Brutal Legend review

No matter where you stand with gaming itself, it's hard to deny that the modern gaming landscape is a bit monotonous, with most major releases consisting of either open-world games, shooters, JRPGs or updates to fighting games we've all played a hundred times before. Oh, and whatever Nintendo franchise is being updated too.

Thankfully though, 'monotonous' isn't a word that can be applied to Tim Schafer's approach to video games. Not by a long shot. From his early days at Lucasarts on "Secret of Monkey Island" to the underappreciated "Psychonauts," he's proven himself to be a consummate auteur-- crafting vivid, wholly original worlds in playable form packed with stunning art direction, memorable characters, and genuinely funny writing; he's to gaming what Tim Burton has been to films, in that the end result on screen, while obviously supplemented by a variety of artists and contributors, is ultimately his work, his vision.

And for its occasional flaws and missteps, "Brutal Legend" proves itself a worthy jewel in Schafer's metaphorical crown, in keeping with his trademark style while also competently juggling a handful of different gameplay types.

Most of Schafer's games tend to focus around a specific idea or theme, and here it's Heavy Metal. Now while this may sound like the make-or-break part for most people, part of what makes "Brutal Legend" such an effective game is that it really sells this aspect of itself in such an unabashed, energetic way that it's hard to NOT get swept into it. Personally, not being much into Metal myself, I was surprised to find that it actually provides Schafer quite a bit of creative space, and by embracing the excesses and extremes associated with Metal, he's crafted what is quite easily the most intriguing and compelling open-world yet seen in games, and understand that I don't say that lightly. The world itself here is easily the biggest character on display-- gigantic stone guitars rise proudly from the ground, trees sprout chrome wings, and even the most benign of animals scattered throughout the geography is covered in razor-sharp quills with glowing demonic eyes. It's such a refreshing alternative to generic cityscapes, and the sheer variety really helps it to feel like a living breathing (yet appealingly surreal) world.

Which isn't to say that the characters themselves aren't interesting... far from it. Not only are they all supremely likeable and believeably flawed, but the humor here is less interested in random bullshit than in genuine wit, even more surprising considering it could easily have devolved into an endless string of in-jokey references to Metal culture (which isn't to say those AREN'T here-- after all, Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy Killmeister and Lita Ford all make appearances-- but it never feels like you're a hanger-on or an intruder in a 'fans-only' atmosphere). Schafer clearly loves the stuff, but he at least loves it enough to make it accessible.

From a gameplay perspective, "Brutal Legend" could be accused of trying to do too much at once, and to an extent it kind of is. There's the third-person action-adventure of course, but there's also bits of rhythm games (in the solos you play to unlock items/summon vehicles/rally troops/literally melt faces) and a LOT of RTS games here too, but the funny thing is that it pulls them off pretty well overall. The solos offer a nice risk-reward balance in that you take damage while doing them, but nailing them is worth it, and this may well be one of the few RTS games to actually WORK on a console. Managing your territories is a bit harder since you see the game not from a God's-eye-view but as yourself flying above the land, but the ability to actually get in yourself and fight eases up some of the frustration. It's a little closer to Battlefront than to, say, Starcraft, but again it all works pretty effectively.

Overall "Brutal Legend" makes a few mistakes, but the one thing it does perfectly is create an imaginative, inviting world with a great deal of fidelity of vision. There's a lot here to like, though admittedly those who really DON'T like this style of music or the associations with it-- I mean, REALLY don't like it, as in burning Motorhead albums recreationally-- will find it a harder pill to swallow. But for everyone looking for something new, you owe it to yourself to grab an axe and rock on. And hell, you gotta love a game with "Through the Fire and the Flames" in its soundtrack, right?