Brutal Legend

[Akatosh]

Note: This is my first review so please DON’T be gentle on the critique.


You are riding down a brutal landscape in a roaring hotrod. The world itself is a reflection of the metal music you are blasting from your radio. While mowing down animals and demons alike, you’re desperately trying to deliver the beer strapped to your car before it gets warm, without you, an awesome party would be ruined.

You are playing Brutal Legend, an action adventure game with some RTS elements set in a metal music themed world. The game is by Tim Schafer (who has also brought us Psychonauts and Monkey Island, both of which I haven’t played but hear are very good) and his company, Double Fine; the game was released in October 2009 for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.


Gameplay: The game is split into two parts, one being a typical hack and slash, the other being an RTS. The combat is an interesting mix of your guitar and axe, both of which can produce spectacular combos and finishing moves. While your axe can rip enemies in half and cleave heads, your guitar can electrocute and set enemies on fire, both of these weapons are satisfying. You also get an upgradeable car that is a blast to drive around, the Deuce. The strategy element however, will leave most RTS fans disappointed and leaving for something like Starcraft or Total War, and I don’t blame them. Battles occur during certain points of the campaign and in multiplayer; the objective is to destroy the enemy stage (which servers as your barracks) while defending your own. You gain resources by building Merchandise Stores on “Fan Geysers.” You can give units a few basic orders such as follow me, stay here, attack nearby enemies; this is limiting and most times you will just gather up a huge cluster^%&* of units and head for your enemy. The only really good thing about the game’s battles is the fact that you can drop in and help your allies when things go downhill.
I give the Gameplay of Brutal Legend a 7/10. Combat is smooth and fun but does little to innovate and the RTS portion of Brutal Legend is lackluster and left me with a lot to be desired.

Story/Presentation: You play as Eddie Riggs (voiced by Jack Black) a roadie working for the “New Age Pop Metal Rap” band, Kabbage Boy. When a show goes horribly wrong, Eddie is transported to the Ancient Land of Metal. There he teams up with the human resistance who fights against the evil emperor Doviculus; sound Cliché? Well yes and no. The actual plot itself has been done a million times before, the setting and characters are one in a million. Full of cameos and pop culture references, the voice actors and their lines are hilarious; I often found myself going through the whole game just for one funny scene. The setting itself (the nameless world of metal) is full of epicness and left me in awe, it doesn’t hurt either that it is friggin huge.
I give the Story/Presentation of Brutal Legend a 9.5/10. Although the plot is cliché, the characters and dialogue are worth an Emmy for best comedy.

Who does this remind you of???



Graphics/Audio: The game goes for that cartoonish/realistic approach to art style. Characters all look unique and hand polished. There were few clipping errors and rough texture work that I noticed however the graphics just aren’t “great”. Effects and Ambiance are average, however music is amazing. Whoever picked the songs for the soundtrack of Brutal Legend did a fabulous job and all the songs(which are all metal or rock and roll ) in the game can be unlocked and listened to in your car radio, any metal-head will appreciate this.
I give the Graphics/Audio an 8/10. The soundtrack is epic coupled with solid graphics and sound effects, the game is good in these respects.



Pros of Brutal Legend:
*Great Voice Actors
*Hilarious Writing
*Solid Combat
*Awesome Music
*Epic Setting

Cons of Brutal Legend:
*Cliche plot
*Bad Strategy Elements



In conclusion I give Brutal Legend a……………
8.5/10!!!
The game is a must have for any Tim Schafer fan or Metal-head, with its original setting, funny dialogue, and solid gameplay. However people who are looking forward to the strategy elements will be very disappointed.

So guys, how was my first review???

[Exentenzed]

Personally i liked it. Loved Brütal Legend myself and i agree with your pro's & con's.
I also agree with your score and you have your facts right.
Also it's an easy read due to your great layout.

I give this review a 10/10 Good job mate.

[paecmaker]

Good review. Played the game myself too and I loved it.

I saw that in the last part of the review, pros and cons you have spelled it "bag strategy elements". Apart from that, its a good review.

Dreaming of doing one myself(dont know if I can though)

[Saph]

Very nice review! Your beginning was a little strange but I guess the game itself is strange

I liked the review, very structered, very precise, very little nonsense. I loved it.

A+++

[paecmaker]

Very nice review! Your beginning was a little strange but I guess the game itself is strange

I liked the review, very structered, very precise, very little nonsense. I loved it.

A+++

I know exactly what he wrote in the beginning and yeah, it is strange You should try it.

[Akatosh]

Thanks guys! I really appreciate the positive feedback.

[Diligence109]

nice review! I appreciate the formatting you did to bring out your key points - makes it easy to skim if you don't want to read every word. If I were to get critical I'd point out your handful of grammatical/spelling errors, but it was a nice, easy, and refreshingly concise read. Definitely gave me a good idea of what the game is like/about!

[Saph]

Ahhh Dili dont be too hard on the kid!(I think? Cant see age )Grammar and spelling errors are so minor on a computer cause you can write write write without even going back to spell a word right. Just write like mad until you're done, then copy everything, paste it into a word file, and bam you got all spelling mistakes highlighted for ya Spelling mistakes aren't a big deal

[Akatosh]

Ahhh Dili dont be too hard on the kid!(I think? Cant see age )Grammar and spelling errors are so minor on a computer cause you can write write write without even going back to spell a word right. Just write like mad until you're done, then copy everything, paste it into a word file, and bam you got all spelling mistakes highlighted for ya Spelling mistakes aren't a big deal

That's not my writing style, I make it up as I go along but whenever there is an error, I will as long as it takes to fix it. And the spelling and grammar mistakes were probably just words or phrases that the computer doesn't compute.