Technical issues aside, Brutal Legend still hits a homerun in terms of visual presentation by virtue of its intelligent, creative interpretation. While I wouldn't go that far, the use of hyperbole is not surprising because the game simply doesn't hold up graphically when compared to other next-gen action titles. In fact, the entire presentation is held back by a fuzzy filter I even have a friend who played the game say that Brutal Legend looked like a Wii offering. You'll often see framerate hiccups and sluggish cutscene transitions. However, while overall the game world looks great, it is mostly due to the wacky creativity - the game could have been a bit sharper as far as technical execution is concerned. As such, the imaginative visual presentation resonated with me. From the amazing character design that liberally slathers on the chains, leather, spikes, and S&M to the shiny, metal-infused vehicles and environments, Brutal Legend looks like it was pulled directly from my childhood meanderings. The setting in Brutal Legend, without a doubt, is the most satisfying portion of the title. Setting out to create an over-the-top game world fueled by the awesome that is classic metal - before being tainted by hair-bands and synthesizers - the development team succeeded in realizing their vision. It is from the nostalgia of such daydreams that Tim Schafer and Double Fine forged Brutal Legend. This same story is echoed by innumerable others of my generation. Listening to the technically superior riffs and brooding melodies whilst reading through the liner notes sent me into wonderful, youthful daydreams - transporting me to a world where shiny, chrome dogs bayed at a blood-soaked moon and where muscled, axe-wielding warriors made the listeners of disco pay for their lame ways with their very souls. I became even more entranced when my brother let me in on the secret that the font used to write Dio actually spelled out Devil if you looked closely enough.īeyond the overtly dark nature of the genre, the heavy metal fantasy depicted in the album cover art was a completely outrageous mélange where anything was possible. That LP had a satanically delicious image of the Dark Lord himself strangling a priest in a stormy sea with a chain whip. My favorite album - in terms of cover art - was definitely Dio's Holy Diver. Wanting to emulate the coolness, I spent hours laying in my brother Andrew's bed thumbing through his rather impressive vinyl collection. As such, I was weaned on Black Sabbath, AC/DC, and Motorhead - heck, we even listened to a terrible Asian metal band called Loudness (I've still got Thunder in the East). In other words, don't expect Brutal Legend to rock your socks off, but it's definitely worth a play-through. Still, the setting, character design, music, and voice talent are strong enough that most gamers who pick up the title will enjoy their time with it. Rockmore effigy for Lita Ford’s character.Brutal Legend has a lot of heart and soul - unfortunately, the hybrid gameplay and lack of main-line content simply doesn't match the hype. So if they do DLC, they need to have it be stuff to extend the main story. The world is big enough on it’s own that it could feature more stage battles, and Lars’ death, among a few other things, just happened way too soon given it’s length.Almost $80 (Hey, I wanted it sooner, rather than later) for music and between 6 and 8 hours of of gameplay, even for as enjoyable as it is? I could have hunted down the soundtrack for free and just watched the cutscenes as a movie on YouTube. I’d shell out however much they wanted for that. What I’d like to see for this game is DLC that makes the story longer. You wouldn’t have time for the music if you didn’t try to complete all the side quests…But it’s true killer is it’s length, lending this review it’s opening thought and title. It’s freaking epic, and to get all the songs, you have to explore to find and unlock them. The soundtrack is massive at 108 songs, so if they do DLC for this game and it turns out to be nothing but new songs, I’m going to be mad.I love this game, despite some things that happen in the story.
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