Combining elements of action, RPG, and real time strategy, Brutal Legend offers up a unique gaming experience.  The game stars Jack Black as roadie Eddie Riggs, sent to save a land of heavy metal.  Lead Designer Tim Schaffer (who also did critical darling Psychonauts) delivers an entire world that looks and feels like a heavy metal album cover.

    The whole game is a giant homage to heavy metal.  Aside from the world in which you play, the character design is also a tribute to the metal gods.  Eddie and friends are the denim and leather metal types.  The first enemies you encounter are hair metal devotees, complete with their animal print tights and headbands.  At one point you can overhear a couple of enemies discussing the merits of oil-based hair products over water based ones.  Later on another army you face is goth-themed, complete with a cloud of gloom that follows them over the battlefield.

    The single player game mostly plays like an action game with Eddie defeating nearby enemies with his skills or with the help of nearby friends.  The story is quest-driven, so aside from the main story there are side missions that grant fire tributes to help Eddie learn new moves.   In addition to learning new moves, fire tributes can be redeemed for weapon and car upgrades as well.  Just pay a visit to the Guardian of Metal (Ozzy Osbourne) and purchase an upgrade.

    Part of the single player game and all of multiplayer game plays out in stage battles.  Stage battles become a combination of real time strategy and action.  First you must build a merch booth to harvest the power of you fans and then use that energy to produce units.  Once you have enough units, your next goal is to destroy the opponent’s stage.  At any time during the stage battle the player can fly around and command from above, or you can drop in to lend a hand to your troops.  It is a seamless blend of RTS and action.

    Brutal Legend features top-notch voice acting.  Aside from Jack Black and Ozzy Osbourne, the game also boasts Lemmy Kilmister from Motorhead, Rob Halford from Judas Priest, ( voicing two characters)  Lita Ford and Tim Curry.  The game has lots of dialogue and is genuinely funny.  Comedy is very difficult to pull off in a video game, but Brutal Legend has many laugh-out-loud moments.

    All in all, Brutal Legend is a great game.  Its biggest fault is that it seems a bit short.  Doing all of the side missions and finding all the extras will add a significant amount of playtime, but the main story is a bit short.  You don’t have to be a fan of metal to enjoy this game, but if you are it’s that much sweeter.

Brutal Legend is rated M for Mature by the ESRB for blood and gore, intense violence, partial nudity, strong language, and suggestive themes.  It’s worth noting that the game has a language and gore filter option, essentially making it what would be T for Teen game.  Brutal Legend is available on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

About the author: Kevin “Mello Joe” Mercer is a former radio personality and a lifelong gamer. You can find him on Xbox Live and Playstation Network, Gamertag: Mellojoe. View the world as he sees it at www.youtube.com/user/mellojoe. www.myspace.com/charlesk