Brütal Legend Review (thelamaknows)
An absolute gem of a game that went almost totally unnoticed when it released. For those old enough to have lived during the hey day of heavy metal the references are non-stop. Jack Black has a way of poking fun at the absurdist aspects of the genre while still clearly being a fan himself.
From the opening sequence with Black taking you into a record store where the main menu is an album cover, to the narration and banter- few games make better use of a voice actor than Brutal Legend. The art style is both charming and yet holds up today although some graphical limitations are pretty apparent.
Brutal Legend covers most bases in gaming by having light RPG elements, an open world to explore, side quests dotting the map, and even an RTS mode that while not the most fleshed out RTS, it works perfectly within the game's story. The RTS mode is also the only multiplayer mode available but good luck finding people still playing these days.
Combat is a joy as Riggs combines a huge battle axe for damage with quick riffs on a guitar that stuns enemies. There are mechanics to team up with another character, short solos that are essentially QTE's that have a variety of effects, leading nearby allies, as well as a variety of vehicles armed to the (sometimes literal) teeth.
The world is what every 13 year old Dio fan dreams about. A landscape of giant heavy metal statues, huge beasts to slay, hot chicks and cool dudes to hang out with. Small details like your quest marker being giant stage lights shining down from the heavens show a true passion by the developers. As Eddie is new to this land it makes sense that he points out how awesome this place is, but it draws attention to these loving tributes to a bygone time.
The cast is a who's who of heavy metal with Rob Halford, Lemmy Kilmeister, and Ozzy Osbourne taking roles with quite a bit of dialog. Brian Poshein makes an appearance as well as the other half of Black's Tenacious D. All of it well delivered with a universal commitment that stands out compared to so many phoned in efforts of more recent games. This game is a labor of love by all involved.
Regardless of how outrageous the weapons and powers are, they simply seem to make sense within this alternate universe. Things like giant bass strings being spun by a giant mechanical spider or the RTS mode being about raising a stage and gaining more 'fan souls' to buy merch and rock out to victory are far more creative than most games that shoe horn in tower defenses or clunky mini-games.
The soundtrack needs it's own mention. An incredible collection of tunes that covers a wide swath of early metal to the dying days of late 80's thrash. It's a tour de force of metal music that blows away most compilation albums. Even better- many of these songs are B sides and didn't get widespread radio play. So you won't be hearing the same 3 Judas Priest songs on the radio but some deeper cuts from the catalog. Even the most die hard metal head will find a song on this OST they forgot about years ago. One of the collectables in the game are more songs to add to the play list. But the OST is so vast that you can play for some time before songs repeat.
Despite my obvious bias having grown up in the middle of the metal years, this is a solid game regardless. It has a great art style, a comedic script, competent combat that is simple but not grindy, the best OST ever, and is just a good example of a console port. A fun game, which is all that matters.