Don’t be fooled by the videos. It’s easy to dismiss Electronic Arts’ Brutal Legend as a Heavy-metal inspired God of War clone. With every video showcasing Jack Black’s Eddie ‘Roadie’ Riggs as a hard-rocking “Kratos” style demon-slayer, we’d say that’s probably a fair conclusion. Even if the bulk of your exposure was based on the charming-but-brief run through of the Xbox or PlayStation demo, it’s a safe bet that you’re putting your money towards a solid, albeit devilishly-inspired, music-loving action game.
This, of course, is what the master tacticians of EA marketing want you to think.
What happens when a free-roaming adventure jumps genres and goes from God of War pummeling to Command and Conquer strategy? If those descriptions are all over the map, that’s actually Brutal Legend in a nutshell. Does Legend’s hybrid mash-up of free-roaming adventure meets driving, meets strategy, equal the sum of its parts? Or, is Brutal Legend all metal angst and hilarious – but squandered – potential?
The Props:
Brutal Legend’s strongest suit is the heavy hand of gaming’s wittiest writer, Tim Schafer. From the evocative character designs to the high-energy score, you don’t have to be a fan of rock or even a long-time fan of video gaming to see that the developers at Double Fine put such an outstanding effort into the presentation, that you’ll probably enjoy experiencing the game no matter how it plays. It’s a gorgeous world that might not be the most technically impressive if, say, Gears of War 2 or Uncharted is your benchmark. Artistically however, Brutal Legend is possibly one of the most visually imaginative games of this generation. I get giddy simply going into the world to look around, and in an age where every game fumbles over the other to topple the last game graphically, Brutal Legend’s artistry has staying power.
Musically, it’s a sonic boom in ode to the heavy metal action noise of the 80s . Credit goes to Schafer for demystifying the ‘devil’s music’, ie, those Metallica, Slayer, and Judas Priest songs that black kids like me grew up running and screaming from. Schafer finds humor and humanity in the absurdity and playfulness of it all, utilizing even the most demonic classic rock imagery and creating a compelling world where the greatest fault lies in the game not allowing us to explore it enough.
Jack Black and the cast of voice actors from previous Schafer games do an outstanding job of pulling you into what is essentially an interactive animated movie. There really is a rich world here, with a back story earnestly played about fire gods, fallen demons, and the glory of metal. Brutal Legend’s journey alternates between incredibly funny and deadly serious, with romance, drama, and enough honest-to-goodness reverence for these characters that you’ll often find yourself desperate to get back to the cuts-scenes. It’s an experience that any long-time gamer should play at least once.
The Wack:
Unfortunately, for all of the love and attention to the characters, writing, and art, the actual game play is a mess of excess. Brutal Legend is part driving game, part free-roaming adventure, and about 85% Real Time Strategy game. The designers borrow elements from other franchises with reckless abandon. Access special worlds and abilities via a Guitar Hero mechanic, playing chords in a pseudo rhythm game to unlock power-ups. Drive around GTA style via a free roaming world in The Deuce, your makeshift hotrod, and you’re able to get around the world faster – but the designers put such little thought into giving you reason to explore the world or in diversifying the side-missions (racing quests or quick battle sneak attacks), that anything involving the over world feels like an afterthought.
Truth be told, it probably was.
There is a car, but no hint of a mini-map, thus making it frustratingly easy to get lost during the game’s many race sub games. There’s money for upgrading yourself and your vehicle, but most of it you really don’t need. The over world inhabitants can be passed without incident, unless you’re really just looking for something to do to break up the missions.
It’s a shame because the lack of mission variety gives very little reason to explore a world BEGGING to be explored. No secret caves or villages or lands beyond the sea. The over world that you play in the demo, and the one that the marketing campaigns show over and again, is one that you’ll barely ever see unless you make an effort to. Unfortunately, you’ll spend the bulk of your time engaged in the game’s most frustrating and dominant mechanic: The RTS-heavy Stage Battles.
There’s a strong concept here. Had the game been a solid combat game alone, or perhaps a strong exploration heavy adventure, there’d be a whole lot less complaint. It’s when Brutal Legend introduces a complete strategy game, with resource gathering, sub units, and special attacks, that your heart will soar at how cool this game could be, then sink when you realize how horribly the RTS has been implemented.
Like Kingdom Under Fire before it, Brutal Legend gets daring in allowing gamers to control troops from a sky-high vantage point, or down and dirty at ground level, fighting action-game style with your rag-tag rock band. There’s resource management (collecting fans) and base-building (your concert stage), and even troop management (members of your band) – all analogously re-branded in Brutal Legend’s clever mythology. Not only is this strategy-heavy game play the bulk of the 6+ hour campaign, but it’s the whole of the multiplayer component. Frankly, if you want longevity from Brutal Legends, you’d better grow to love the multiplayer. More, you’d better be willing to spend a lot of time learning the intricacies of a very awkward RTS combat system.
Good luck with that.
Brutal Legend promises the moon with three well-rounded factions (the mobile humans, the powerful demons, and the swarming goth undead), but totally misses the boat with terribly clumsy controls during battles.
Good luck trying to effectively isolate troops or in attempting actual strategic placements and attacks. Troops don’t consistently respond to commands, will attack broad areas without the option to do otherwise, and seem only good for doing the ONE thing Schafer has publically gone on record saying should be employed: The one-on-one double team attacks.
Standing next to any troop type and pressing Y allows you to engage in a powerful special attack unique to that troop. Standing with one character might kick off a powerful sword strike. Tapping Y near a vehicle, and you can man the gun’s turrets. Stand near a group of your head-banging brute soldier class, and kick off a powerful ‘mosh pit’ where you lead the whole troop into pummeling a single adversary.
Clearly, this is how Schafer wants the game to be played to begin with. Again, not a bad mechanic in an action game, but considering that the strategy almost always devolves into finding a troop type, flooding the map, and special Y attacking your foes to death, the complicated and wasted real time strategy elements stay consistent with the rest of the game’s wasted potential. Considering that the RTS element really is the bulk of the game, you’d better learn to love it or hate it if you want any long-term value.
So Basically…
Despite all of the venom, I enjoyed playing Brutal Legend. The cut-scenes and the beautiful-but-underdeveloped world make it a prime suspect for future DLC. More, although the RTS element doesn’t even come into the top tier of the genre on the console, it’s playable. The diversity of the different classes is fantastic, and the ability to play real-live opponents online might make this a title worth revisiting with some DLC tweaking.
Brutal Legend could’ve used more development and a lot more over world missions, but it’s tough for me to dissuade anyone from buying the game. It really is that charming. Brutal Legend’s reach far surpasses what it actually accomplishes, but for my 60 bucks, I’d rather shoot for ambition than cliché’d perfection.
In this tough economy, Brutal Legend is worth a rental. Depending on what Electronic Arts announces regarding future plans for the game, I’d argue that Brutal Legend is a beautiful failure, but a trip well worth taking…even if there are stumbles along the way. Rock on.
