Few games, if any, have managed to mix humor with an A-list gaming experience. Duke Nukem could arguably one of the first to pull this off -- if you find machismo-filled dude posturing funny. Then there was Leisure Suit Larry, a so-so game for people who LOL at slightly naughty Playboy cartoons. More recently there was Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard with Will Arnett and Neil Patrick Harris tossing off genius one-liners, but even those couldn't overshadow the game's clever, but sloppily executed, mechanics.
Brutal Legend, the new heavy-metal themed action game starring the voice of actor Jack Black, tries to bring the funny along with a third-person action game will have you pulling off the proverbial kitchen sink of video game antics.
In the first level, you'll hack through piles of enemies with a combo of axe and magic lightening bolts brought on by strumming a guitar. That's punctuated with a pedal-to-the-medal drive in a car called the 'druid plow' (which you use to ... plow through evil druids), a fight against a giant monster that starts with luring it to smash your car, avoiding it as it smashes down, then driving over one of its three tongues. Repeat until all of the tongues are severed, then finish the thing off in a second battle.
After flooring it over a collapsing bridge, the game turns into an open world game where you can stick to the main mission, find metal tracks hidden in the landscape, go sightseeing at landmarks like Mount Rockmore or just cruise around, plowing down the wildlife roaming the landscape for kicks. Later on, take command of a host of headbangers by dividing the up into squads and issue orders during battle in a real-time-strategy lite segment of the game.
Even with the mix-it-up game mechanics and the barrage of metal jokes that remind us of our childhood (listening to Black Sabbath on a tinny boom box, natch) the overall experience feels surprisingly predictable at times. The time-tested formula of fighting a bunch of lower level goons - unlocking abilities as you proceed -- followed by fighting waves of lower and medium-level goons, then followed by a big boss battle seems too rote for a game determined to break all of the rules. That's not to say Brutal Legend isn't any fun to play -- it is -- but we can see this action game drawing in the more casual gamer vs. the people who have spent the past few years perfecting headshots in Call of Duty 4 or Gears of War.
As for the funny: Brutal Legend brings it 100%. Jack Black possesses Eddie Riggs, the game's cocksure hero, who bumbles into an alternate dimension and uses his skills as a roadie to save humans from the reign of Emperor Diviculous. Watching Eddie confidently sashay through any situation almost feels like you're watching a Black movie, where he always takes the lead, somehow defeats all odds and gets the girl in the end. Whether or not Eddie will get the girl (yes, there's a love interest) at the end of Brutal Legend remains to be seen, but we're looking forward to finding out when the game ships on October 13.
Brutal Legend Screens
Brutal Legend tells the tale of Eddie Riggs, played by Jack Black, who is drawn back through time to a mythical world immersed in Rock and Roll folklore; where great Metal titans once ruled and power chords rang from the countryside for all to hear. When an oppressed people request Eddie's knowledge of modern warfare, he pulls from his own experience in the only occupation he's ever had, a roadie for a Heavy Metal band. From this springs the most hellacious army man has ever seen, and thus brings this ancient world into the Age of Metal. (Screenshot 1 of 36)
Brutal Legend tells the tale of Eddie Riggs, played by Jack Black, who is drawn back through time to a mythical world immersed in Rock and Roll folklore; where great Metal titans once ruled and power chords rang from the countryside for all to hear. When an oppressed people request Eddie's knowledge of modern warfare, he pulls from his own experience in the only occupation he's ever had, a roadie for a Heavy Metal band. From this springs the most hellacious army man has ever seen, and thus brings this ancient world into the Age of Metal. (Screenshot 2 of 36)
Brutal Legend tells the tale of Eddie Riggs, played by Jack Black, who is drawn back through time to a mythical world immersed in Rock and Roll folklore; where great Metal titans once ruled and power chords rang from the countryside for all to hear. When an oppressed people request Eddie's knowledge of modern warfare, he pulls from his own experience in the only occupation he's ever had, a roadie for a Heavy Metal band. From this springs the most hellacious army man has ever seen, and thus brings this ancient world into the Age of Metal. (Screenshot 3 of 36)
Brutal Legend tells the tale of Eddie Riggs, played by Jack Black, who is drawn back through time to a mythical world immersed in Rock and Roll folklore; where great Metal titans once ruled and power chords rang from the countryside for all to hear. When an oppressed people request Eddie's knowledge of modern warfare, he pulls from his own experience in the only occupation he's ever had, a roadie for a Heavy Metal band. From this springs the most hellacious army man has ever seen, and thus brings this ancient world into the Age of Metal. (Screenshot 4 of 36)
Brutal Legend tells the tale of Eddie Riggs, played by Jack Black, who is drawn back through time to a mythical world immersed in Rock and Roll folklore; where great Metal titans once ruled and power chords rang from the countryside for all to hear. When an oppressed people request Eddie's knowledge of modern warfare, he pulls from his own experience in the only occupation he's ever had, a roadie for a Heavy Metal band. From this springs the most hellacious army man has ever seen, and thus brings this ancient world into the Age of Metal. (Screenshot 5 of 36)
Brutal Legend tells the tale of Eddie Riggs, played by Jack Black, who is drawn back through time to a mythical world immersed in Rock and Roll folklore; where great Metal titans once ruled and power chords rang from the countryside for all to hear. When an oppressed people request Eddie's knowledge of modern warfare, he pulls from his own experience in the only occupation he's ever had, a roadie for a Heavy Metal band. From this springs the most hellacious army man has ever seen, and thus brings this ancient world into the Age of Metal. (Screenshot 6 of 36)
Brutal Legend tells the tale of Eddie Riggs, played by Jack Black, who is drawn back through time to a mythical world immersed in Rock and Roll folklore; where great Metal titans once ruled and power chords rang from the countryside for all to hear. When an oppressed people request Eddie's knowledge of modern warfare, he pulls from his own experience in the only occupation he's ever had, a roadie for a Heavy Metal band. From this springs the most hellacious army man has ever seen, and thus brings this ancient world into the Age of Metal. (Screenshot 7 of 36)
Brutal Legend tells the tale of Eddie Riggs, played by Jack Black, who is drawn back through time to a mythical world immersed in Rock and Roll folklore; where great Metal titans once ruled and power chords rang from the countryside for all to hear. When an oppressed people request Eddie's knowledge of modern warfare, he pulls from his own experience in the only occupation he's ever had, a roadie for a Heavy Metal band. From this springs the most hellacious army man has ever seen, and thus brings this ancient world into the Age of Metal. (Screenshot 8 of 36)
Brutal Legend tells the tale of Eddie Riggs, played by Jack Black, who is drawn back through time to a mythical world immersed in Rock and Roll folklore; where great Metal titans once ruled and power chords rang from the countryside for all to hear. When an oppressed people request Eddie's knowledge of modern warfare, he pulls from his own experience in the only occupation he's ever had, a roadie for a Heavy Metal band. From this springs the most hellacious army man has ever seen, and thus brings this ancient world into the Age of Metal. (Screenshot 9 of 36)
Brutal Legend tells the tale of Eddie Riggs, played by Jack Black, who is drawn back through time to a mythical world immersed in Rock and Roll folklore; where great Metal titans once ruled and power chords rang from the countryside for all to hear. When an oppressed people request Eddie's knowledge of modern warfare, he pulls from his own experience in the only occupation he's ever had, a roadie for a Heavy Metal band. From this springs the most hellacious army man has ever seen, and thus brings this ancient world into the Age of Metal. (Screenshot 10 of 36)
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