Hands-on: Brutal Legend

Sep 22, 2009

You won't need long hair or a black tee to enjoy Brutal Legend, but they wouldn't hurt. Renowned game developer Tim Schafer and his crew at Double Fine have paid homage to metal culture in all its ridiculous glory. The game was at the center of a legal battle between the original paymasters, Activision, and EA, which swept in when Activision failed to "put a ring on it," as Schafer blithely put it. An agreement was settled between the parties, and I was able to get my hands on a near-final version of the game during a recent trip to Double Fine's San Francisco headquarters. I came away with a feeling that this was a game that prioritized humor and character first and foremost.

Stranger in a Strange Land

Brutal Legend is the story of Eddie Riggs, the greatest roadie who ever lived. Roadies are the hard-working guys behind the scenes who do all the hard work while the band gets all the glory. Building stages, tuning guitars, doing what needs to be done, it's these guys who keep the show on the road. The roadie isn't a glory hound, either -- after a mic check or two, the lowly roadie scurries off-stage and into the shadows once more, behind the scenes where he belongs. Eddie is a heavy metal roadie for an absolutely awful band, clearly a dig at the "false metal" bands that have changed the modern perception of heavy metal music by catering to the "tween demographic." As you'd expect, things go horribly wrong for the chain-smoking Riggs during the show, and Eddie is impaled by part of the set he built. As blood seeps down into his gleaming chrome belt buckle, he's magically transported into a heavy metal album cover-inspired fantasy land where demons have enslaved humanity. It turns out that this world needs a hero, the kind of hero who can build stuff, fix things, play guitar, and swing a mean axe. What they need... is a roadie.

Who's Who

Riggs is voiced by Jack Black, who pretty much plays himself. Brutal Legend is a vehicle for the Tenacious D frontman and comic actor to make his splash in the interactive medium, and the transition appears to have been a natural one. Black comfortably riffs on uber-fantasy material that isn't too far removed from what he worked with in "Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny," the musical comedy adventure he and bandmate Kyle Gass released in '06. They're both stories that involve the supernatural power of rock 'n' roll, icons of deviltry, and cameo appearances by Black Sabbath frontmen.

In fact, appearances by metal legends and metal enthusiasts alike abound in Brutal Legend. You'll find the Prince of Darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne, providing the voice talent and likeness (complete with round, wire-rim glasses) for the Guardian of Metal, keeper of timeless secrets (ie in-game upgrades). Rob Halford of Judas Priest is lending his distinctive voice to the role of tongue-in-cheek glam metal icon General Lionwhyte, a villain with hair so prodigious that he can actually form a pair of blonde wings from it, which carry him across the battlefield. Lemmy Kilmister and Lita Ford also play roles, voicing characters who are at least partially (if not entirely) inspired by themselves. Black's Tenacious partner Kyle Gass plays the role of a mortar operator that kicks off a mini-game where you have to paint targets on the field for his oversized cannon. Also joining in on the fun are the slacker neighbors from "The Sarah Silverman Show," Brian Posehn and Steve Agee. Posehn, a dyed-in-the-wool heavy metal enthusiast, plays a big game hunter who tasks you with decimating the local fauna, while Agee plays a demon with a detachable head that he swings with a chain. You can't make this stuff up.

Parental Advisory

One of the more interesting features I noted is the option to keep Brutal Legend foul-mouthed and hear every nasty syllable of dialogue or to self-impose a censor to bleep out the language that might rile youngsters or those with more delicate sensibilities. Schafer feels that these options can be equally entertaining, mentioning that when Osbourne came in to record his voiceovers, he expressed a preference for the American version of "The Osbournes," because the censored version is funnier than the raw profanity aired in the UK show. Sometimes it's funnier to hear the bleeps, so you have that option. There's a similar option, presented during a riveting decapitation sequence, where you can turn off the blood and gore. It seems a shame to turn off the bloody mess in a game about a heavy metal roadie who swings a battle-axe, but to each their own.

Be Quick or Be Dead

To help cleanse this world of its demonic infection, Eddie will have to prove himself in personal combat while raising an army to fight off the armies of the evil Lord Doviculus. When meeting his foes up close and personal, Eddie alternates between the use of his battle axe and "Clementine," his magic Flying V guitar. You can make basic attacks with just the push of a button, but more complex solos (played out through a timing-based mini-game) can unleash more powerful attacks. I was able to play a "face-melter" that did just what was advertised, melting the flesh from my foes' faces like they'd just opened the Ark of the Covenant. I was also able to unleash an attack that Schafer explains would be available very late in the game -- a giant, flaming zeppelin that crash-lands on the battlefield, able to take out an entire army with one Hindenburg-sized blow.

A combo system drives these core combat mechanics, with the guitar providing magic ranged attacks while the axe deals direct damage. You can unleash a barrage of pyrotechnic attacks with the guitar, for instance, juggling an enemy into the air, and then finish them off with a flurry from the axe. Special attacks abound, including an earthshaker attack, which knocks down enemies that surround you, and a fiery rushing slide attack, though it's a bit tricky to aim as you have to make use of it while sprinting. You unlock these moves, along with other upgrades, by collecting fire tribute strewn throughout the world. It's just what you'd expect -- glowy little bugs that might be gathered at the peak of a particularly sweet jump, or tucked away in a place that you'd have to stumble across by happenstance. You're rewarded for anything cool that you decide to do in the game, whether it's complete mini-games, explore hard-to-reach areas, wreak havoc on the local wildlife, or complete side missions.

In larger-scale conflicts, where playing the general is more important than getting stuck in with the infantry, Eddie makes use of a simple command system to relay orders to the troops around him. You can direct your army to follow, defend, or attack with the direction pad, while assigning targets for them is as simple as facing in the right direction when you relay the order. The game structure takes the battle of the bands analogy to the extreme, requiring you to collect a resource (fans) by setting up merchandise tents at geysers that litter the field. Your stage is a home base of sorts, and once you've accumulated enough fans, you can start ordering up squads to add to your army's ranks. You can queue up several squads at once, and I was able to recruit a rather large mixed force of headbangers (infantry), razor girls (ranged attackers), and thunderhogs (healers). Every unit type can be combined with Eddie to perform a double team move, including special named characters like Lars and Lita. Team up with Lars, for instance, to cut a bloody swathe through massed enemies with his sword, while hopping onto a thunderhog allows you to stun those around you with a powerful bass.

He Gets Around

With solo combat, large-scale warfare, and an open world to explore, Brutal Legend may feel so big that it's overwhelming. Navigating Brutal Legend's sizable landscape may seem intimidating, but from my experience it'll be remarkably easy to get where you want to be. For one thing, you can easily lay down waypoint markers to guide you to your destination, and it couldn't get any easier than following the giant pillar of light. The Deuce, Riggs' custom-built hotrod, also serves as a navigator of sorts. When you have a destination set on the world map, the car's tail lights will actually flash in the direction that you should be going. It's far more subtle than a giant blinking arrow, but just as effective.

Brutal Legend seemed like it was ready for release when I played it, and it was just as fun as it was funny. I was assured that we'd be playing through the final version of Brutal Legend in the very near future to prepare for our review, so stay tuned.