Review | Brütal Legend
//Same old story
And that’s where the real issues with Brütal Legend lie. It lays out its core mechanics, but never really progresses beyond them. There is the odd distraction in the form of either a sidequest or a new unit type that you have to unlock somehow, but the formula of travel mission to stage fight is rarely diverted from. Really, that’s not a huge problem; the stage fights are fun and engaging, with pseudo-RTS elements that provide a nice distraction from just beating the crap out your enemies with guitar/axe combos, and the travel missions give your car and all the weapons you spent so much money on some well-needed exercise.
What’s left is a frustratingly clichéd story that on one level works as a brilliant pastiche of the melodramatic narrative that is so prevalent in metal music, but on the other, is just – well – a frustratingly clichéd story. The real problem is that Eddie Riggs makes a series of decisions that are painstakingly obvious to the player, and are not something you’d choose doing if you were given that choice. That a good third of the game wouldn’t take place if you were given the choice of whether to be a dick or not is perhaps telling.
It’s hard not to go into specifics, but for the sake of what little story there is, I’ll try to be vague. I’ve not witnessed an ending that felt so rushed in a good long time. It took me so by surprise that I assumed I was about two-thirds of the way through the game, and didn’t even think to go cash in whatever money I had on buying upgrades and the like. It all culminates in some half-arsed twist and a frustrating yet boring boss battle that is both unsatisfying and unexpected. You’re suddenly presented with the credits, left bemused and frustrated that a good chunk of the game seems to be missing.
All this negativity would make it seem like I didn’t enjoy the game, and that’s entirely untrue. I’m only highlighting these flaws because Brütal Legend comes so close to being breathtaking. It’s funny throughout, doing clever things with how you play, while at the same time providing a fantasy land unmatched in recent history. That it even has it’s own quite complicated and interesting lore is testament enough to that. Each area is distinct and visually interesting, with some brilliant little ideas thrown in all over the place that provide it with wonderful character.
In many ways it feels like a game that has an explosion of brilliant ideas to begin with, including the concept and mechanics, but once they’re spent, they’re gone, and you’re left with a tacked on ending and an unsatisfying conclusion. That the game begins with you first slaughtering some cultists, then descending a fucking mountain of bones while praying to the evil walker thing that’s carrying you, and then, as if all this wasn’t enough, you make a car out of spare parts, and drive it down a crumbling bridge that would give any Halo ending a good run for its money, is just testament to the wealth of good ideas that make up the first half of the game.
They don’t hang around, though, and once you’ve defeated the immediate threat of General Lionwhite (he’s very early on set up as the main villain) the game seems to completely lose all sense of direction. It’s just maddening that so much could have been done, yet was mostly ignored to seemingly just tag on another grand joke about emos being like zombies.
It’s hard to get angry about something you don’t care about, and it’s worth stressing again that my frustration at Brütal Legend is only because I enjoyed it so much. Even when it was doing stupid things with the story I was still enjoying it, because it was still funny, and it was still fun. The issues I have with are almost all thematically based, complaining about flow and narrative, so unless you’re really looking at Brütal Legend to provide a satisfying story, I doubt you’ll have a problem. Yes, it’s very much front-loaded in regards to the big, cool ideas, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any in the latter parts of the game.
Maybe there’s a big chunk of lost levels that would make the game whole. Maybe my concerns are purely personal and no one else will find them to be an issue. I doubt it, at least in regards to the rushed ending, but there’s always that chance. What you need to know, when all is said and done, is that this is the quintessential metal game. It makes you feel like more of a musician than Guitar Hero or Rock Band ever does, and more awesome than many of the most macho shooters. It’s a power-fantasy in the purest sense of the term, providing you with a brilliantly realised world and the tailor-made hero it needs. On that front, it succeeds whole-heartedly.
8/10
