This is one of the most unique games I've ever played. From the hilarious cutscenes and amazing soundtrack, to the completely original style of the world and inspired gameplay, Brutal Legend is probably the most fun I've had in a game world in a long time. I love that this game really has some substance because the story is strong and the characters are all genuinely appealing and interesting. Jack Black does a great job of not being himself if that makes sense. Usually when Jack Black is in a movie, his performance can become annoyingly over-the-top, but not so in this game. He IS Eddie Riggs.

So far, I've only played the multiplayer aspect once, but it looks like it could be really fun. I'm waiting until I beat the single player campaign before I get into that, though.

Also, one of the most impressive things for me about this game is that I wasn't a huge fan of heavy metal before playing, and although I'm still not going to go out and buy any Black Sabbath albums anytime soon, the music fits so well with the gameplay that it's really inspiring. Actually, who knows, maybe after I beat this game I'll go buy some Sabbath! ha! Anyway, I highly recommend this game to anyone who's interested in an truly unique gaming experience, and original titles like this should be supported in an industry overflowing with sequels.

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Pros:

- Story is interesting and engrossing. Not always sensical, but it's a good kind of bizarre.

- Characters are very likable. Even the minor characters have had lots of effort put into them.

- Design is beautiful. Every visual aspect is extremely well-done.

- METAL! Even people who aren't fond of the genre will get into it in the spirit of this game.

- Varied gameplay. Part exploration, part third-person adventure, part RTS. It keeps things constantly fresh.

Cons:

- No fast travel. While it's great riding around in your roadster listening to metal, it gets frustrating if you're trying to go from one end of the world to the other.

Overall, I found this a great game, which isn't entirely unexpected from Double Fine.

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If you enjoy 80's metal, at all, this game is for you!

The game itself is fun, but nothing out of the ordinary. It is an open world game, where the missions are slightly varied. Mostly they are of the RTS type. Only, I would describe the RTS as being similar to the remake of BattleZone (maybe Total Annihilation). You are a general/commander type who instructs the other members around the war, as you do your own attacking.

The real reason to play this game is for the environments. I heard it described as a metal album cover come to life. Which is what it feels like. An other-worldly environment that lives and breaths heavy metal. The setting and the plot are what makes this stand out, and it is well worth it if you have experienced Headbanger's Ball and the such.

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This is one of the most origional games i have played in a long time. Tim Schafer did an amazing job of creating a completely unique universe based entirely off of sweet sweet metal. the gameplay is a mix of quite a few different styles, kinda plays like zelda meets command and conquer meets awesome. i was a little unsure of the rts boss battles but after my first rock show i was hooked. the only problem i have with the game is the length of the story mode, but mix in side missions and searching for extras it adds up to about 20 hrs if your going to get that 100% complete achievment.

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Brutal Legend is the best game of 2009 - easy!

The soundtrack alone is worth the price of admission.

What a great line up of heavy metal!

Jack Black is obviously awesome as is Lita Ford and Rob Halford.

The graphics are good and the action fast.

Tim did a fantastic job, hope there's a Brutal; Legend 2!!!

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I bought this as a gift for my fiance off his amazon wish list, he plays it constantly. He is a computer IT guy and he loves the graphics. Definitely recommend!

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Tim Schafer has done it again. This game combines music and video games in a way that is not just a copy of rockband, and it succeeds marvelously. The storyline is compelling, and the challenges aren't too hard or too easy. It keeps your attention, and once you finish the game you'll be wishing for more.

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My son is totally into metal so I got him this game. I cannot get him away from the screen for 2 weeks now. He is so into this and there is a little cult at his school. Jack Black is so funny and GREAT in this role. Tim Schafer is hysterical!! The artists are Gods! How do they do this? The voice work is the highest quality. This would make a perfect Christmas gift to any boy 13-55. I know its rated pretty hard but you can choose to have the cussing and blood or not. THAT is very cool. Then your younger metal head can play it too.

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Brutal Legend

Overview

Brutal Legend is brutally awesome; while not game of the year it delivers uniqueness in spades of doom. You play as Eddie Riggs, the world's best roadie. After you try and save this one guy which you succeed and then blood spilt on a mystical buckle summons Ormagoden who proceeds to look awesome, kill the band, and entertain the crowd, hey its metal that kind of stuff just makes people go wild, even if it is a powerful metal demon on stage...Actually that sounds pretty awesome but then again I love metal.

Anyway when you wake you find yourself in a temple built by the Titans, who invented metal and then rose into the heavens to become metal gods. Clearly they were awesome and powerful and left behind clues to metal but no one can figure out how or what they mean. Well no one accept you, also your guitar Clementine now can electrocute people and make bursts of pyro come out of the ground and you get a cool ax. After the opening escape section you are greeted with a wide open world to go about and explore while doing side missions if you so choose.

The world will open up new areas as you progress on the main quest, but in this world are metal creatures which are brutally awesome. Anything you find in the game you will think, yep metal album which was the developers intentions, glad they succeeded as it gives a nice semi apocalyptic world but instead of being down about it, you are excited and think it is awesome.

Along the way you will meet a variety of characters, some of whom are cameo from famous metal legends like, Osborn and The Baron. Each character was well thought out and placed in the right place to keep the game interesting, The Baron's entrance is most remember able and will be enjoyed.

The game sports many different things from missions to side missions to RTS battles...Wait what!? Well that spices things up a bit. During the battles you can fly which is explained later and I don't want to spoil the surprise. You place markers and order troops to defend, follow, move, and attack. Simple, complex and yet simple to use and that is the feature of multiplayer.

Multiplayer features three sides to choose from each with their own units and heroes. It functions just like in the games single player campaign. You get fans from geysers, use them to buy units and fight away. Simple to use and has enough depth to master.

Liked: Cameos from metal legends, Game world, dialog between characters, joining up with characters to do special moves, Final battle ending, The Guardian of Metal.

Disliked: Sudden ramp up of difficulty in the Final RTS battle, game glitch which makes you jump around (rare), could have used more variant in dialog during side quests.

Gameplay

Gameplay is fun, enjoyable and all around remember able. You start out with an axe, quickly get your guitar Clementine and soon after your ride the Druid Plow. From there you can upgrade these from the Guardian of Metal by spending fire tributes. Fire tributes are award points for performing tasks that please the metal gods, the metal gods are the one's awarding you with them. A few of the ways you can get them are, by completing missions, raising buried metal, stunt jumps, freeing bound serpents and more. They are easy to get and offer something for completionists, like myself to do.

Missions in the game vary and don't feel like the same cookie cutter missions like other games have. You won't be thinking, why is this a main mission, what purpose does this serve, for each mission has a reason, a purpose, and an outcome that is important. The side missions are different. They are a bit more cookie cutter but still fun to do or you can just skip them.

RTS battles are the games new addition, while this is could have been a problem they avoided that by keeping it simple and yet complex. Using the units is simple and easy to do, you just move near them and look somewhere and tell them what to do using the D-pad. You produce units using the unit production menu which is access able by pressing LB. You fly around the battlefield so you can get a nice over view of what is going on and plan out your strategy. On top of that you, yourself can fight in the battle. Sweet, I know.

Graphics

Graphically the game does okay, not the best but it delivers on unique environments, characters, and creatures. Everything feels metal it is nice. This ranges from, giant metal spider queen, demons, the creatures themselves are metalized. The game is metal, it says what it is going to do and then does it. Really it is up to you to decide whether you like the art direction or not. Personally I loved it.

Presentation

The games presentation is wonderful, but it is made by EA. What does that mean, well EA has it in their minds of conservation. The manual is basic at best, the box has holes in it which saves on their cost of materials, it is your typical EA case and manual, a bit of a downer yes but that doesn't matter. The game well makes up for this.

The game music consists of great hit metal songs ranging from classic to heavy. Best yet you can turn off the songs that you hate and only listen to the ones you love. Just want to listen to that one song again go into the menu by pressing up on the D-pad and select that song from the menu, this is also where you turn off or on songs that you have.

The games world is great as well, they chose a theme and stuck to it and that them is metal. Could it have been more metal yes (I like heavy metal myself), but they did a great job with what they did. Some of the areas I am assuming are from album covers. These are landmarks in the game.

The opening before you get to the main menu was the first time I have seen something like this. You see Jack Black and he takes you into a record store talking about some album that has been there for ever, no one knows where it came from and not only will it blow our minds, it will blow our souls. Then there is the album, your opening menu. This is of course awesome.

Value

The games value is pretty good. Sure the case and manual are made cheap but the game makes up for that. With the music alone it would warrant a buy for metal fans. With an open world and great game play the game meets its asking price though I do wish the manual was done better at least of this game. It could have displayed all the units from the RTS battles but it didn't so owe well.

Fun Level 4/5

Closing Statement

Brutal Legend is a good game that is well worth the money. It chose to do something unique and stuck to its art design and concepts. It in my opinion pushes the M rating and is made for us mature adults and metal mans. The game is metal and is something that Dethklok would endorse. It is metal; it will give you that kind of Fallout 3 feeling, a bit. Not as good, but it will be there. I recommend this game as a buy. It is worth both the money and your time.

Final Brutal Verdict: 4.8/5 (Rating guide: 1 to 5 how good, -1 to -5 how bad a game is)

Parental Warning: Warning this game contains blood and gore along with strong language. In addition there are heavy sexual tones which appeal to metal lovers but not your children. It is advised that you use discretion with this game even though it is awesome it is made for mature audiences and it is up to you to decide if your child is ready or not.

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This game is fan-freakin-tastic I've been playing video games sense the Atari 2600, I'm in my late 30s and don't have much time to spend playing video games any more, but this game is worth sacrificing precious time for.

First off the sound track is fantastic "if you're into 80's heavy metal" and the voice acting is spot on, so many cameos it's unbelievable. Jack Black nails it.

Secondly the graphics are amazing, this world based on heavy metal album covers it's fantastic so much eye-candy it's unreal. You just want to drive around so you don't miss anything, every corner you come around it's like "hay look at that!"

Third the game play is great, smooth combat I love how they mixed the melee with the guitar magic mid range attacks fracking original. And the solo system is smooth and not cumbersome. Three main game formats here solo combat, driving, and real time strategy. All done well, melee is smooth, driving is a bit tricky in this landscape but well worth mastering because the Duce rocks, real time strategy here is a fairly simple system some people will want more control but were talking band members, bouncers, and head-bangers here not well trained military units it works and keeps with the spirit of the game.

As for the length sure if you go from main mission to main mission one after the other, and power game it, this game is short with the dialog and storyline the length fits. No this game is not epic sized like Oblivion but you can complete Oblivion in less than 10 hours if you simply power game it.

This game will hold your attention and keep it. It's one of the most original games I've seen in the past 10 years.

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This is a great game! Anyone that likes Jack Black, Tenacious D and rock metal will love this game! Even if you are not a fan of rock metal than you'll likely still love this game for the story, action and how well this game was put together! I've read a few of the other reviews and would agree that this game may not garner the release purchase price of [...] but it is definitely worth the [...] price IMO.

Thanks for reading!

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My husband and I are both metal heads. We were in high school back when the metal gods like Ozzy and Judas Priest and Motorhead ruled. We both talk about how glam rock destroyed metal and made it commercial. Well this game basically tells that same tale in another world. The story line is hysterical and the game play itself is really fun. While I think anyone would enjoy this game I think true metal or even ex-metal heads will appreciate the underlying message. It's also funny how the hairbangers all bare a resemblance to Brett Micheals of Poison. TOO funny!!!

The sound track is excellent and the multiplayer experience is quite challenging.

Those of us in our late 30's finally have a game that speaks to us!!

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This game came before the due date and it is way to much fun. I bought this game for my boyfriend and he was up all night playing this game. He loves it and I am glad he does. I think I might even try to play it sometimes and I don't like most games.

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To best describe this game, you have to imagine a time before the internet and when MTV and radio played no metal music at all. I would bring my allowance to a Camelot records shop every Friday and look at the covers of tapes in the metal section then buy the one looked the coolest. Ah metal in the eighties... takes me back to when coping a tape from a friend or a Metal Edge magazine was the only way to discover new bands.

This game is like taking a romp through my favorite metal covers come to life. A world of grossly distorted large engines and god like effigies all in the name of metal.

The game play itself is a miss mash of modes that mostly feels like Grand Theft Awesome. You drive around a large sandbox environment doing things like helping to ambush enemies, save friends in trouble, doing special jumps in you car, hacking up enemies with your axe etc... The main thing that separates this game is a real time strategy mode that is involved with all of the games major plot points. You become the on battlefield general for you army of headbangers. This means that you are hacking enemies and commanding troops at the same time. This is a little tough to get used to at first, but none of these parts kept me from progress for more than 2 to 3 tries on the hardest difficulty.

With a sound track of over 100 great songs and Ozzy, Lita Ford, Lemmy, and Rob Halford doing voice over, Brutal Legend is a unashamed tribute and celebration of all things metal.

If you like metal you'll love it.

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I really don't understand why anyone is knocking this game. The Graphical Presentation is beautiful, inventive, flawless and amazing. The World itself is huge and filled with fun things to do. The Main Story is shortish (like 10 hours) but extremely inventive, creative and funny. I also think this is the first time I have liked Jack Black in anything. Even Ozzy Ozbourne does a fine job.

Reading other reviews around teh intarwebs I have heard three main complaints:

1) No World Map: True, but the beacon/tail light GPS works really well. Also the map is a single button away, this did not irritate me in the least, did not see it as an issue.

2) No Map for RTS Sequences: The RTS Sequences are on such a compact scale that your should never really need a map. The boards for these battles are plenty compact and easy to understand. The Camera (Attached to Eddie) flies effortlessly around the map extremely fast, so I never missed having one.

3) RTS Gameplay: I liked the Simplicity of the RTS system and the personality of all the different units. It's not extremely deep or complex, but it works very well and the factions are very unique and well balanced. I don't normally like RTS games but this one did great.

Another thing worth mentioning: I am not a fan of Heavy Metal, but somehow I really enjoyed the hardcore metal soundtrack, it's done extremely well. There is an amazing amount of music in this game.

In Summary, this is by far one of the best games I've played; the personality and the polish shine throughout. Between multiplayer and tracking down all the collectibles, I am definitely going to get my 60 bucks out of it. Highly recommended.

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