Brutal Legend is EA’s latest release and in a nutshell it’s like Jack Black’s dreams have come to life. Let’s get this point out there right away – if you don’t like Jack Black then you won’t like this. You play Eddie, a roadie who tragically dies at a concert while trying to save a teenage band member – magically he is transported to a mystical world of… you’ve guessed it – rock. Here, he must defeat the mighty Emperor Deviculus and his many minions to restore metal to the land!
It could easily have been a Tenacious D album or a film.
As for gameplay, you won’t be disappointed. The graphics are awe inspiring, the designers have really been allowed to go to town in a Lord of the Rings style world. There’s ice, fire, grass and just about everything else you can think of as well as random animals wandering around.
Eddie has two weapons that he can use, his giant axe and his guitar which for some strange reason electrocutes bad guys in the near vicinity. You can also purchase upgrades to the weapons and vehicles which I’ll mention shortly.
It has to be said that EA have really given you quite a lot to get on with in Brutal Legend, within an hour of playing you’ve driven a car, a motorbike, flown around, taken on giant monsters – it’s a computer game dream in that sense!
The game surprised me in that it allowed free roaming play, with no pressure to complete missions and also giving you the opportunity to have a go at plenty of side missions – normally I’m all for free roaming but with this game it felt slightly unusual, really you want to progress the story rather than explore this world the way you would in a GTA style environment and the getting to and from mission starts does become a little irritating after the first few times.
Don’t let this detract you too much though, the game itself is a lot of fun, the storyline is quite interesting and there are some nice sub-plots which develop to keep you on your toes. On top of that, the voice acting is absolutely top notch. Jack Black is at his funniest while other characters also chip in with their fair amount of drama & jokes. Black has also been flicking through his contacts book and managed to get in some rock icons/gods to appear in the game, not just in brief cameos but actual meaningful characters! Lemmy from Motorhead is a healer who follows your army around on a motorbike, to purchase upgrades you have to go and see a very foul mouthed Ozzy Osbourne, even Blacks Tenacious D bandmate Kyle Gass makes brief appearance as a henchman – that’s not mentioning Rob Halford being involved as well! It really is a rockers paradise!
Another nice little feature in the introduction video is the choice as to whether you want to hear swearing in the game, and then if you’re happy to see blood and guts (as well as occasional decapitations). It’s a thoughtful addition which prevents maybe a younger audience from the verbal assaulting of Jack Black!
In between missions while you’re in free roam mode, you can go and speak to any character who always has something relevant to say about the current situation which is a nice touch rather than the usual generic dialogue that goes on in platform games.
While the combat in the game is very fluid and a lot of fun, there are moments when the game seems to jump out of its depth. At certain points you have large battles with the enemy and the game will suddenly switch to a strategy type game where you need to build ‘merch booths’ on ‘fan geysers’ to build extra warriors and then protect these from attacks. It’s a strange contrast from the first few levels where you’re encouraged to hack and attack through vast amounts of enemies.
The warriors which you spawn are all equipped with their own ‘rock’ abilities. Headbangers do literally that to enemies, while roadies carry large amps on their back and girly rockers shoot guns from long range. The strategy type moments kind of detach you from the game and the story and to be honest prove a bit of a pain if you’re not strategically inclined (like myself).
Don’t get me wrong though, this game provides a lot of entertainment, it looks great and feels great to play, it’s a very specialised game though which wouldn’t appeal to anyone unless they were big rock fans. The soundtrack is made up of completely metal songs.
There is a multiplayer mode which is made up of the strategy scenarios, which can be fun if playing against friends but certainly doesn’t provide much longetivity.
A note should also be made about the main menu of the game, it’s possibly the best menu I’ve ever seen in a game! The game starts with Jack Black walking into a record store (these were the ones before cassette tapes for younger readers) and finding the Brutal Legend LP, then the whole menu is made from an LP cover and the record itself with Jack Blacks hand physically taking the record from its sleeve.
Overall, this is a game which will hold huge appeal to rock fans, Tenacious D fans and Jack Black fans – and so it should. This is a game which has been nurtured to be the best it can be in that genre. It’s a fun game with great depth in the story – there are moments when it feels like the developers have tried to cram just a little too much into the game but it’s best to look past these little flaws and enjoy it for what it is.
VideogameUK verdict: 7/10
