Review: Brutal Legend (X360)

Have you ever looked at a heavy metal album cover and thought 'that looks like fun'? You know the ones, with the buxom ladies and overly muscled guys facing off against demonic creatures, the ones that if you play them backwards are a recruiting ad for Satan. If so then Brutal Legend is the game for you, you are the overly muscled guy saving the world, not to mention the buxom ladies, from the demonic creatures, it's a heavy metal dream come true.

Bloody Start

You play as Eddie Riggs, supreme roadie, who has unfortunately been saddled with the job of working for Kabbage Boy, a pseudo metal act created for a teen audience, think Busted or McFly, but worse. After saving the life of one reckless band member at a gig Eddie is seemingly crushed to death by a piece of falling scenery, or is he? As his blood trickles on to the belt buckle it comes to life, killing the employers he despised and transporting him to another world, a world he finds eerily familiar.

Here he finds his guitar has magical properties, and a legendary axe to fight hand to hand, he quickly teams up with Ophelia, part of a band of humans fighting for freedom against the demons. It's not long before it is revealed your arrival is all part of a prophecy that will; either set them free, or destroy them forever, you seem like a nice guy though, so they decide it must be the former. So, it's up to you to save humanity from the demons, armed with your axe and guitar, and a hot rod you built out of some scavenged junk, not an easy task, what you need to do is build yourself an army.

Brutal Combination

When you first start the game it seems like a basic third person hack and slash with some driving sections thrown in, but once you get through the games first set piece you'll realise there's more to it than that. First thing you'll notice is that the game is a sandbox game, you don't have to follow the games story, you can just drive around admiring the scenery if you like, and there's plenty of side missions to do if you are that way inclined. You'll also find a little bit of rhythm game in the mix as you cast spells by playing your guitar, these are only short bursts, so integrate well in to the game.

You'll also find some RPG elements in there too, as you can upgrade Eddies weapons and ride by visiting the Guardian of Metal, who will exchange fire tokens for extra powers for your axe, guitar and car. Then there's the real time strategy that the games online multiplayer relies on, here Eddie has a handy injection of demon blood allowing him to fly above the battlefield. In these sections you'll claim fan nodes and turn them in to merchandise booths the more booths you build the more fans you get, and with fans your army can grow. It's pretty standard RTS fare, but you can fly down on to the battlefield at any time and join in with your troops, which makes for a nice blending of action and strategy. All the different elements gel together well, but the open world sections are a little dull, just driving around from one point to another, and the side missions are as tedious as in any other sandbox game.

Star Power

One area that exceeds the games solid gameplay is its production values, as you'd expect with a game based around music it has a very impressive soundtrack, including such Metal Legends as Motorhead, Black Sabbath and many more. It doesn't end there though as some of these legendary musicians have also leant their voice and likenesses to the game, along with Jack Black taking the part of Eddie Riggs. Personally I'm not a fan of his, but his obvious music connections and comedy style work well with the games story and world., and his performance in the games start up movie sets the scene well.

The game's art style fits well with its audio content too, being inspired by the artwork found on many a heavy metal album cover, it comes across as a moving graphic novel. It would actually make a pretty good animated movie if you joined the cut scenes together and added some battle scenes and stuff, the story is that strong. The menus are also very good, the in game ones are nice and clean but the games main menu is very impressive, done in the form of opening a record, with checking the inside and out and pulling the record out of its sleeve to choose your options.

Big Hit

If you are a fan of heavy metal or just enjoy a good adventure game then this really is a must buy, the impressive production values coupled with the combination of gameplay elements really make this something special. It's not perfect, if you ask me the sandbox element is a little superfluous and brings the game down a little, it's still a great game though, lots of fun, makes you use your brain, great story and varied gameplay.