YESTERDAY A FRIEND asked me to describe Brütal Legend in
a single word. After spending a moment in stubble-rubbing
contemplation, a light bulb burst to life. Slamming a fist down on the
table in front of me, I shouted “Schizophrenic!” before clutching my
hand to my chest and screaming in pain.
Brütal Legend never seems to know what it wants to be.
The meticulously curated heavy metal soundtrack and clever cameos from
Lemmy, Ozzy, and Rob Halford all scream “heartfelt ode to a bygone
era,” while the entire advertising budget seems aimed at stoner kids
whose only exposure to metal is the lazy “other people’s interests are
weird” irony of Dethklok. Even the gameplay—which changes from
moment to moment between standard action/adventure, third-person
real-time strategy, and truncated rhythm minigames—seemingly
follows the shotgun method of game design: fire enough shit at the
player and they’ll have to like something.
The one unmitigated triumph in the game is in its writing. As with
creator Tim Schafer’s earlier games (Psychonauts, Full
Throttle, Grim Fandango), Brütal Legend is often
genuinely funny. The jokes won’t ever approach the sort of thing one
could call “cerebral,” but they’re a far sight more clever than any
episode of Two and a Half Men. Sadly, Brütal
Legend‘s star, Jack Black, is no Charlie Sheen, so there’s bound to
be a large contingent of people who will find the game’s protagonist
annoying simply for being a virtual re-creation of such an unlikeable,
confusingly famous celebrity.
I realize this all seems like backhanded praise, but after
completing the game in 10 hours, that’s the best I can generate.
Schafer has once again created a game that will be praised as “genius”
by his fans, but will undoubtedly be ignored by everyone else. At best,
sales will be average, and Schafer’s fans can claim intellectual
superiority over the mainstream. If this were intentional, it could
serve as an ingenious meta-commentary on rabid metalheads—but as
is, Brütal Legend is just an above-average action game.