A game based on Jack Black is a bit of a problem for me, his Tenacious D records are hilarious and cause many an embarrassing outburst when on the train but his films do tend to suck a little. I think it's the fact that you have to look at him for long periods of time that bugs me, so the opening few minutes of the game when you have to sit watching him act sends shivers down my spine. The premise however gaming genius, Jack introduces you to a mythical album called Brutal Legend. Upon opening the sleeve you are taken on a tale of heroes, villains, treachery and kick-ass (arse) rock music. You play Eddie Riggs, the best roadie out there who is stuck working for a bunch of metal wannabes. Following a freak accident Eddie finds himself in a strange but weirdly familiar looking realm. Of course, he gets straight into the action and instantly starts to hack to pieces off a few baddies with an axe and his trusty Flying V guitar which is found lying at a strange alter.

 

 

These two weapons form the basis for all of the combos in the game. The axe is your melee weapon and the guitar is your ranged, with a strum you can electrify enemies or hold it down for more powerful moves. With the guitar you can also play solos to summon certain powers and with a press of the RT you can bring up an easy to use dial menu, just click on the required power and play a quick minigame and then stand back and watch the fireworks fly.

 

As the story progresses you start to learn of a prophecy in which Eddie has been called to help free Lars and his followers from the evil Doviculus and his army called the Tainted Coil. The first few quests involve Eddie gathering an army. Using his newly granted solo powers Eddie can attract more grunts to join his army, here the game is a classic 3rd person hack and slash, running around cutting up enemies and then giving the occasional order to stay or attack to your Headbangers. Once you have gathered up your army the game takes a huge turn and becomes a real time strategy game. With fans as your currency you are able to command your troops to take down enemy bases. Your own main base is a huge stage and must be protected at all costs. Your army gradually gets upgraded with each fight, starting with the Headbangers and later a health-giving biker voiced by Lemmy, tanks and heavy hitters with seriously large hands voiced by Kyle from Tenacious D (wondering when he would turn up?). You still control Eddie and get down and dirty with the fighting, teaming up with units to unleash even more moves or you can run around (or fly later) and command your units from safety. Again a dial menu is used for the in-game building and through other RTS games has proven itself the best way to navigate menus on console games.

 

The main game hub itself is free roaming, allowing you to summon and drive around in Deuce (Eddies hot rod) whilst finding the many hidden collectables that grant you Fire Tributes, these are used to upgrade both Eddie and the Deuce. Dotted around the map you will find MotorForges that are ran by the Guardian of Metal (a surprisingly well acting Ozzy). Here you are able to use your Fire Tributes to upgrade your guitar, axe Deuce and combos. The upgrades are just as mad as the rest of the game with machinegun racks, paint jobs and bombs for the Deuce, lightning and fire attacks for your axe and also new strings for your guitar that grant more powers.

 

Away from the main campaign (which won't take too long to play) there are loads of secondary quests to complete. Some are assisting the Headbangers in ambushes, races across the lands, fixed person shooting and also herding animals. The game is so well made that each gameplay type is seamlessly integrated into the game world, making it a dream to play.

 

 

There is also a huge multiplayer mode that is based on the RTS element of the game and sees you playing in a huge battle to destroy the other teams stage. Only after playing this do you realise that the whole single player campaign has been a training mode for the multiplayer. All that you have learned comes into full force here, from managing a select unit to sending all of your troops to battle you have full control. There are three teams to select including Eddie’s classic rockers and the hard-core leather-bound demons the Tainted Coil.

 

As mentioned earlier I am not a huge Jack Black fan, thankfully for me though this game has enough humor to overlook his shortcomings. All of the voice actors do a remarkable job. The soundtrack is of course a metal haven with a huge amount of classics in there from the likes of Testament, Def Leopard, Ozzy, Girl School, Judas Priest and RATT. Whilst driving around in Deuce you can switch the radio to play whatever track you have unlocked via the Mouth of Metal, plus the game will play selected tunes and a pretty good original game score at points in the story to build atmosphere. The whole game world also looks amazing, represented in an animated look, each area is based on classic metal album covers so expect lots of swords and mythical imagery dotted around and plenty of freaky monsters. During both the hack and slash and RTS moments the game handles all the effects well, with a teeny stutter when things get really hectic, but that is very rare.

 

Brutal Legend started playing like a God of War style fighter and then blossomed into a great RTS and really caught me completely unawares. This is yet another must have game from EA, especially so for those who love to rock.