Although over the years the graphic aging of the xbox 360/ps3 generation becomes more and more evident (but you can solved it with reshade), Brutal Legend is still an open world ARGP title (with strategic ARGP sections) in a devastated world, but completely metal with some really well defined and recognizable landmarks. Great cast, excellent acting, not perfect map, but very well defined and graphically treated and soundtrack with 107 songs and 75 artists with counter balls. The only flaws / bugs I found is the fact of positioning millimeter to free the chained dragons on the map and a tactical battle in the land of the dead 1vs1 against the AI that went for a long time. And escort missions.
The long journey of the the beige jacket woman with the same capacity of Eta Beta's shorts. But 20 years after its release, is this work from the mourned Sokal still valid? Yes, as its strengths (plot, characters, ost, immersiveness, very original setting, dubbing, interlude sequences, sound effects) still resist, as unfortunately its weaknesses (some objects are really difficult to see, so it is often necessary to brush each area of the screen with the pointer, non-skipable animations to move from one area to another). Luckily the objects that we have to take to solve the puzzle "errands" are usually found in the same area. In any case, if stuck, don't be afraid to look at a guide, because that's how it was possible to complete graphical adventures in difficult moments. Syberia alternates moments in which it everything runs smoothly and others with headaches due to not very visible explorable points (from this point of view there would be good to have a mod to increase the resolution of 2D textures backdrops) and a very important clue which must be paid attention about halfway through the adventure and remember it several moments later near the end (fortunately the soundtrack comes to the rescue a few times, indicating that we have done the right thing). There are backdrop points where it is intuitive to understand this is an interactive area, as well as others that are well hidden. Fortunately, the tools needed to complete the task are always found in the area where we station. To work on modern systems it needs dgVoodoo2, which however allows it to be played easily in 16:9. If 20 years ago this adventure was highly recommended for newbies, it is not longer now (unless a well-done Full Throttle-style remaster). However, it remains a small pearl of graphic adventures swan song era recommended more to fans of the genre with its unique setting.
Considering the cost, have the whole game voice acted was a big add; yep, even the secondary ones have their voices. Not all charatchers are likeable, but all their roles are well settetled in story to made it works. About the story, some bits are telled too early and when a 360 happens you might wander what's is going on and have the feel that you missed a small piece, meanwhile some others are spilled day by day in order to put all puzzle pieces togheter for the great finale (wich is quite long). The whole story is nothing new, it alternates humor to real seriousness. Beware, at beginning there are a LOT of dialogues, probably made for introduce all charatchers and define them for the player. Mech battles are turn based, pretty slow at beginning, much easier in the middle (if you have grinded money and pineapples) and 4 tought fights at the end. But don't understimate them, cause they pretty tactical (even if at the end you'll use the same tactics 'cause it works) Pretty unique art style that mixed good pixel art (rare thing in this days), b/n colors and animelike portraits during dialogues. OST essential, but really cool and with the right mood. Difects: - i was hoping in more mecha fights (but you still got the virtual ones) - since we're going for a lot of errands in Rain City, the running on and off in all interlude scene could be tediuos - minigames at begining are frustrating (expecially bicle delivery). My advice for griding money (and pineapples) is going for junk hunt st beginning. And if you're lucky that one minigame it gives a lot of pineapples, grind much as you can during that day. Pineapples are quite important for unlock gadgets for minigames and other stuff to upgrade your mecha faster.
I admit, since i have a degree in medieval history, i have appreciate this game quite a lot in its huge historical details that Warhorse Studios had dedicate to the game since 2012. At the same time, when the kickstarter was born i was so hyped as long scared that a huge project like this could see the light. Well, i'm really glad that that happened. I haven't seen a explaination code so accurate since Vietcong. And by the way, give it the graphical tone of a XV sec manuscript was even greater. Expecially in the woods. Despite all the know difects (and power) of Cry Engine (and its not friendly SDK), the whole graphical result of the game is simply astonishing developing an AAA graphic game made by an AA studio. Maybe the palette could be more vibrant, but it's nothing that a light reshade preset could fix. The game version i have played was 1.6. The only bug encountered was the missing dialogue with the olster before the horse race, with has been solved simply by sleep before talk to him. The gaming experience at begining it's cunning brutal (what do you expect? Henry it's a villager, not a natural born soldier), once level up it'll become a hard but fair challenge on 1 vs 1. On 1 vs 2/3, it'll be very hard even against starved angry farmers. An advice: choose the noble art of the thiefvalier. In some castles you could loose a lot of FPS, but overhall even if they go around 45 game is still fluid. Beware if you're a complestist like me, the game will took away from your life over 120 hours, but for me was totally worth it. Even the secondary mission got good dialogues and different approches to solve a mission. A rare thing in modern RPGs.
I got the occasion to get the game free in 2016 during a gog sale and since i always remember with pleasure the series, i grab the occasion. At the time, only 4 books were released, i wasn't aware of kickstarter situation (let's be honest, RTG has done the same marketing and development mistakes with the previous games) and i didn't have the hardware to play it and "close the circle" started in 1999 with TLJ, a milestone born in the swansong age of adventure games. On late 2020 DC comes out from backlog Don't do my mistake, play or watch the first two games, expecially if you played a long time ago like me. Even if you got a prologue with summarize at big lines where we left and despite the presence of different sections aimed at introducing characters and situations to newcomers to the series, the feeling is that the new work by Ragnar Tørnquist is nothing more than a continue quotation from past adventures based on a complex narrative background (expecially in the big rush at book 5) DC is more an interactive film, where at some point there'll be some important decision wich affects the first 3 books and partially the last 2. Those decision should be the core of replaybility, but i wasn't caught for a second run. Puzzles and interaction are simplistic and during first 3 books it'll be go from A to B and do the task. The game music is absolutely valuable and inspired, even if only in a few decisive cases they manage to affect and rise from a simple appreciable accompaniment Graphic wise is pleasant, focusing more on dialogues animation (even if sync lip is not always perfect), but after book 3, i got bored during book 4 (a comprehensive compendium of clichés), get caught again at the end and became bittersweet with the big rush of book 5, wich let me unsatified under some aspect wich looks fundamental until book 3/4 but they don't have any explaination at the end (the midiclorian effect) and they were maybe saved for the nevercome The Longest Journey Home
