The vivid and wildly creative universe of
Brutal Legend is part game, part tribute to all things heavy metal.
Published by Electronic Arts for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the third-person action-adventure/real-time strategy game was created by acclaimed developer Timothy Schafer under his Double Fine Productions label.
Brutal Legend features main protagonist Eddie Riggs (pictured, bottom), who is a "roadie" (a technician who travels with a band). He is voiced by and modelled on actor Jack Black, of Kung Fu Panda and School of Rock fame.
After an accident, Riggs awakens in a bizarre heavy metal world that would be nightmarish for some but not for him. He feels right at home in this dimension of demons, hot rods and monoliths.
"Don't you want to return to your own world?" Riggs is asked early on in the game. "Ehhhh" is his reply.
Upon waking, Riggs finds two axes - one a giant bladed weapon, the other his beloved guitar, Clementine.
The former can hack up his enemies; the latter produces lightning bolts and blasts of pyrotechnics. He can play riffs on Clementine to raise relics or melt the faces off his foes.
The main portion of the game is an open world level, where players, as Riggs, are free to roam the virtual landscape.
Riggs can zip around in his roadster, stopping to free imprisoned dragon statues, unearth relics and so on.
As various missions are completed, Riggs gathers followers from among the human population, which has been enslaved by the evil Dovilicus and his lackey, Lionwhyte (a glam rocker with hair so fabulously feathered that he can fly with it).
Once Riggs and his compatriots have a large enough army, the game starts throwing "stage battles" at the player.
Riggs directs and leads stealthy roadies, close-combat headbangers, bruising bouncers and more into battle.
It doesn't hurt that the visuals (every vista seems as if it was pulled off a heavy-metal album cover), animation, soundtrack from the 1970s to the 90s and vocal casting are terrific. British actor Tim Curry voices the demonic Dovilicus while Ozzy Osbourne, of heavy metal band Black Sabbath, comes sailing out of a lava pit to hawk various upgrades for Riggs' roadster and weapons.
It's that amplified-to-the-max feeling that makes Brutal Legend so entertaining, despite some flaws. Keeping track of Riggs' troops can sometimes be difficult and the controls for ordering attacks are a bit clunky and imprecise.
But, as one song goes: "Rock is not the devil's work, it's magical and rad."
And so is Brutal Legend.
Pros: Epic battles, awesome graphics and classic metal soundtrack.
Cons: Some controls are clunky.
GAME ON
