Heading into Brütal Legend (Double Fine Productions/Electronic Arts | ESRB: Mature) an open-world action game, I thought the greatest obstacle I'd face was that I had little more than a working knowledge of its subject: Heavy metal music.
The game stars Jack Black as a roadie named Eddie Riggs who is magically transported to a post-apocalyptic world filled with landmarks inspired by the artwork of famous heavy metal album covers – think ten-story swords driven into the ground, active volcanoes spewing ash into the air to create perpetually angry skies, cracked and ruined highways, and lots and lots of skulls. As Riggs, we freely roam this dark land, which is populated by dazed human metal-heads who are enslaved by creepy evil overlords and in dire need of liberation.
Luckily, no knowledge of what Black might call “the metal” is necessary in order to appreciate the game's art or dialogue–though folks with drawers full of Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden t-shirts will have the advantage of recognizing some the game's less obvious tributes. It's all very tongue-in-cheek; all you need know to get most of the jokes is that head-bangers exist, they love ear-piercingly loud guitar music, and they have really big hair.
Indeed, I actually laughed aloud when I saw one of my enemies take to the air as his outrageously long, feathered ‘80s tresses began flapping like a pair of wings. And I loved my cast of allies, which included head-bangers who did their designation justice thanks to their powerfully thick necks, and roadies who carried massive amps on their backs capable of spewing deadly feedback.
Plus, cameos by the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, who plays a foul-mouthed, Hell-dwelling mechanic, and Motörhead's Lemmy Kilmister as a mumbling motorcycle jock are just as awkward and funny as you'd expect.
But Black owns the show. From the moment he appears in the game's opening live action sequence, reprising his role in High Fidelity as an obsessive independent record store clerk who leads us to the shelf containing the magical Brütal Legend record, through to his adventures as a mulleted, muscle-bound saviour who wields a massive double-bladed battle axe in one hand and a shockwave generating Flying V guitar in the other while convincingly bellowing lines such as: “gather round, me warriors!” and “everything in that general direction must die!” there is no doubt who's game this is.
And regardless of what you might think of heavy metal music in general, there is no denying that the game's soundtrack, composed of more than 100 rock anthems by bands such as Mötley Crue, Anthrax, and Slayer creates a perfectly apropos soundscape for the action.
In short, I had no problem getting down with Brütal Legend's heavy metal groove.
Perhaps surprisingly, I had a much more difficult time digesting the action, which is a mixture of competent but uninspired brawling, derivative driving and some thoroughly un-fun real-time strategy play.
I willingly endured the brawling. Cleaving demons in twain isn't exactly original, but at least we're provided interesting enemies in the form of nun-like she-devils, dopey bouncers with massive mitts, and gothic, parasol-wielding corpse brides. Plus, shredding lightning and flame magic via Eddie's guitar is a clever alternative to simply casting spells, even if the result is more or less the same.
And the driving missions, which have objectives ranging from basic run ‘n' gun escort duty to artillery target marking, are bearable if for no other reasons than that the controls are tight and we get to continually upgrade our ride with better weapons, stronger armour, and higher performing engines.
It also helps that axes, cars, and guitars are closely tied to heavy metal music. Regardless of how well they've been implemented, their presence feels right.
But real-time strategy? Seriously? That's more the province of geeky college students and bored dads. I'm not sure how the game's developers possibly could have thought it would be a fit for the game.
Worse, the strategy we're fed is downright dreary. Dubbed “stage battles,” these sequences see players attacking, acquiring, and defending green geysers that dispense ghost-like fans and can be converted into “merch booths” from which we summon various kinds of troops.
Enemies attack in waves and often go after multiple objectives, which makes dividing our warriors into groups the best strategy. Unfortunately, creating and commanding these groups is a painfully unintuitive and inefficient process that made me just want to strike out on my own–which usually led to my poor Eddie being mutilated by enemies before I could even pinpoint the direction from which the attack was coming.
Simply put, these battles are often confusing, rage on for far too long, and can be frustratingly difficult.
It doesn't help that Brütal Legend's multiplayer is built around these regrettable strategy mechanics. It's bad enough we're forced to work through stage battles at several points throughout the story; that they're our only option for online play makes multiplayer matches entirely unappealing.
Brütal Legend is a great concept, and about half of the game is done up as well as we could have hoped. Why Double Fine Productions decided to muddy it up with real-time strategy action–and of a substandard variety, no less–is beyond discernment. Perhaps all that head banging the game's metal-loving makers used to do in their youth did more to their brains than they realized.
