Brutal Legend Review - Xbox 360

7.5

Gameplay: 7
Graphics: 8
Audio: 9
Multiplayer: 7
Innovation: 7

Introduction

Developed by Double Fine Productions, who some may know as the developers of the 2005 platform game Psychonauts, Brütal Legend is an unusual mix of both the action-adventure and real time strategy (RTS) genres. Featuring a world heavily influenced by heavy metal music, the game attempts to mix these two contrasting genres to form a unique musical experience. Let’s see how it turned out.  

Gameplay

In the starring role of main character we have Eddie Riggs, voiced by (and clearly based on) Jack Black. He’s your typical heavily built roadie with plenty of enthusiasm for rock, but unfortunately he finds himself stuck with the lame, modernised rock music performed by the band he’s travelling with. Following a freak accident involving the entire stage collapsing on him, Eddie soon finds himself transported to a world of rock, where hard rockers perform superhuman feats, and head bangers are treated like slaves. After coming across a magical guitar, Eddie quickly realises that he has the power to change the world and liberate the fans by playing it.

Extending from this premise, Brütal Legend’s gameplay is like a mix between a typical hack and slash game and an RTS. While Eddie can use his trusty axe and guitar to fend off enemies himself, by playing certain tunes he can sway any nearby rockers he encounters to his side. Units are always in large groups, which means that unit management is an important part of the game. By using the controller’s D-Pad directions, Eddie can order his troops to follow him, stay in one place or attack an enemy. As such, this means that players can either choose to split up their force with their fans attacking an enemy while Eddie fights another, or simply work together. To bring one down. There’s often a large number of enemies attacking at once however, and Eddie can only do so much by himself, so players need to be careful not to find themselves overwhelmed. Units will also die over time as they engage in battle with an enemy, so sometimes Eddie might need to go to their rescue as well. There are only a limited number of units in an area, so they end up being a precious resource. Other than simply attacking with his melee moves, Eddie can also play his guitar at any time in order to either attack, or to support his troops. Eddie can attack enemies with riffs such as the Face melter, and then power up his troops by playing Battle Cry.

While unit management and group attacks are all well and good, where the game’s true RTS element comes in is with the Stage Battles. These large scale battles center around a stage erected by Eddie’s crew, which serves as a base where new units can be produced. Eddie has full control over which units will be produced at any time, but recruiting them isn’t free. This is where the fans come in. Scattered around the area are geysers which, when activated, will spew forth ...