and that he has just killed the personal guard of Doviculous, the emperor of the demonic tainted coil. The clock is ticking and an army of demons is on the way, but fortunately for our heroes the temple is the resting place of not only the Separator, but of an ancient hot rod, the Deuce, left behind by the metal gods. Eddie uses his guitar to play a solo (which works as a spell in the age of metal) to raise the buried relic from the ground, and then makes his escape along with Ophelia, who directs him to Bladehenge, which is the resistance headquarters.
From this point on the world opens up for you to explore. After you find your first motor forge and meet the Guardian of Metal (played by Ozzy Osbourne) you'll get the mouth of metal, essentially a car stereo, and you'll be able to drive around taking in the scenery and listening to metal. The world of Brütal Legend is inspired by the cover art from the best heavy metal albums, and each landmark in the game, such as the aforementioned Bladehenge, would not look out of place on the cover of an Iron Maiden record. Trees have spears for trunks, car parts grow from the ground, and the remnants of an ancient race of titans litter the landscape. The creatures are equally epic, ranging from chrome spiders, who spin bass strings as webs, to panthers that shoot lasers from their eyes. The world is so gorgeous that it's possible to lose yourself for hours just exploring it, looking for collectibles. Unfortunately, the game doesn't tell you how to activate these unlockables and it can take a while to figure out that you're supposed to light them on fire or cause an earthquake near them in order to access them. It's also kind of annoying that the most powerful, sometimes vital solos in the game are not unlocked in the main story and instead must be found through exploration, but now I'm just nitpicking.
Eventually, you'll want to get back to the main quest, which slowly instructs you in the ways of the game's most unique gameplay mechanic: the RTS (real-time strategy) style “Stage Battles.” Throughout the game you amass an army of headbangers, razor girls, and roadies, and team up with factions lead by the likes of Lemmy Kilmeister and Lita Ford, in order to do battle with the most evil forces in the universe: Hair Metal and Doom Metal. The hair metal faction, lead by general Lionwhyte (played by Rob Halford), is a copypasted version of your own army, glammed up with glitter and highlights. The Drowning Doom, the doom metal faction, is populated by zombified emo kids, and its units focus on debuffing your units by making them depressed. Finally, the Tainted Coil are a group of ugly demons whose units are a disturbing mixture of religious symbolism and bondage.
The goal of each stage battle is to gather fans, who finance your gig by buying merchandise from you, in order to get your best units on the field. After doing that, you strike at the enemy forces and destroy their stage. It's a rather silly premise, but it works well and helps Brütal Legend stand out from other RTS games. While most of the RTS elements are taken straight series like Command and Conquer, the game offers one refreshingly unique aspect: you can go into battle and help fight the enemies head on. It's pretty satisfying to be able to drop down into the middle of a huge battle and wipe out all the enemy troops with a single facemelter solo (which does exactly what it sounds like it does). Overall, the battles work well, and the various factions are different enough to give the online mode (which is based on the stage battles) some decent variety.
Of course, a game about heavy metal would be nothing without a good soundtrack, and in that regard Brütal Legend delivers like no game before it. There are 107 songs in the game from 75 different artists, and all of them are awesome. Highlights include songs by Motorhead, Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne, Tenacious D, and Def Leppard. Also worth mentioning is the song “Girlfriend” by Kabbage Boy, which is a hilarious parody of the Nu-Metal genre. Overall the soundtrack is one of the best in gaming, although if you don't like heavy metal you will obviously be out of luck.
Even if you're not a fan of metal, Brütal Legend still has a lot to offer. It's got a good story, unique gameplay, and really beautiful graphics. If you are a fan of heavy metal, WHY AREN'T YOU PLAYING IT RIGHT NOW?
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