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"Creativity"

Brutal Legend Review

Genre: Action, Adventure, Real-Time Strategy

Developer: Double Fine

System I Played On: Xbox 360

Year: 2009

Brutal Legend follows Eddie Riggs, who voiced by Jack Black, and also a roadie who after a tragic accident that seemingly kills him, throws him in a virtual land of rock, metal, flesh, blood, epic, bone, death, and all other cool words like that. This is actually my second play through, as my first came years ago when I rented the game, but now that it’s in my collection, and I just beat it, I got to talk about it. There are some outside of game things Brutal Legend does. One, this and Mirror’s Edge are the only defense to make me not completely hate EA. Only time they didn’t butcher a good game, and two creative games came on their radar that although good just didn’t get a lot of sales. Probably would have butchered it if it did make money, but either way we’ll carry on. Also, this makes me like metal even though I’m not even a metal fan. Just the theme and story is a metal fantasy, and I still end up liking it, and respecting the musical genre a little more. Thank God for video games, cause this never would have become a movie, and then we never would have seen this really awesome world. First let’s start with the game-play. The simple hand to hand combat seems like it’ll get repetitive, but your not doing it enough in the game to actually complain. It works enough, but if they’d have added a more unique sword and guitar (yes your guitar is a weapon) move set, that also would have been fine. The car actually has more game-play than the fighting. The car moves nicely enough, and besides falling off of too many cliffs, coming to a complete stop whenever I would ram into little things, the car was just fine. Lastly is the strategy elements. A lot of people complain about the strategy side of the game, but I love it. It never tries to not be a strategy game, as the strategy comes in pretty early, and it’s not all that complicated, and easy to pick up, so even action game fans can enjoy. I was getting pretty pissed when my fights lasting as long as they did ended in failure, but let’s not get into that. Next is the story, and probably the most memorable thing about this game. It’s simple. Raise an army, take on the impossible, the end. But in a world with metal and rock based characters, a very likeable and funny cast, it’s actually surprisingly good. Not to mention the script is actually super clever, in a comedic sort of way. The story also has very big surprises, and a couple jaw dropping moments, moments that make you realize just how much you liked those characters. I mean the characters you’ll learn their names, actually bond with them a little, and just care, which is completely unexpected. Eddie’s metal head mind seems to come to life in a ultimate fantasy, and he makes real world references, and you just love that when thrown into this world he hardly cares about going back. Eddie himself has gotten praise from awards for best character, or making it on best characters list. He’s a great star to the game, and easily the face of metal heads in gaming. Although in story, some points feel choppy in execution, but you learn to live with it. The climax is decent, and the resolution is similar. In an open world like this your surprisingly on a very linear pass, and going from mission to mission unless you really force yourself to explore. Speaking of exploring, the world itself is great. There’s enough side missions, hidden gems, and exploring to last you awhile. My favorite part of exploring was the one-hundred and twenty dragon statues around the world that you had to unveil. I got to about forty-three, but you could spend hours alone getting them all. Not to mention the world although obscure and ridiculous, certainly is entertaining and interesting. It actually has a past and feels like a complete universe on its own. If anything there’s too much going on the camera at one time, and too many things are grabbing your attention, and falling off of cliffs was too easy already. The actual side missions were all right, but mostly there for those who feel like they want to stick around in this game world a little longer. I did all the races, and that felt satisfying in itself to finish one of the type of side missions. It’s a good open world, and makes for a fun game, and isn’t too over intimating for fans of linear style games. Although people expected an elder scrolls action game should hold back. Although my favorite part of the world was probably Ozzy as the owner of the hell styled shop. I kept going back to the shop even when I was broke just to hear him say another funny line. And on sound, that’s enough for people who like metal and rock to like this game alone. While driving you have a full track list, not to mention Jack Black and the metal icons who cameo just make it all come full circle. In the end it’s a really fun game, and if you like what’s I’ve described, than it’s worth getting if your interested. I was really debating a seven and an eight for awhile, but I finally just decided to say to hell with it, it gets an eight. I mean, I think it really deserves it, and I feel a seven is just isn’t justifying it, although it came really close. A seven is really good, but it’s still not enough for me. Anyway, it’s a really good, and although didn’t keep me playing long, was a well worth experience. I’m happy to have it in my collection, and was a simple fun ride with those undertones of epic.

Brutal Legend gets a 4/5

Spoilers: So yeah, want to make a villain? Just have him kill the most heroic guy on your team, I’m telling you. I will say the chick who betrayed you but yet didn’t betray you at the same time was the better villain. That was actually a weird turn. I feel the story declined a little overtime compared to how well it was going. But I think there were rooms to improve, but oh well. Just the whole part about Eddie's dad, the amazon chicks, the demon guy, the girl betraying you, it was like all of them were on overload at once, but it still made for a good game.

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