Brütal Legend Review (PC): Brütally Boring

When thinking about my time with Brütal Legend, three words come to my mind:

1) Confusing
2) Boring
3) Disappointing

There are a few redeeming features for this game, however they are few and far between - sadly you can't cover over an eclectic mess of game design with a "kick-ass" sound track and well known protagonist, then pretend that everything is as it's supposed to be.

The actual story is completely forgettable; you're a roadie who get's killed by a falling piece of stage and for some reason or another end up in hell where a struggle between humans and a strange demon overlord is taking place. For no particular reason the protagonist is the chosen one sent to help the humans win and you set out on a quest to gather an army and defeat the 'bad guy'. It's clichéd in the worst possible way and sadly doesn't live up to the normally exceptional humour and writing that you'd expect of Double Fine; I was cringing in almost every other scene. Knowing Jack Black, I'd be inclined to say that it was what he was aiming for, unfortunately it's rather an inside joke that no-one else is laughing at.

                                                                                                                           Source: Softpedia

"Aaaaaaand THIS is how you make a bad game."

The graphic design in Brütal Legend isn't really anything to write home about; it looks dated and suffers from a lot of issues; pop in, jagged edges and dull textures. Although this is true, the actual world you run around in can be quite interesting due to a lot of physical features in the landscape, such as discovering random statues of giant swords or tributes to famous songs, as well as some of the enemies. I was genuinely impressed with the first few types of foes you encounter as they seemed to fit in well with the general aesthetic. Sadly this doesn't last long and you spend most of the game fighting regurgitated versions of your own units with glam rock clothing on. I wish that I was joking.

The soundtrack is what you'd expect from a game starring Jack Black and being set in a heavy metal stylised version of what appears to be hell. Motörhead, Black Sabbath, Mötley Crüe and of course Tenacious D among many others feature and create some great moments when you are driving the God awful car around the scenery and near the start of the game when you are hacking enemies apart. Sometimes the game just feels like an extended music video montage that Jack Black himself sat there and imagined. Sadly that's not a good thing; I'd have had more fun sat in a dark room just listening to the songs rather than suffering at the hands of the messy game mechanics.

I feel this because Brütal Legend is between genre's; one minute it thinks it's an action/hack and slash game such as Darksiders and the next a very bad attempt at a blend between Overlord and many Tower Defence titles. I applaud the developers for trying something different, however there are times when taking a risk pays off - sadly this is not one of them.

                                                                                                  Source: Youtube via Littlemike421
The first few minutes of gameplay - this is literally the best it gets.

Just as you get used to one mechanic and the feel of the title, it introduces another that destroys the tempo. For example, one minute I was racing around the open world in the awful car to get to an area in time, then straight after that I was smacking enemies with my axe, then I was playing a rhythm game with my guitar to kill enemies, then I was forced to take part in a real time strategy tower defence game that made me manage resource nodes to spawn units to repel them from my musi stage. This all took place within just 10 minutes.

If by now you're thinking "Hey, there's nothing wrong with variety", I'd normally agree with you wholeheartedly, but sadly there's a fine line between variety and a lack of direction. The entire game feels misguided and blasts you with too many 'cool' things to do; as if a group of pre-pubescent boys with attention deficit disorders were given handwriting pens and told "tell us what you think would be awesome".

What you get with Brütal Legend, is the end result; a game full of guitar riffs, gore, profanity, cars with "go faster flames", sexy rock chicks, cliché jokes and all the other things that a 13 year old Metallica fan would love and cherish.

But how isn't any of that fun? Games such as Saint's Row 3 have been so excellent at making people suspend their disbelief and just laugh like a child again at all of the most puerile things - I'm personally a big fan myself. However this game just seems to miss the mark; it's like telling a joke that only you laugh at, in that the designers have set out to make a game that THEY found fun and that THEY understood, but didn't think of whether there'd be an audience for it. I was excited when I first started playing Double Fine's tribute to all things heavy metal, but sadly all I feel now is confused, bored and disappointed.

4/10