Originality is not something that is found very often in games today. When you do stumble across it, it’s always nice to see. Brutal Legend is a pretty original title, maybe not so much in the actual gameplay mechanics, but in the actual story, setting and overall tone, originality is abundant.

The story of Brutal Legend is quite frankly completely absurd. It’s wacky, strange and really out there. You play as Eddie Riggs who is a roadie for a heavy metal band. One night at a concert, following a bizarre set of events, Eddie is transported into a fantasy world that is heavily inspired by heavy metal and Nordic fantasy. The world is ruled by demons and other supernatural creatures. The remaining humans are fighting for their survival. Eddie soon realizes he is the only one who can help them and the story takes off from there.

The voice acting in the game is top notch. Jack Black voices Eddie and he does a phenomenal job. All the voice acting is fairly solid though. There are some very funny lines and the writing is very good. The voice acting behind the characters definitely brought a lot to the game and made it more enjoyable.

The art style and design of the game is also pretty phenomenal. Like I said before, everything has that heavy metal feel, and it’s just so different from what we usually see in video games. The levels are all very enjoyable to play in just because of the unique and appealing art style. Inspiration from the heavy metal world is found everywhere in Brutal Legend. The soundtrack of course boasts a fairly impressive set of songs and once again, like with the voice acting and unique art style, they do help make the game more enjoyable.

Brutal Legend takes its originality online and creates a RTS/Action type online mode. I was lucky enough to play with some of the guys from Double Fine so they showed me the ropes online. There is only one game mode available online but it can be played in custom match, matchmaking or verse computer AI. The game mode works like this, there are two teams, each team has four players. Each team has a stage somewhere on the map that has to be destroyed; the stage is like their base. In order to destroy the other team’s stage you must build up an army. To build units for your army you must use fans which are like resources. You start off with two fan towers and then there are others spread around the map that you can try to capture, although these ones can also be taken over by the enemy.

Once you have enough fans flowing in you can start building up your army. Like in all good RTS games, each unit you build has certain pros and cons. Each one is good for certain situations and each one is used to combat a different unit. There are tons of units and a ton of variety, add in the fact that each faction has a different set of units, there is a ton of variety and depth in the game. There are only 3 factions you can play as but you will find yourself switching between them a lot to find the one that best suits your play style. You will probably be familiar with most of the units though as they are all from the campaign mode and you will have most likely encountered or used them before.

Now it’s not all RTS, you do play in third person as whichever character you choose (it depends on the faction) and you can fight against enemies. You can also use double team attacks with various members of your army. So while you do fight with them on the ground, you also control them.

The great thing about this mode is that it inspires teamwork. If you have three other people on your team it’s best to divide up the roles. For example, one guy takes care of building the units, the other guy takes care of ordering the units around etc. So when you have one great four player team against another great four player team it makes for some pretty awesome online experiences.

These “stage battles” actually show up in the single player campaign also, there are parts where you will have a stage to defend and you have to build up units and armies and defend the stage. It gives the game a more epic feel and for those RTS fans, you will appreciate this feature.

Speaking of different game genres, this game also has a lot of action/adventure elements. The action and adventure elements really come into play for people wanting to get 100% in the game. There are many secrets and hidden things spread throughout the world. The world is also pretty open. You can choose to ignore a main quest and instead do a side quest or go exploring.

So we have three genres all mashed into one game, Action/Adventure, Hack and Slash and RTS, and guess what? They all work. The game pulls it off flawlessly and is able to masterfully craft all three genres into one solid gaming experience. Usually when games try to mix it up with the genres things don’t turn out well. In Brutal Legend everything seems to work out, all three genres shine through and add to the overall gameplay experience.

There are also some other fairly interesting gameplay elements. For one, you can perform double team attacks with almost any ally, this is especially useful in stage battles because the double team attacks are very powerful and each unit has a unique attack. Eddie is also able to play various guitar solos that do various things such as rallying troops, capturing fan towers, raising relics, harming enemies etc. As you explore the land more you will also find new abilities and powers and this is where the adventure elements come into play.

In fact we also see a bit of the RPG genre shine through. You are able to buy upgrades for your weapons and cars, upgrades cost, they’re not free, but by completing missions you can earn enough currency to buy these upgrades, and they actually are all pretty useful.

Brutal Legend is not all good though, it has a few things wrong with it. There are some technical issues (getting stuck on objects due to no jump button, stuttering, sometimes unclear objectives and voice syncing issues). I also didn’t like the lack of variety in weapons, but these issues are nothing major and will not get in the way of playing. The single player can also go by pretty quick if you just stick to the main story mode. There really are not that many missions and they are fairly short but luckily there is much to do after you beat the main quest and players wanting to get 100% will be playing for a while.

In the end Brutal Legend is really refreshing. It’s very different than anything I’ve played in a long time and it was a very enjoyable experience. The voice acting and presentation of the game is flawless, the game world they have created is just so alive and vibrant is a pleasure to walk around in. Sure the game has some problems, but nothing that will really make you not want to play. If you’re looking for something different and unique then pick up Brutal Legend, I don’t think you’ll regret it.

Score: 9/10

• Pros:
  • Voice acting is superb and the game is very funny
  • RTS elements work really well and make for great online play
  • Tons to do if you want to get 100% completion
• Cons:
  • Main quest is very short
  • Not enough weapon variety
  • Some annoying technical issues
• Random Fact:
  • Ozzy Osbourne and numerous other heavy metal rockers make appearances in the game

Brutal Legend was developed by Double Fine and published by Electronic Arts. It was released October 13, 2009