Brutal Legend
Wednesday, 15. September 2010
I avoided this one initially because the reviews suggested that it was primarily an RTS, and that was something I really didn’t feel like struggling with at the time. As it turns out the RTS portions are only portions of the game, and are the multi player element. That and the fact that EA released it didn’t help much either. So at around $20 I figured it was safe to pickup for the collection. Wow, was I ever wrong in waiting as long as I did.
If you can merely tolerate any sort of heavy metal; this game is utterly amazing. If you really like the music it is all the better. Brutal Legend is really a full fledged tribute to the entire genre. The music is great and the entire world looks like it was ripped off of an album cover (And technically, it was.) The color, background and environmental effects are simply beautiful, as well as all the character models and animation.
Well technically not an RPG in purest sense of the word, Brutal contains a lot of upgradable elements for your main character and a good way of powering up. The majority of the main story takes place in between being on foot, and driving (Aka, the deuce or the “Druid plow”) with the occasional major battle located to break that up. The story is compelling and well played, easily making this a game where you can look over at the clock and several hours have gone by. There is a large variety of side missions available as well to break things up and are a very good opportunity to see all that the game really has to offer in terms of landscape. The main storyline of the game runs around 30 hours probably, a little on the short side if you’re not putting time into some side quests.
When you’re not running around in the main storyline, you’re directing your army’s against the enemy trying to tear down their stage before they get the better of yours. There is a wide variety of troops amongst the 3 armies of the game.. corresponding to classic metal, death metal and twisted metal appropriately. Your commander is fully able to get into the action and has a good variety of musical solos they they can use to direct the battle. Facemelter for instance, does exactly what it sounds like. The strategic depth is actually better that what I would’ve expected from a console game.
Brutal Legend is well put together and will leave you crying for more. Lets hope they either spend a lot of time to put together a very compelling sequel, or just let it stand alone in it’s glory. Anything less would be simply defacing all the hard work that made this game so excellent.
Radio Prime Says:
Why Activision is Evil:
EA Exec, Tim Schafer Respond to Negative Statements by Kotick
Quotes from an Edge magazine interview with Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick have been making the rounds this morning. Now, two of the targets of his comments — Electronic Arts and Double Fine’s Tim Schafer — have responded to Activision’s chief executive.
In the interview, Kotick bashed rival publisher EA for, in Kotick’s opinion, not cultivating studios’ cultures, and also suggested that “great people don’t really want to work there.” Schafer became involved when Kotick slammed Brutal Legend, saying that it was a good decision by Activision to drop it and that “the game was not a particularly good game…” His negative comments didn’t stop there; Kotick at one point implied that former Infinity Ward heads Vince Zampella and Jason West would “probably have a really hard time ever being productive or successful ever again.”
EA has quickly issued a statement striking back. “Kotick’s relationship with studio talent is well-documented in litigation,” EA corporate communications VP Jeff Brown said in the statement (via Gamasutra). “His company is based on three game franchises — one is a fantastic persistent world he had nothing to do with; one is in steep decline; and the third is in the process of being destroyed by Kotick’s own hubris.” Brown is referring to World of Warcraft, Guitar Hero, and Call of Duty, respectively.
As for the litigation, Activision sued Double Fine over the rights to Brutal Legend last year. After Activision decided to drop the project, EA moved in to publish the game, prompting Activision to sue. Activision is also in a legal battle with the aforementioned Jason West and Vince Zampella over the events that took place prior to the duo being fired from their positions at Infinity Ward.
Like EA, Tim Schafer (who, it was just revealed today, has been reunited with Ron Gilbert at Double Fine) was also displeased with what Kotick had to say. Earlier this year, Schafer referred to Kotick as a “prick,” though he later called the incident an “accident.” Regarding Kotick’s comments in the new interview, he said (via Eurogamer), “It’s sad is that instead of just insulting me personally, he goes after the product of my hard-working team — a group of people he almost put out of work a while back. But what’s even sadder is that it took him two months to think of a comeback.”
Things seem to be getting pretty nasty, in particular between EA and Activision. Further statements from both sides could be forthcoming, and that’s without having heard from Respawn Entertainment’s Jason West or Vince Zampella. The one thing you can almost certainly count on: none of the four to five games that Double Fine is working on are likely to be published by Activision.
Grey Says:
Yeah, it’s kind of rediculous to see that sort of sparring between companies. EA isn’t exactly my favorite either with their sports spam, but thats simply rediculous.