Brutal Legend (PS3)

Synonymous in the nineties with PC graphic adventures Grim Fandango and the Monkey Island series, designer Tim Schafer’s finest hour came in 2005 with cult-classic platformer Psychonauts, created by his own development house, Double Fine. Though the game’s commercial impact was only modest, it was well-received by critics and adored by fans, ensuring Schafer’s penchant for quirky quality was beginning to bear fruit. Brütal Legend, released in 2009, would make a far greater landing sales-wise, but despite the involvement of rock royalty and some assured design, the game flatters to deceive.

Those who’ve sample the demo could be forgiven for thinking the game was something along the lines of a God of War-with-guitars. In reality, it’s an open world title with heavy metal décor, mixing some thin real-time strategy elements with half-hearted hack ‘n’ slash fare. Despite its somewhat niche-market stylisation, Schafer made no secret of the fact that he and Double Fine needed the game to be a commercial success, and to a degree, it was. Brütal Legend shifted more than twice as many units as Psychonauts, but as a gaming experience, it doesn’t scale the same highs.

You take control of Eddie Riggs, a roadie who gets pulled into a world of bound serpent statues, giant skulls, unwashed moshers, groupies, vicious wildlife made of metal, leather-clad leaders with free-flowing hair and just about everything else ever to adorn a heavy metal LP cover, combined and brought to life. Eddie, voiced superbly by Jack Black, is a refreshing, relentlessly positive character who embraces his roadie destiny to unite the oppressed masses under the banner of his faction Ironheade (with an extra ‘e’, to show they aren’t messin’ around). With the help of its leader Lars Halford, his sister Lita, and Eddie’s love interest Ophelia, the bunch are tasked with defeating the evil Emperor Doviculus and his brilliant glam-rock underling General Lionwhyte, who was based on David Bowie.

Eddie finds out fairly quickly that his guitar “Clementine” can do extraordinary things. In the main field of play, he learns solos that allow you to summon the “Deuce”, a beefed up hot rod that’s his chief mode of transport in the game; raise relics and motor-forges used to upgrade the attributes of the Deuce; win over brainwashed head-bangers and generally please the metal Gods.

On the main battle stage, the solos play an integral role as things assume a real-time strategy focus. You can rally allies to your position, call on the support of nearby wildlife, or go for some more offensive manoeuvres. The best is unquestionably “Bring It On Home”; an incredibly cool, apocalyptic solo that sees a flaming zeppelin nose-dive into your designated target and results in a gigantic explosion. It’s one of the most satisfying attacks you’ll see in a game, absolutely awesome.

Trouble is, the strategy setup of main missions doesn’t really work. Beginning at your own stage, you must win over “fans”, spend them on various units of heavy-metal themed infantry and attack your opponent’s stage. It’s not suited to console control, but the lack of variety in how battles pan out means there’s little to really engage the player anyway. The few times the player is encouraged to use a concerted plan (such as ordering roadies to perform a sneak attack) prove a hassle as giving an isolated command is fiddly, because its through Eddie that you give the order, not a menu. Consequently, a lot of the time your whole army follows an order intended for one group, whilst squads have a frustrating habit of ignoring regroup commands and instead go off to fight elsewhere. Despite a broad variety of battlefields, each encounter unfolds very similarly, with aggressive troop deployment pushing opponents back and allowing the player to battle to their stage. Should you so choose, you can wander around bludgeoning enemies to your heart’s content with Eddie’s axe; his limited range of moves mean it’s not the most cerebral of pursuits, but does at least feel like it fits in the scheme of things.

The open-world elements are familiar but enjoyable as far they go. The missions, which include one-on-one checkpoint races in the Deuce; wildlife hunting; sneak attacks on enemy groupings and base defence are all pretty decent fun for a little while, though they’re not overly distinctive. The most fun is gleaned by driving around the environment, admiring the remarkable rock-themed iconography. The Screaming Wall, a cliff-face made of speakers is particularly impressive, with vicious sound waves reverberating outwards toward the sea. Mt. Rockmore also deserves a mention as you can carve the likeness of up to four of the games characters into the landscape, whilst there are scores of other great vistas that are well worth tracking down.

A love of heavy metal is not essential to your enjoyment of Brütal Legend, but there’s no question that a lot of the more subtle lyrical puns, references to rock stars and visual touches will perhaps pass you by if, like myself, who know the genre only as far as its most recognisable icons. Still, we’re treated to a surprisingly coherent cameo from Ozzy Osbourne as the Guardian of Metal, as well as Lemmy of Motörhead whose character heals with his bass playing. You can chat to him a fair bit over the course of the adventure, though in truth Lemmy does sound a bit far-gone for the most part. Fans of the music will love the immensely comprehensive soundtrack that features over 100 tracks selected by Schafer himself.

Generally, Brütal Legend’s presentation is of a high standard. From the title screen that sees the unfolding of a vinyl sleeve and record as a means of selecting options, it’s as creative and stylish as you’d hope from a Double Fine production. There’s an evocative, colourful landscape to explore, but it isn’t without its technical frailties, as particularly when driving around in the Deuce, you’ll see enemies popping up from nowhere at relatively close distances, whilst muddied backdrops seem to receive a coat of texturing even as you drive towards them. Still, the enemy design is really good with a lot of imagination going into the design of the creatures that roam the land. The best of an odd bunch include panthers that shoot lasers from their eyes, razorfire boars which are best described as boars crossed with motorbikes, and there are even some woolly mammoths in the icy hills.

Elsewhere, the story is good but the scripting lacks a sparkle that’s usually a dead-cert with Schafer’s projects. Paying so much attention to the heavy metal theme has meant some of the humour has been sacrificed which, given that they drafted in Jack Black to voice the central character, is somewhat strange. You can talk to various characters pre-battle and interact with those who offer mini-missions throughout the map, but there’s little variety in these exchanges and the assembly of personalities on the whole doesn’t have the magic of Psychonauts’ misfits.

The main adventure is fairly lean; lasting only 5 or 6 hours if you focus on the story missions, whilst completists should find another 3-4 more in the secondary quests. The limited length means the narrative starts to go slightly awry in the closing stages as several big events are condensed into a short time-frame.

Clearly a labour of love for Schafer, Brütal Legend’s heavy metal universe is crammed with affectionate nods and references that fans will get the most out of. Unfortunately, the strategy elements seem ill-placed and, despite some clever touches, never work to their full potential. Exploring the landscape is a real pleasure, but with some surprisingly derivative secondary missions, dull combat and a brief main story, it’s not one for the ages.