Brütal Legend

[dezm0nd]

Put your devil horns in the air and mosh like there's no tomorrow. Before that (and before this coming Thursday evening BST), let me know your thoughts on Double Fine's controversial, ambitious Rock N Roll Open World Real Time Strategy game; Brütal Legend

[AndyKurosaki]

Really wanted to love this game. Can't beat some quality metal, and this game had a great tracklist. The previews were promising, so i picked it up on day one. And for the most part, I really enjoyed it. The story was crazy, the combat was satisfying, and I liked driving round the open world. Then I reached the RTS section, and really struggled. I'm awful with those types of games, my resource managment skills are pretty bad. I managed the first couple, but once they got I bit more complicated I was royally boned. Kept failing over and over again, to the point of giving up. Months later I went back to it, gritted my teeth, and got those fuckers over with. And the rest of the game remained over-the-top fun.
So yeah, most of it was great. But man, fuck those RTS bits.

[KissMammal]

Never played anything other than the demo, but thought it might be worth mentioning he recent Tenacious D-featuring episode of the (recommended) 'Indoor Kids' podcast, where Jack Black talks at about Brutal Legend quite a bit.

I've always been hit and miss with Black's work, but on the show he comes across as a really down to earth guy and he also knows his stuff when it comes to gaming - well worth a listen.

[spasticmonkey2]

As someone with a love for classic rock and metal and video games, I knew I had to buy this game as soon as I'd played the demo on the 360.
I got the game on 4 days(!) before launch thanks to a slip-up by game and royal mail and had a blast playing through it, even though I don't really have much of an interest in RTS games.
I found the unique aesthetic and unusual mix of genres very enjoyable and to this day feel that this game is a real diamond in the rough, that didn't get a chance to shine due to games such as Arkham Asylum, Dragon Age Origins, Left 4 Dead 2 and Assassin's Creed II coming out in the same year.
I never really dabbled with the multiplayer much, mainly due to not being able to find a match most of the time due to relatively unpopulated servers, though I enjoyed the different play styles of the various factions, offering a change to the units used in the story mode.
Its a shame that a sequel will almost definitely never happen now, as I feel that this was one of the most creative new IPs from the last generation.

Also wanted to add before my three word review that this is my first time writing my thoughts for the podcast, despite having listened since the first show, as I'm usually too late/too busy.
Keep up the good work!

My three word review: Kabbage Boy Suck!

[Todinho]

I hope I can leave this in time!

Brutal Legend was recomended to me as a Hack n Slash game like God of War but with Jack Black as the lead and Tim Schafer humor all of that sounded great and I was on board the moment I heard.
When I started playing all of my expectations seemed to be confirmed the music was great,the humor was spot on and the gameplay was pretty fun but then something happened out nowhere in the middle of this hacknslash the game turns into a RTS!(It even starts to follow a RTS story structure if you think about it)
I was really confused with the sudden change but I loved it and in hindsight it makes total sense,this aspect took a game that would be a fun for awhile but ultimately shallow and boring hack n slash game and turned it into something much more compelling to me.

The controls in 3D of the RTS bits are a bit awkard and much like the hack n slash portions it's a bit shallow if compared to other games of the genre but I really liked the combination of the genres,it was both unique and fun to play that coupled with a pretty funny script led me to play the game alot which unfortunaly ment I reached the ending not long after that,it seemed the game was at the middle and they sudenly ran out money and had cut it short it,went from "This game is ok"to"Wow this game is great!"to crushingly disappointed in a few hours.
The game still has a bunch of stuff to do like getting the collectables that add songs to the playlist or tell you about the lore,the great multiplayer or just driving around the world and they are all fun to do but whenever I go play Brutal Legend I cant stop thinking about how poor that ending was and how this game could've been more,I always expected for a Brutal Legend 2 to come fix all of that but so far there's nothing and given Double Fine new more "Indie" direction I dont think it's ever gonna happen.

[raisinbman]

It's a shame people didn't get on with this, and with It's troubled tale this is probably the last we'll see of it. I got it MUCH later after everyone else, I think in a humble bundle. It's not really in my wheelhouse, but I think in my head I could tell Jack black contributing would make this something special, and wishing there was a rap version of this for as great as it was for metal.

The immediate humor got me in the door, and kept me compelled. Though console RTSes were a cursed genre, I didn't mind too much but I did end up failing these segments the most. Actually RTS stuff was welcomed as that was the majority of my PC background.

It does seem like it was hinting at a sequel in the end though.