Brütal Legend

Game-O-Meter: 8.0

Platform: Xbox 360

Date Beaten: 10/17/09

Time to Complete: About 12 hours

Brütal Legend, after all these years, is a game that proves that Tim Schafer still has it.  But I will warn players, this game is very different from those in Schafer’s legacy; and the action-brawler-adventure-open world-RTS may not be for everyone–especially less tolerant gamers.

Personally, I find myself gravitating towards games that aren’t exactly “the norm” these days, so the disparate gameplay styles didn’t really bother me.  In fact, because each of the styles (open world, RTS, brawler, driving) were simplistic in their implementation, I felt that this game could handle all the uniqueness that it offered up.  None of the gameplay styles forced you to be a master at them, which I think is good when so many ideas are thrown at the player.  Conversely, though, if you’re going into this game looking for a deep combo system, excellent squad-based combat, or killer driving gameplay, you won’t find it.  The gameplay is a vehicle for telling the story.

In terms of the story, I have mixed feelings.  The overall story design is really cool, and the premise works very well.  Also, the voice acting is top-notch across the board.  But as the story moves from plot point to plot point, it often feels disjointed–as if scenes were cut.  Often, the story required players to fill in gaps with assumptions about motivations and even sometimes about plot points.  While this was somewhat confusing, in the end, the story made sense (except for one thing that I won’t mention due to its spoily nature).

Like many other reviews have already mentioned, the metal aspect of the game was top-notch.  I’m a very mild enjoyer of heavy metal, but this game awoke the beast.  I found myself digging out my old Metallica and Black Sabbath albums after playing Brütal Legend.  A soundtrack to this game (while a licensing nightmare) would be awesome.  I could go on and on about all the metal landmarks and characters, but let’s just leave it be by saying that they rocked from dusk til dawn.

However, while there are plenty of side missions to do in the metal-infused overworld, they get very repetitive very fast.  There are only about 5 or 6 variations of these side missions and I got bored with them.  Definitely do several of them though, because the rewards you get are worth it in the end.  Leveling up your ride and your character’s skills/buffs is very important for the final battle…

Like most games, the final battle seemed a bit poorly balanced.  I found myself having a really tough time with it, and it took me about 5 tries (I want it to take me about 3 tries to beat a final boss).  I thought about other players who may not have explored the overworld as much as I had and therefore wouldn’t have found as many solos to use in the stage battles.  If I hadn’t had certain solos, I don’t think I would have been able to beat the game.

All in all, Brütal Legend was well worth the price of admission, but Schafer’s best work it is not.  The gameplay supported the story very well with the different styles making contextual sense.  The combat felt good.  The driving felt good.  The stage battles felt good.  But the voice acting, story scenarios, and character concepts were great.  If you go into the game knowing you’ll have a good time if you let go of expectations, I think you’ll really enjoy this game.  If you’ve built it up in your mind as something that’s going to change your life fundamentally, well then, it’s your own fault that you won’t enjoy this game.  Brütal Legend is a good game.

Continue rocking on.  Over and out.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 23rd, 2009 at 9:16 am and is filed under Beaten Games, Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.