Brütal Legend

I picked up a copy of Brütal Legend today, and not surprisingly… it freaking ROCKS.

That’s right. I went ahead and added in the umlaut in the game title. It’s all about the accüracy around here.

I hate to admit it, but after seeing a mention of the game on BoingBoing, I ended up visiting the official site and ended up buying the game a week later. I feel a little disturbed that I can identify the ways in which a website influences my purchases… but this game is so much fun, I’m overlooking that for now.

Game synopsis: you’re a roadie transported to another world. You have an axe (guitar), that causes damage when you play it. You have another axe (real) that also causes damage when you use it.

Here’s the official trailer:

Right off the bat, the game is a blast. It starts off with a video intro (Jack Black walks with you into a record store and shows you a secret/mysterious LP). It’s a bit surprising to see actual video at first, but after a quick setup… there’s a cool transition right into the game.

I have to say – the transitions between setup and gameplay are very well done. There were several points where learning the controls felt very natural, very intuitive. A lot of the start of the game got you familiar with what to do, almost without you realizing it. I know games tend to strive for this kind of thing, but Brütal Legend really made it pretty seamless.

Here’s a taste of how a user sets up the preferences, all within the opening first few minutes of the game:

Language settings.

Violence/Gore settings.

The start of the game is a mixture of gameplay and story. The first 30 minutes are chock full of animations and moments where you’re setting the controller down because you’re laughing so much.

Here’s a good example: Liz is typically not someone who likes video games much. She sat down to watch as I started up the game, and a solid hour later… she was still on the couch, watching. I’m tempted to say she had as much fun watching the game as I did playing it.

Here’s another video I found that shows off some of the humor behind the game:

The game overall is really well done. There’s a ton of fantastic comedic timing throughout, and a lot of subtle things that you’d associate more with a movie than you would with a video game. On seeing some of the animations and effects, I thought to myself Ok now THIS is why I bought a PS3.

I’m only maybe an hour into it, and I can’t wait to see what else I run across. There are a lot of famous names in here, and so far I’ve met both Ozzy Osbourne and Lemmy. It’s all very much over-the-top and very much tongue in cheek.

Or should I say, tongüe in cheek<. Related:
Heavy Metal Bedroom
Heavy Metal Cab Ride
Rubin’s Spiked Bracelet
The Jacket Arrives
Queensrÿche at the House of Blues
A Queensrÿche-Filled Sort of Day
60 Seconds of Random Death Metal
Happy (Metal) Birthday to Me