Brütal Legend
Brutal Legend is a third person action/ adventure game that claims to have been in development since 2005. It was developed by Double Fine Productions and published by Electronic Arts. The game was built on a custom in-house engine with a native resolution of 720 p for the PlayStation 3. It was released on October 13 2009 to North America and on October 16 2009 to Europe under the genre of Action-adventure and Real-time strategy with an ESRB rating of M for mature. Brutal Legend was first promoted as “Rocktober” in official literature about the game from Electronic Arts when it was first released. The game was inspired by the game’s creative director Time Schafer’s own past musical experiences which revolved around heavy metal music. Schafer claims that he thought of the name fifteen years ago while they were still working on The Secret of Monkey Island. In the game, players play as featured character Eddie Riggs, voiced by Jack Black, a roadie who was transported to a fantasy world inspired by the artwork of heavy metal album covers. Using his battle axe, a Flying B guitar infused with magical powers, and a customizable hot rod, Eddie has to become the world’s saviour, leading the down-trodden humans against a range of supernatural overlords. Brutal Legend also features the voices of other heavy metal musicians besides Jack Black including Lemmy Kilmister, Rob Halford, Ozzy Osbourne and Lita Ford, as well as other celebrities including Tim Curry. In addition to that, Brutal Legend also features more than one hundred metal songs selected by the game’s creative director himself for inclusion in the game. Not only that, it also incorporates real time strategy elements and also uses an open world which has been described as being approximately 64 km² in area. During the game, Eddie acquires three tools that are used for combat and transportation comprising of a broad axe called “The Separator”, his Flying V guitar “Clementine” from his own world which has the ability to cast magic spells in the heavy metal world, and a hot rod that Eddie builds called “The Deuce” or “The Druid Plow”.
Reviews
Brutal Legend kicks off with a hilarious introduction that pokes fun at the softer, more mainstream direction that heavy metal has taken in the past couple of decades. It is said to be a celebration of classic heavy metal while taking every cheap shot it can at hair metal, nu metal and other diluted variations on the genre. The ultimate evil and its minions are portrayed as being truly terrible monsters. In contrary, the lesser bad guys are made up to resemble glam rockers or ‘emo’ kids which makes them appeal most to those that have spent at least some of their formative years as angsty headbangers. Brutal Legend features plenty of twists and turns along the way and deals with some interesting themes of quiet heroism and personal sacrifice. The main character, Eddie Riggs, is a roadie who knows that his place is out of the spotlight. Although he has the chance to be a real hero and save the world when he is transported back in time, he maintains the same attitude. Brutal Legend is a mix of genres coming together to create a variety of gameplay opportunities, with most of the story missions consisting of real-time strategy battles that find Eddie commanding troops on a battlefield made up to look like an epic rock concert, with the exception that Eddie gets to join the fight, adding a little bit of action to the strategy. In addition to that, there are also beat’ em, shooter or racer elements outside of the story missions.
“Whether it’s excellent vocal performances from heavy hitters of metal or a strong multiplayer element, Brutal Legend is a game that continually surprises, and it does so in a genuinely fun and interesting way. And Double Fine deserves some major respect for keeping so many aspects of the game closely tied to its subject matter. Of course, Brutal Legend also has some shortcomings. The secondary missions are weak and the single-player campaign lasts about seven hours if you’re not too keen on unlocking every single last shrine or secret item. In that respect, it’s unfortunate that there’s just not more of the good stuff, such as the on-foot missions with boss battles or more fleshed-out side quests. Otherwise, Brutal Legend is just about the finest tribute to this genre of music that a fan could hope for, and its successful execution of real-time strategy elements in an action setting is something that should get everyone off their feet and clapping.” (GameSpot, 2009)
