Brutal Legend

Let me start with this little qoute from Manowar's song "Metal Warriors" The rating of this this game should be as follows: - (true) heavy metal fans 10+/10 - non-fans of metal 8/10 This game - a mixture of action H&S/RTS - is a well developed, quite balanced title - not too difficult to become frustrating, not too easy to become boring. Story is reasonably long. Definitely - there are some things I would like to see improved in the sequel (if it comes to life eventually). Combat might be more challenging (currenlty it is somewhat simplified to hit as fast you can and hope your adversary dies faster than you). Some other minor tweaks. RTS part, by nature of this game, is quite simple as well - In fact this is a bit developed concept of "capture the flag" method of tactical fight, which is fine. All of this is wrapped in heavy-metal culture. Term "culture" is used on purpose, since it is not only music that makes it heavy-metal. The whole world is heavy-metal. As "heavy" and as "metal" as it gets. Really - I haven't come across a game, which will be more appealing to heavy metal fans as this one. The music is a top class selection of songs by Judas Priest, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer, Motorhead, Accept, Savatage...you already see the pattern - good ole metal from '70/'80/'90. Surprisingly there is not a single one Metallica song (at least I haven't found it yet) but yet there are 2 songs, which by error sometimes are taken as theirs: "Breadfan" (Budgie) and "Am I Evil" (Diamond Head). The tracks fit the story miraculously - especially "Through fire and flame" and "Mr Crowley". Just right tracks in right place. The whole landscape looks like a mixture of heavy-metal emblems in various forms - majestic sculptures, landmarks which resemble known album covers art etc. Next thing - humor. Just hilarious. Not simple and stupid - but just good. For every metal fan - this game is a total must. I haven't enjoyed playing any game as much as this one in ages. Rock on! |m|

Finished this game yesterday, it was real fun! It's not the best as a slasher, it's bad as RTS(but at least not very complicated, which is good for me cause I can't play RTS) but playing it is just great. Slashing enemies is fun enough, you got some really cool combos(not too many though), some enemies need special methods to fight them, against large numbers you need help of your army. You can buy better weapons, learn new skills, customize look of the main character. But what makes this game great is all cool ideas producers came up with. Music, atmosphere and general style, the whole world of the game is just awesome. The jokes are really gooda and things we do many times are JUST EPIC. You know, slaying bunch of enemies, setting them on fire etc. while you listen to Black Sabbath or Judas Priest, how can you not like that? I also like the story, lot of epicness, some dramatism, plot twists, characters have their own style. Every unit and character we got in our army can be used to do a special duo-attack, so we can fight more effectively(and funny). Units look really good, especially demons we fight, real abominations. Some are funny, some are scary but all of them got their own style. For me the only part that may be frustrating are battles, cause sometimes we can do nothing to finnish it for a long time, we have to do the same thing over again. Also If you pick wrong kind of units it will be even worse. It's sometimes hard to control your army perfectly. The best part of the game is METAL and whole world of the game based on this music. You have to use guitar solos as a buff for your army, de-buff for enemy, recruiting new units or making buildings, powerful AoE offensive spells or to unlock additional stuff. Guitar's also a tool for normal offensive magic. Most of games characters are in some way based on real musicians, who also took a part in game making, like Ozzy, Lemmy, Jack Black(main character), Lita Ford or Rob Halford who also gave them voices.

Pros: 1) Is fun; 2) Has good music; 3) Lets you live out your heavy metal fantasy (more or less); 4) Humour is both meta and regular; 5) Has atmosphere and some really cool moments; 6) There is a relatively unexpected plot twist; 7) Has player costumes, collectables, and easter-eggs. Cons: 1) The campaign is short, and once it's completed and all the collectables are found, there's nothing left to do despite the world still being open for travelling/ exploration; 2) The game is somewhat niche, both in genre (third person action + hack'n'slash + real-time strategy + racing), and in content matter (rock/ metal), which can confuse and/ or push away certain players; 3) You can't complete the game 100% unless you play multiplayer at least once (for Drowning Doom); 4) Some design/ world-building ideas I disagree with (but this is just me). All and all, I'd objectively give the game 3\5, but given that it's one of the very few games that deal in rock/ metal high-fantasy, I gave it an extra star. I only wish the devs made a sequel, or at least a dlc or two that weren't just some new items (player\ weapon skins) and multiplayer levels.

Amazing setting, cool story, jack black, and metal, lots of metal. What more can you ask. Bought this game on sale and I feel like I stole it.

I loved this game. The execution can be a little clunky in a few places, but that didn't really bother me in this title. The atmosphere is absolutely stellar, with contributions from many metal legends (Eddy and the main villain's guitar solos are performed by the two guitarists from Judas Priest!) and great humour. Ranging the landscape in the Druid Plow is great. Running and flying across the battlefield, trying to coordinate everything while beating up bad guys and churning out solos is intense. Just get it.