Allllllright! Bringing the metal to Eurogamer…
Being your rock correspondent I felt it my not so solemn duty to visit the Brutal Legend stand at this years Eurogamer expo. After getting hold of the taster demo online, I was keen to see if I could find out any more about this metal odyssey, as well as to see other gamers reactions as they got their first taste of Eddie’s world. So it is without further ado that I proudly bring you the official ‘Girl gamers’ mini summary of Brutal Legend.
For those of you who don’t know, and I am very sorry if I bore you if you do, here is my short breakdown of the story. In Brutal legend you play as the extremely talented but greatly unappreciated Ex-roadie Eddie Riggs. I say that he is an ex-Roadie because in the starting sequence of the game Eddie is tragically killed (or so I assume, who knows) saving a foolish (emo looking) band member. Eddie is a true metal head who despairs for the techno rock world we now live in, so needless to say when he is resurrected into an entirely heavy metal themed fantasy land where he is able to defeat enemies with either this legendary axe or with his electric guitar; he couldn’t be happier. Throughout the demo you get to fight as Eddie, defeating hordes of hooded enemies and meeting his new ally and possible future love interest metal maiden Ophellia.
As you have probably guessed this game is entirely metal themed, something which was met with great excitement at Eurogamer. We know already that the combination of gamers + metal is a winner, but it was not until I was able to observe gamers reactions at the expo that I realized how much this game stood out from all of the other titles on show. Whereas other titles were either for the hard-core gamers with serious themes (Aka AvP or Heavy Rain) or simply quite silly (Aka Rabbids Go Home or Fairytale Fights) this game managed to be playable and funny on many levels, bringing a smile to the face of everyone from kids to hard-core gamers. This is to me entirely down to its strong, tongue in cheek metal theme, which is what truly makes it a winner in this Metal maiden’s books. After-all, Eddie is voiced by the one and only Jack Black, who to me is the absolute best choice for this kind of over-the-top metal adventure. The game graphics and menu screens remind me of a guitar hero title (always good!) with cartoon style, rock imagery being used throughout, and MOST importantly the whole thing is also set to a strong heavy metal soundtrack, which makes the rock theme of this game pretty much airtight.
As well as having a great deal of comedy factor, Brutal Legend is actually a lot of fun to play. The game is fun overall and easy to pick up. On the Xbox 360 most of the initial commands centre around the XYBA buttons, making this game accessible to pretty much anyone. The start of the game consisted mainly hack and slash gameplay, however there was the option to use more complex guitar solo’s to resurrect artifacts, bring down the power of rock upon your enemies and open doors etc, which I think could be interesting. I would liken this ability to the Ocarina in Zelda: Ocarina of Time‘ (Which I seem to be doing a lot recently but never mind) with the right combination of buttons needing to be pressed in order to unlock the guitar’s secret power. These combinations were quite simple in the demos, but I think they will probably prove more challenging during the game’s progression. As well as being able to electrify enemies with his guitar and decapitate with his axe, Eddie is also able to create small earthquakes by jumping, which is extremely useful when surrounded by enemies or in real trouble. I also like the added novelty of being able to choose at varying points in the game whether or not to see the gore, and hear the swearing – or to play a censored game. I have never seen the option to censor a game being presented within actual gameplay before and though I doubt anyone actually chooses the clean option outside of the original Expo showings (I certainly didn’t) I think it is a nice novelty.
An important part of the story tells that Eddie can fix anything, and this aspect of his character comes out during the game as Eddie creates a metal themed car he lovingly names his “Druid Plough’ to mow down his enemies. The addition of vehicles in this game breaks up the action nicely, and my visit to the expo confirmed my suspicions that we have not yet seen the last of Eddies heavy metal DIY. During my time on the stand I was able to see more DIY vehicles and creatures which become playable throughout Eddies quest. The screens to my left and right were teeming with metal inspired creations, everything from intensely cool metal motorbikes to bizarre natural abominations such as Warthogs with bike wheels (Get the irony?). Though I have only has a short time with this game it is clear that you will not be disappointed with the creativity of the level designs, nor the diversity of Eddie’s heavy metal playground.
And there you have it. A fun, loud, metal filled adventure, true to everything that had been promised. Every gamer I saw leaving the stand this saturday did so with a big smile on their faces, and even though it didn’t have the attention of some of the bigger titles (such as AvP and Left 4 Dead 2, the wait for which was enormous!) all of those I found playing it seemed well and truly hooked. It is true that this game was not as complex as some of the others on show, but in my opinion it’s not really about high scores or team battles, it’s about living the metal dream. Personally, and probably not to your surprise I wish I could play as Ophellia (we have a surprisingly similar dress sense already, all I need is a choker….) however that being my only request, this game will definitely be one for my christmas list this year.
More expo posts later in the week, as well as a little video treat. Until then.
GuitarGirl24
