![]() ![]() and Eddie Riggs is discussing his roadie-duties, I knew I was in it for the story/characters more than anything else. When the Kabbage Boys are playing their “metal” track sagittarius horoscope today is enthusiastic in all his activities and can practice many at the same time. Honestly, if you’re not impressed in the first five minutes (I don’t know how you couldn’t be), you’d best walk away. Simple things, like the video intro to the record-store and Brutal Legend vinyl-menu-thing, to the use of ‘yes or no’ toggles when agreeing to missions or selecting options like whether to have gore and foul language enabled. Better than most games this generation, actually. Aside from that, the game’s presentation is absolutely top-notch. It’s a minor thing, but one that may have made the game a little more pliable to the PC crowd (although something tells me most PC-only gamers will just be glad to play another Tim Schafer game.) Ultimately I ended up playing on a 360 pad (for shame), as it was less clunky than the kb m remap and gave the best play experience. One thing that definitely didn’t go through too much translation – though it probably should/could have given that the game plays like an RTS-lite – is controls. It’s a little jarring when you see all of those jaggies, and then it pops back into the super-smooth 1080 with 4x anti-aliasing in-game… Obviously it runs a treat, but that’s to be expected from a console port that’s 3 years old. ![]() Ironically, the cutscenes were actually lower-resolution looking than the real-time graphics. Other than slightly improved graphics in the form of a resolution bump, I’m not exactly sure what the PC version has that the console versions don’t. For example, while its gameplay does get a tad repetitive, I still kept playing merely to continue Eddie Riggs’ plight. In this regard, I tended to forgive a lot of the game’s shortcomings. Jack Black being Jack Black is the obvious example, but there are plenty of Rock and Roller cameos (or rather “loosely” based facsimiles) and the fantasy-twists on real-life elements are as hilarious as they are direct. In typical Schafer fashion, the world is full of over-the-top-but-not-flamboyant (unless intentional) characters which propel it from being an otherwise mediocre experience to an exceedingly fun and entertaining one. When Eddie can read the ancient/mythical writings of the Titans’ – scriptures of untold power and awesomeness – the resistance fighters assume he is the prodigal ‘chosen one’ and the adventure unfolds from there. While there, he meets up with a small band of resistance fighters trying to overthrow Doviculus, a tyrant/emperor trying to forever change metal as we know it (or something like that). And now, with the PC re-release of the title, I’m even more optimistic I figure even if it doesn’t necessarily strike a chord with me (pun intended), I’d still be able to enjoy it for what it is – a Tim Schafer metal-adventure starring Jack Black! The story goes that while on tour with a “metal” band, roadie Eddie Riggs gets in an accident which inadvertently unleashes the rock demon, Ormagoden, who transports him to his underverse of the same name… Basically a Heavy Metal-inspired Oz that looks like Rock and Roll Mordor (which conversely conjures the “one does not simply into Mordor” meme). So when these two titans joined forces for Brutal Legend on consoles back in 2009, during the height of the rock-game renaissance borne from Guitar Hero and Rock Band, I was fairly hopeful. Ironically, I feel the same way about Jack Black even when his movies are annoying (like when he gets crammed into a PG-box like School of Rock), I generally don’t hate them. Full Throttle and Psychonauts I loved, Grim Fandango and Stacking I appreciated. When it comes to Tim Schafer games, I either love them or merely just appreciate them. On paper, the combination of Jack Black and Tim Schafer in a Metal-inspired action-adventure game seems too perfect to be true. Platform: PC Publisher: Double Fine Developer: Double Fine Medium: Digital Players: 1-8 Online: Yes ESRB: M
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