Played Lately: Brutal Legend

• Every once in a while, I have the urge to play a game that not very many people liked just to see for myself. My masochistic side coming out, I suppose. Nonetheless, sometimes I just have to make the decision for myself. After finishing Prince Of Persia, I discovered that I didn't have any other Xbox 360 games that I wanted to played. (No, I haven't tried Fable II. No, I'm not sure I care.) My wife very patiently went with me to the local GameStop where I found a copy of Brutal Legend for only eighteen dollars.


• The best thing about the game is that it really can be funny. I enjoyed the humor quite a bit. Double Fine went out of their way to put a lot of fun in the game and I enjoyed roaming all of the world in search of it. The story line was pretty good too. It did a good job of making me want to push through to the ending in spite of the game's shortcomings.


• The main (and only shortcoming, I say) is the stage battles. It is certainly an interesting idea, giving you control of an RTS battle while staying in your action game point of view. The problem is that it is all too chaotic for it to be satisfying. You have to pay attention to the RTS stuff or you will lose. But at the same time you don't have the control necessary to make it feel like you're really doing anything. That said, I never lost a stage battle until the very last one. And that one I lost because I didn't figure out the gimmick and how to pull it off right until a few tries in.


• I think part of draw of the game for me was how much that heavy metal culture was drilled into me as a child. Even without buying the albums, I could not escape the imagery or the music. It all made such an impression on me that the game world made me smile constantly. That sensibility gives it a unique quality that made me want to explore it fully.


• I dove into Brutal Legend on a Friday night and finished the campaign the following Sunday. Even with that, it did not feel too short. I just could not stop myself from wanting to see what happens next. If you haven't tried it yet, you owe it to yourself see at least the good parts of the game. Like myself, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised.

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© 2010 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.