in which Nick plays Games: Brütal Legend
I got this for Xmas from my in-laws, and played it for a few weeks before going to Batman. Picked it back up last Wednesday due to some illness, and played through the middle and all the way to the end on Saturday. At 2AM. Because Laurel wanted to see how it ended.
At this point, I'm just achievement-whoring - there are some 40ish things left for me to find scattered about the map.
Things I Liked:
- The soundtrack was, at times, fantastic. The Metal, ample Slayer/Sabbath/etc. 3 Inches of Blood!
- The world was fantastically well-designed for what it was - an ode to The Metal.
- Cruising around in my car, listening to metal, then jumping out on occasion to bash demons to death with an axe and a lightning-throwing guitar? Priceless wish-fulfillment.
- The story was hilarious and well-built, which is what I'd expect from Tim Shafer. I'm tempted to convert to the worship of Ormagöden, as that's a deity I could get behind.
- Stuff to do - sure, the story missions were OK, but the fact that I could take off pretty much whenever and go find trouble/unlockables was pretty awesome.
- A few of the side missions - notable the one with the bat family - were amazing. Not that they were particularly new, play-wise, but they were funny.
- The humor came through. A large part of this was Jack Black being Jack Black, but man - some of the lines were just funny. "SILENCE, GROUND WALKER!" and the "new shirt" one come to mind.
- The solos were largely amazing - summoning the sun via stage lights, melting faces, summoning wild metal beasts. Also, a GIANT FLAMING ZEPPELIN.
Things I Didn't Like:
- The RTS stuff was sort of crap, in that it just wasn't that fun. The control-scheme was the best you could do with a console, and I get that, but it was still iffy at best - I still haven't been able to give individual orders despite doing what the instructions say. What's worse, most battles went the EXACT SAME WAY - resource whore, build a force and take a small target, whore some more while defending that target, repeat. Sort of boring. The only stage-battle I lost I lost by literally inches - it was me and one other dude, and when he hit my stage instead of me I lost. Otherwise, every battle I won first go.
- Most of the one-on-one fights went the same. If you got swamped, Facemelter. Otherwise, just hit stuff or team-up with a Razor girl and death from afar.
- A lot of the side missions were repetitive, and what was worse was that the voice acting for them was the same. If I never have to hear "Bad Guys! Wanna help?" again, I'll be a happy man.
- I question some of the musical choices. I mean - KISS? Really? NOT METAL. Dr. Feelgood? C'MON.
- While the voice-acting was largely good, I got mighty sick of missing some of it. The game would regularly skip the last line in a given segment to go to the load screen, but the subtitles would show what the line should've been.
- Odd glitches abounded - I can't tell you how mad I was at the last race sidemission, in that it was the only mission (apparently) that I needed to hit every damn blue dot instead of passing near them. I hit the finish line 3 separate times before Squealer, only to lose. Not sure if it was because it was the last race, that particular race, or what.
- The upgrades were hugely uneven. The Lightning Strings are MASSIVELY broken - especially in the final fight - but other than them the rest of the strings sort of suck. Likewise, many of the axe upgrades are crap, but one of the earliest is still one of the best. I hear the one from the DLC is a game-breaker.
- I sort of hate that all of the DLC is multi-player focused, and that all of the multi-player is the RTS shit.
Verdict:
It's fun and funny, and despite the awkward RTS elements I enjoyed it. Can't say there'd be a lot of replay value, unless you want to just drive around and listen to metal. Which, y'know - you can do that in real life. Still, worth the time. Solid rental, own if you're a metalhead.
At this point, I'm just achievement-whoring - there are some 40ish things left for me to find scattered about the map.
Things I Liked:
- The soundtrack was, at times, fantastic. The Metal, ample Slayer/Sabbath/etc. 3 Inches of Blood!
- The world was fantastically well-designed for what it was - an ode to The Metal.
- Cruising around in my car, listening to metal, then jumping out on occasion to bash demons to death with an axe and a lightning-throwing guitar? Priceless wish-fulfillment.
- The story was hilarious and well-built, which is what I'd expect from Tim Shafer. I'm tempted to convert to the worship of Ormagöden, as that's a deity I could get behind.
- Stuff to do - sure, the story missions were OK, but the fact that I could take off pretty much whenever and go find trouble/unlockables was pretty awesome.
- A few of the side missions - notable the one with the bat family - were amazing. Not that they were particularly new, play-wise, but they were funny.
- The humor came through. A large part of this was Jack Black being Jack Black, but man - some of the lines were just funny. "SILENCE, GROUND WALKER!" and the "new shirt" one come to mind.
- The solos were largely amazing - summoning the sun via stage lights, melting faces, summoning wild metal beasts. Also, a GIANT FLAMING ZEPPELIN.
Things I Didn't Like:
- The RTS stuff was sort of crap, in that it just wasn't that fun. The control-scheme was the best you could do with a console, and I get that, but it was still iffy at best - I still haven't been able to give individual orders despite doing what the instructions say. What's worse, most battles went the EXACT SAME WAY - resource whore, build a force and take a small target, whore some more while defending that target, repeat. Sort of boring. The only stage-battle I lost I lost by literally inches - it was me and one other dude, and when he hit my stage instead of me I lost. Otherwise, every battle I won first go.
- Most of the one-on-one fights went the same. If you got swamped, Facemelter. Otherwise, just hit stuff or team-up with a Razor girl and death from afar.
- A lot of the side missions were repetitive, and what was worse was that the voice acting for them was the same. If I never have to hear "Bad Guys! Wanna help?" again, I'll be a happy man.
- I question some of the musical choices. I mean - KISS? Really? NOT METAL. Dr. Feelgood? C'MON.
- While the voice-acting was largely good, I got mighty sick of missing some of it. The game would regularly skip the last line in a given segment to go to the load screen, but the subtitles would show what the line should've been.
- Odd glitches abounded - I can't tell you how mad I was at the last race sidemission, in that it was the only mission (apparently) that I needed to hit every damn blue dot instead of passing near them. I hit the finish line 3 separate times before Squealer, only to lose. Not sure if it was because it was the last race, that particular race, or what.
- The upgrades were hugely uneven. The Lightning Strings are MASSIVELY broken - especially in the final fight - but other than them the rest of the strings sort of suck. Likewise, many of the axe upgrades are crap, but one of the earliest is still one of the best. I hear the one from the DLC is a game-breaker.
- I sort of hate that all of the DLC is multi-player focused, and that all of the multi-player is the RTS shit.
Verdict:
It's fun and funny, and despite the awkward RTS elements I enjoyed it. Can't say there'd be a lot of replay value, unless you want to just drive around and listen to metal. Which, y'know - you can do that in real life. Still, worth the time. Solid rental, own if you're a metalhead.