Backhand of Justice

I wanted to like this game. I love the adulation of heavy metal music and the simultaneous reverence and lightheartedness with which the game treats its narrative and characters. I was even on board with Jack Black. I was rooting for you, Tim Schafer.

The bottom line, however, is that this game just isn’t fun to play at any point. While there are brief highlights, this is a clumsily executed disaster which was only as glorified as it was because of its creator and cast list. It is an unfortunate fact that adventure games, with their threadbare gameplay mechanics, might be the only genre at which the creative and charming Mr. Schafer can excel.

Brutal Legend is a short game, and it might be worth renting it to see the inspired character and environment design and listen to some of the genuinely hilarious dialogue. If there’s a good YouTube compilation video out there, however, you’re probably better off with that.

What I Liked

Characters: Before Brutal Legend’s release, the largest area of concern was whether Jack Black would be able to integrate himself into the world. Would it become a constant distraction, with Eddie Riggs constantly shouting ‘Nachoooooo?’ That’s why it’s remarkable that Jack Black is possibly the best part of the whole package. Eddie Riggs is convincing, charming and hilarious. Jack Black imbues him with a personality that is at once ridiculous and easy to identify with. 

Complementing Riggs are a host of amusing sidekicks and adversaries whose dialogue is limited but never trying. Even while accomplishing fairly mundane tasks such as driving from one location to another, there is frequently a conversation with another character that is laugh out loud funny.

Soundtrack: Heavy Metal music does not frequently hit the top 10 list these days. It’s out of fashion, and not just by a year (decade) or two. That being said, its themes resonate with popular fantasy tropes and it never feels out of place in the world of Brutal Legend. Not only is there a constant stream of heavy metal emanating from the radio in ‘The Deuce,’ your car, but the action is punctuated with expertly scored cut scenes. It is clear that this music inspired the game and even if you’re not a fan, it never becomes offensive and might even convert you.

BEHOLD! My reaction to the game

World Design: Brutal Legend is like a heavy metal Mario Land in 3-D. Instead of bizarre pipes and other random crap coming out of the ground, however, the world is filled with massive car parts, skull piles and mastodon bones. It is equally outlandish as the Mushroom Kingdom, but has a solidity and consistency to it that makes it feel alive and real. The world is composed of multiple areas, although the transitions are never jarring and nothing feels out of place. You never feel like you’ve been teleported somewhere else.

What were they thinking?

Real time strategy mechanics: It’s generally a bad sign when none of the positive elements of a game involve gameplay, and Brutal Legend is no exception. Real time strategy has never been effectively streamlined for console controls, and this isn’t the game to crack the code. There are too many problems to list, so instead I’m going to mention a few negative anecdotes. They all stem from the fact that you can’t control your units globally; they have to be in voice range of Riggs (or your equivalent leader, if you’re playing online).

This might have created the interesting experience of being a field general with limited lines of communication, but instead your units just get lost on the field. There is a strict unit cap and many times units will inexplicably end up on one side of the map so that they’re both useless and occupying valuable cap space. There is a ‘summon all units’ guitar solo, but in my experience this only worked for existing units on the field and not just new units about 50% of the time. In addition, there’s no minimap so it’s difficult to find lost units without wandering aimlessly while the enemy pushes forward.

When I do this, you guys go nutshit crazy on whatever I'm pointing at. In this case, I'm pointing at Tim Schafer for making this game

Furthermore, while there is a strict rock paper scissors mechanic in the game, there is no way to destroy existing units if you’re strategically misallocated. Sometimes you know you’re mismatched against the enemy and have to merely send your existing units to die before you can replace them. This results in the best strategy frequently being to just rush at the opposing stage with your leader and initial army as interim strategic adjustments are near impossible.

Pathfinding: The pathfinding in this game is goddamn awful. The only time in which it functions within the realm of reasonable expectations is when there is a direct and open line from where your unit is, to where it’s trying to go. During one of the later story missions, there is a narrow bridge between you and the enemy army. My entire force could not manage to progress across this bridge, even after I separated them out into individual groupings. By the end, I considered burning my entire apartment down just to ensure the PS3 and Brutal Legend disc was destroyed. I settled on trying to lure the enemy across the bridge myself, dying several times in the process.

Here is Eddie Riggs cutting some throats. If only he could have done this to me on the install screen to save me some frustration

Pacing: Brutal Legend a short game (unless you try to find every collectible), and the pacing feels all wrong. The first half is a slow build and then the second half is a speedy race to the abrupt conclusion of the story. It almost feels like the developers ran out of time and just decided to end the story. There is a central antagonist for most of the game but instead of a massive crusade against him, the meat of the game involves infighting, and your campaign against the evil overlord lasts all of five minutes. When the credits roll, you will likely be dissatisfied, and the multiplayer is centered on problem numero uno: the RTS mechanics.

Brutal Legend was one of my most anticipated games this year. Potentially that’s because I had only played Tim Schafer’s old catalogue and not Psychonauts, but I had faith that a full team could create compelling gameplay dynamics. Unfortunately, I was wrong, and no matter how much I want to sugarcoat the experience, it’s terrible all around. Its minor positives are hugely outweighed by the frustrating mechanics, and you’re better off giving this one a pass. Buy the soundtrack instead.