Wednesday 04 Nov 2009

Playing and reviewing Brütal Legend was a bit of a strange experience for me, and I believe it has a lot to do with my level of investment in the game.

To be clear, I am a huge fan of Tim Schafer and Double Fine Productions, and I’ve been looking forward to Brütal Legend, and any news I could scrape together, since its official announcement in 2007, and even since playing the studio’s previous effort, Psychonauts, years before – I was desperate to see what the team would come up with next.

The closer the release date for Brütal Legend became, however, the more worried I became, and the more questions I had; will the gameplay hold up throughout the entire game? Will Tim Schafer’s trademark humour and fleshed out characters be in there? What about the usual highly creative environments and twisting stories? And what’s with these real-time strategy elements I keep hearing about? How do they work and are they implemented well enough with the core combat-based gameplay?

After playing through Brütal Legend, I’m able to answer all of my previous questions, and more, but I’m still left with a strange sensation… not disappointment… not dissatisfaction… more like… confusion and bewilderment as a result of very specific parts of the game.

The highs during the overall Brütal Legend experience are so high, and the lows, by comparison, so frustratingly low, that at certain points I felt like a manic depressive suffering from schizophrenia while playing, one minute marvelling with delight at the crafted environments and infectious voice acting, and the next minute gripping my controller ever more tightly in frustration after failing a variety of missions for the umpteenth time.

Throughout this topsy-turvy emotional ride, though, one thing is abundantly clear about the game, and shines through the entire experience: Brütal Legend is a celebration of music, and heavy metal in particular, but more than that, Brütal Legend is a celebration of wild creativity – an element that is sorely lacking in the medium of videogames.

This is evidenced right from the get-go, straight after you start up the game, as you’re instantly introduced into the world of music and the universe of heavy metal, solidifying the notion that Brütal Legend is a love letter to metal fans everywhere, and an attempt to seduce anyone not familiar with the larger-than-life landscapes and legends present in this genre of music.

A good question to ask at this point would be ‘What is Brütal Legend?’, and to try and hit all of the labels and genres, you could say that it’s a story-driven, free-roaming open-world action adventure game with elements of real-time strategy and vehicle driving to boot, but even this broad range of descriptors fails to fully explain the experience on hand, so let’s try and dissect what you’ll be doing during the game.

Most of the time, you’ll be traversing the world as Eddie Riggs (excellently voiced by actor Jack Black), a super talented but unappreciated roadie for a pop/rap metal band in modern day times, until a tragic and mysterious accident transports Eddie back in time to the Age of Metal, a barbaric, ancient land steeped in rich mythological lore, and currently in the midst of a brutal war between a variety of factions. Eddie has been brought back ostensibly to help rid the world of it turmoil, but not everything is as it seems.

To help fight the good fight, Eddie has been supplied with a special axe, as well as his guitar from modern times (Clementine), only in this ancient world, it’s now imbued with magical powers of pyrotechnics. What does this mean for gameplay? How about effortlessly cleaving opponents in half with a swing of the axe, or electrocuting enemies with a quick solo on the guitar, or combining the powers of the two implements of destruction to send your foe high into the air with an explosion, followed up by a heave of the axe to smack that fool into the ‘bleachers of pain.’

Everything about the core action gameplay in Brütal Legend is aimed at upping the ante, and to bring a grand level of awe to proceedings. Mindlessly hacking at your enemies can teeter on the repetitive side, but if you use your abilities to the full and mix it up, you’re in for a good time.

The guitar can also be used to summon items (such as your main mode of transportation, a hotrod called The Deuce), inspire your allies with a quick lick, and later, summon forth the help of wild creatures, or even a giant flaming Zeppelin (blimp, dirigible, airship…) to rain havoc down on your enemies, all initiated with a solo carried out with a Guitar Hero-like button pressing sequence (only in a side-scrolling manner), which range from extremely quick and satisfying, to a little drawn out, even for solos you’ll be using frequently (like summoning The Deuce). These little mini-games do tie in well with the overall music theme of the game, though, and are rarely a chore to complete.

Continuing the theme of music, and the heart of Brütal Legend’s celebration of heavy metal (well, one of the hearts…) is the enormous soundtrack comprising songs by classic metal bands such as Black Sabbath, Motörhead, Judas Priest and Mötley Crüe, all of which can be played while roaming the lands, while some of them are used to amazing effect during cutscenes and pivotal moments of gameplay. Voice work is also provided by legendary metal musicians like Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Halford, Lemmy Kilmister and Lita Ford to provide the ultimate, all-inclusive metal experience.

The absolute highlight, however, of Brütal Legend’s celebration of heavy metal and unruly creativity (and another heart of the experience) is the world and its environments. Simply put, the world of Brütal Legend is a massive, stunning, crafted masterpiece of creativity and digital engineering – every vantage point you reach, everywhere you look and every cave and corner you explore, a visual treat lies in wait for your eyes to feast upon, with enormous, detailed landmarks, moody interiors and homage to the universe of heavy metal embedded into every crevice.

It’s clear that the artists at Double Fine truly let their imaginations run riot, and the result is a world that begs to be experienced and explored, with the ample reward of finding the next amazing formation looming over the horizon. The development team has ably met its goal of creating environments that could be used as covers for heavy metal albums, highlighted by the extraordinary day and night time skies that draw your eye during every play session with thunderous lightning storms, rolling clouds, falling stars and an eerie skull moon - Brütal Legend’s world is a sight to behold.

Getting around the world is aided by the use of the aforementioned hotrod, The Deuce, which is modded to the hilt and able to be fitted with extra weapons, protection and performance upgrades to deal with extra challenges around the landscape, but the most interesting use of the car is the way it helps you navigate your path to waypoints and other areas of interest. While a map of the world is available to you with the flick of a button (where you’re able to set your own waypoints for campaign and secondary mission markers), the rear indicator lights on The Deuce will guide you to your current destination – if the left light is lit up (or begins to glow), you know you’ll need to head left, and vice versa with the right light.

This struck me as an excellent way to use what was available on-screen and provide a use for something that would otherwise have been left idle, simultaneously negating the need for any extra on-screen user interface (UI) or mini-maps. A giant beam of light emanating from the sky is also usually visible to highlight where you need to go next, which holds the dual purpose of making the sky look just that much more awesome.

A multitude of side quests are scattered around the map for you to complete over and above the main story related missions, but there’s unfortunately not very much variety present in the selection on offer, and outside of a few standout, singular quests, you’re going to be doing the same mission type over and over. While you roam from quest to quest, though, you’ll be able to find a bunch of collectibles spread around the world, each of which have their own set of rewards, either revealing snippets of awesome mythology-based history, imbuing Eddie with extra abilities, or improving his skills.

There’s also the extra temptation of Fire Tributes, Brütal Legend’s currency, which are awarded after completing missions or finding these hidden collectibles, which can then be spent on upgrading your car, your weapons, abilities and other miscellaneous uses, after visiting The Guardian of Metal (wonderfully voiced by Ozzy Osbourne) in the depths of his ancient lair.

And so now we come to the Stage Battles, or the real-time strategy element of Brütal Legend, and what seems to be the key divider amongst the greater gaming community. During the course of the singleplayer story campaign, you’ll be tasked with entering battles against an opposing leader and his/her army, using a rock stage as your main base of operations, taking control of resource dumps (known as fan geysers, as in ‘fans of a band’) on the field of battle and using accumulated resources (fans) to build up an army of your own, recruiting specific units through a simple command system, all the while tearing up your enemies mano-a-mano with axe and guitar in hand.

The premise is great, and the context is excellent (you’re essentially building merchandise booths to attract ethereal fans with the allure of swag, using their energy to build your army), but in singleplayer at least, these battles can range from very easy, to confusing, to frustratingly difficult, with no real direction or concrete instructions to fill you with any confidence that you’re actually succeeding, failing, progressing, or even doing things correctly, with almost zero feedback during a battle other than the knowledge that you’ve built something, or something you’ve built has been destroyed/is in the process of being destroyed. Instead you’re largely left to your own devices, being forced to learn through many failures.

I personally would have much preferred many more smaller Stage Battles to help you get to grips with their inner workings and build competency levels, with little bits of information leaked during each battle, rather than the current situation of a few large, win-or-go-home battles and one unintuitive information dump, in text form no less.

The way Stage Battles are presented in singleplayer is a huge shame, because not only do they form a not inconsiderable chunk of Brütal Legend, but they’re actually a lot of fun once you understand the flow and how to go about each stage of a given Battle, and provides an enjoyably fast-paced strategy game with just enough depth and interesting decisions to keep you heartily engaged throughout.

The situation improves dramatically online, as Stage Battles form the entirety of the multiplayer Brütal Legend experience, with three different, distinct factions to choose from and test your understanding against – playing against non computer-controlled opponents is a far cry from what seem like unbalanced challenges you’ll be up against in the singleplayer campaign. In multiplayer, Stage Battles is a very unique gametype, and it’s the kind of mode that could garner a fierce base of fans to play against for the foreseeable future.

Brütal Legend is one of the most unique gaming experiences you’re bound to have for a long time, with amazing creativity dripping from the characters and environments, and bursting with an entertaining, intriguing and humorous story, all backed up by an epic soundtrack filled to the brim with classic metal songs and an exceptional attention to presentation and quality, mixed with interesting core combat gameplay, but mired somewhat by the murky strategy sections, which are thankfully redeemed in multiplayer.

If you’re a fan of creativity and great stories in your games, and you’re willing to go through some rough patches and forgive it some quirks, Brütal Legend will reward you with the type of inspirational experience that only comes about every few years… or whenever Double Fine Productions releases a game.

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Contributor:	Oliver

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