PS3 Games Review

Double Fine's Brutal Legend is an unabashed love letter to an era and genre of music that celebrated fast guitar riffs and hard living. It's also a tribute to an epic lore that spoke of conquerors and death--all of which were often depicted at once on any given metal album cover with the obligatory smattering of lightning. Of course, the fact that Brutal Legend features a phenomenal soundtrack from the likes of Black Sabbath, Motorhead, and Judas Priest with suitable hack-and-slash action would feasibly constitute a reasonable tribute on its own terms. Yet, what raises Brutal Legend above that simple construct--plus what makes it a great ode to metal--is how it cleverly integrates so many different facets of the culture and its music to create an experience that consistently entertains and surprises in both single-player and multiplayer.

But it should come as no surprise to those familiar with Double Fine's previous work with Psychonauts that Brutal Legend's characters and its story are the primary highlights. Eddie Riggs, a roadie who remembers and worships the glory days of metal, serves as a perfect lead character who's magically transported to a world that ostensibly reflects his own image of heaven. This world is a vast place where enormous, crumbling statues and smaller, skull-encrusted shrines pay homage to the gods and titans that brought metal and its music to the land. Naturally, there's a heavy dose of irony involved in this setup, which gives Jack Black (who voices Riggs) plenty of room to do his funny--albeit expected--trademark sarcasm-laden, observational routine. But his act rarely gets old or overwhelming because Riggs, as a character, often humbles himself in an endearing way despite finding himself in a position of leadership. He never loses sight of his roots as a roadie, and as such, he is there to help people who have fallen under the oppressive boot of the demonic Emperor Doviculus and his human warlord General Lionwhyte (voiced by Judas Priest frontman, Rob Halford), who also happens to symbolize a not-so-subtle jab at hair metal.

Secondary characters are often just as entertaining and memorable as Eddie Riggs. Ozzy Osbourne gives an amazing (and surprisingly coherent) performance as the Keeper of Metal, a storekeeper of sorts dwelling within special monuments dotted around Brutal Legend's open-world landscape. He sells upgrades for attacks, as well as Eddie's various pieces of equipment, including his battle axe, guitar, and his vintage roadster--the Deuce. There's an equally amusing, if not subdued, performance by Motorhead's lead singer Lemmy, who--as The Killmaster--functions as a healer for Eddie's army of headbangers. Sure, part of what makes these characters so delightful is that they are just fantastical representations of their on-stage personas, but even those characters that aren't voiced by real-world gods of metal do their part to balance out the star power, and they do it well. For example, Magus, a dimwitted stage engineer, provides an extra bit of laughs when Eddie's engaged in more serious affairs.

These characters and the story they tell are major reasons to keep playing through Brutal Legend's single-player campaign, but there's also plenty of good action to be had despite some shortcomings. The game is set up in an open-world structure that lets you set the pace of progression, so you can either stick to Eddie's main mission to defeat Doviculus and Lionwhyte or drive around in the Deuce to find secondary missions that are easily found using an in-game map. At first, the motivation for taking the secondary route is pretty clear. Every completed mission rewards you with fire tributes, or points, that function as the game's currency, and because secondary missions are usually pretty easy and don't require much time, this is a quick way to make a substantial amount of cash. You can then visit The Keeper of Metal and exchange points for aforementioned weapon, combination, and vehicle upgrades--additional items unlock as you venture deeper into the game.

Indeed, diversionary tactics also play an important role for success because another player can easily drop in and see what you're doing at any given time. As such, it's important to send out different groups of units to various areas on the map at all times, using one to bait your enemy into thinking that's where your main attack is coming from while you have a stronger group of units taking another route. Sometimes it's worth it to throw a few units directly at an enemy's stage or to drop in yourself and wreak some havoc and fly back to safety; if only for distraction purposes while you adjust your strategy. And the great thing about all of this is that you can play as one of three different factions--each with wildly different units--and an evenly matched battle shouldn't last more than 20 minutes or so.

While multiplayer is genuinely the surprise hit of the Brutal Legend experience, the single-player mode does have many other notable qualities, including a great metal soundtrack. Some of the songs seem a little questionable given the theme of the game ("Rock of Ages" is a great song, but doesn't seem like it belongs), and it's great that you can listen to anything while driving the Deuce around. But the soundtrack truly shines when it's obvious a specific song was chosen for a specific mission. "Through the Fire and Flames" by DragonForce is perfect for its intended sequence as is Nitro's "Machine Gun Eddie." There's a little bit of everything here on the spectrum, but to be fair, if metal's not really your thing, you might find it a little grating.

But one thing that should appeal to just about anyone is Brutal Legend's visual style. It's not necessarily a technical powerhouse in terms of special effects, but it more than makes up for it with cool-looking characters and varied environments that obviously had quite some thought and detail put into them. One particularly cool location is near the Sea of Black Tears--a gothic-inspired area decorated with candelabras and dilapidated cathedrals. But no matter where you are in the world, there's always some cool object to look at, whether it's a massive guitar statue sticking out of the ground or some a gigantic wall of amps where seagulls with microphones for heads fly. Unfortunately, there are some hiccups in the frame rate here and there, particularly when you're driving around or when there's a bit too much happening in a stage battle, but otherwise it remains rock solid throughout the game.

Whether it's excellent vocal performances from heavy hitters of metal or a strong multiplayer element, Brutal Legend is a game that continually surprises, and it does so in a genuinely fun and interesting way. And Double Fine deserves some major respect for keeping so many aspects of the game closely tied to its subject matter. Of course, Brutal Legend also has some shortcomings. The secondary missions are weak and the single-player campaign lasts about seven hours if you're not too keen on unlocking every single last shrine or secret item. In that respect, it's unfortunate that there's just not more of the good stuff, such as the on-foot missions with boss battles or more fleshed-out side quests. Otherwise, Brutal Legend is just about the finest tribute to this genre of music that a fan could hope for, and its successful execution of real-time strategy elements in an action setting is something that should get everyone off their feet and clapping.