Rock Hard

On paper Brütal Legend - with its fusion of fantasy action and heavy metal music - might seem like a concept too far. But with a fella called Tim Schafer as the brains behind the game, it's pretty much guaranteed to be a huge success.

Schafer has a great track record. When working for LucasArts during the early 90s he was one of the chaps responsible for making legendary point-and-click adventure The Secret of Monkey Island such a hilarious experience. He then applied his writing skills to the sequel and another much-loved adventure called Day of the Tentacle before coming up with the award-winning Grim Fandango and Xbox classic Psychonauts. Now Schafer's development company Double Fine is set to tickle our funny bones once again.

Heavy Metal Mishap

Brütal Legend's story is quite bizarre. Its star, Eddie Riggs, is a well-respected roadie who, as well as having an exceptional talent in tuning guitars and setting up stage rigs, has a photographic memory for every Heavy Metal Album ever released - and all their song lyrics.

Following a stage accident that knocks Eddie unconscious, he wakes to find himself in a fantastical world where every album cover and lyric has come mysteriously to life, and humankind has been enslaved by an evil emperor, Doviculous, and his demon army The Tainted Coil. It's up to Eddie and the human resistance (led by Lars Halford and his sister Lita) to lead the human race into battle.

Axe Attack

It's all utterly ridiculous of course, and that's what makes Brütal Legend so much fun. Played in third-person perspective, Brütal Legend's gothic gameplay is pure rock and roll action madness. Eddie dispatches demonic enemies at close quarters with his broadaxe The Separator. Long range attacks are handled in gruesome style using Eddie's guitar weapon Clementine, and there's even the opportunity for vehicular combat thanks to Riggs' Hot Rod, The Deuce.

As Eddie fights his way through hordes of demonic entities, he discovers environments unlike anything players have seen before. There are mountains made of amplifiers, and scenery constructed of motor parts. This game is heavy metal in every sense.

Brütal Legend's rock credentials are backed up by the stellar vocal talents of Jack Black, Judas Priest's Rob Halford, Motorhead's Lemmy and 80's huge-haired rock vixen Lita Ford, among others. And the game's soundtrack is a corker too featuring music from 75 bands, including Anthrax, Black Sabbath, Cradle of Filth, Def Leppard, Mastodon, Megadeth, Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Zombie, Saxon, Tenacious D, Whitesnake. In fact, pretty much the whole world of heavy metal is represented.

Brütal Legend also rocks online with a multi-player game in which the aim is simply to survive. The player achieves this both by entering into action-based combat and employing strategic thinking to control their army during an almighty Battle of the Bands.

Rockers will, needless to say, be over the moon about the release of Brütal Legend, but others too will surely find the game's unique brand of metal-madness thoroughly infectious.

GAME's Verdict

• Unique idea
• Amazing looks
• Tremendous track listing
• Mad metal gameplay
• Multi-player mode

• Pop fans beware

Review by: Simon 'closetBillyJoelfan' Kirrane
Version Tested: Xbox360/PS3
Review Published: 15.10.09