Brutal Legend - First Look Preview

Game presentations aren't usually known for their comedic excellence. Occasionally developers might make a Power Point aided joke that the audience laughs at awkwardly for fear of seeming rude, or a few game journos might cackle derisively at an AI bug in the demo like cool kids at the back of the class. A recent preview for Brutal Legend at EA's Spring Showcase in London was an exception though, causing cynical game hacks to let down their huffy demeanours and guffaw plentifully at the demo as if a canister of nitrous oxide had been emptied into the room [Perhaps it had... can EA do that legally? - ed.]

With the exception of Japanese RPGs, there are very few games out there boasting cut-scenes that are as enjoyable to watch as actually playing the game itself and this is precisely what Tim Schafer's Double Fine Productions is threatening to produce in Brutal Legend. Utilising the writing talents of Schafer himself and voice-over improvisation of the irrepressible Jack Black, combined with tongue-in-cheek visuals from a bizarre rock fantasy world ruled over by the oppressive and aptly named Doviculus, Brutal Legend could end up being the funniest game of 2009 even though it may not necessarily link together the most innovative gameplay.

Rigged

Eddie Riggs is the character at the centre of it all in Brutal Legend. He's the best of the best where rock 'n roll roadies are concerned but manages to knock himself unconscious while rigging up a gig and spill a bit of blood on his demonic belt buckle. Although Riggs thinks the buckle was an innocent souvenir of his fathers, it turns out that this buckle has mystical powers that transport him to a far away fantasy world built from rock nostalgia, ruled over by evil demons with no eyes or noses (only mouths with sharp metallic teeth), and a oppressed population of humans. Tim Schafer explained a little bit about the link between Eddie Riggs' character and Jack Black at the event:

"The character was inspired by him but we never thought we could get him in it," Schafer explained of Jack Black's involvement. "When it came down to casting we were like, 'We don't want to get an imitator,' and we'd heard through a round about way that he'd played Pyschonauts and really enjoyed Psychonauts, our last game, so we contacted him and had one opportunity to go down to LA and show him the concept art, and he liked it - he said he'd do it right there."

Schafer also spoke about how the creative relationship between Jack and himself has worked during production. "He's been great to work with and he's put in many, many hours of voice recording. He gets involved in improvising the dialogue and talking about the character. He's just been a blast to work with; I think he really relates to the game."

"I write it all and he adds the flavour... he'll change the dialogue and improvise," Schaffer continued. "Sometimes he'll do a joke take after the scripted take and often that's the funny one that we'll want to use, so it's really collaborative."

Whatever they are doing, it's working. We've found Jack Black's comedy a bit hit and miss in the past here at TVG but there's no denying the fact that the chemistry is right with Brutal Legend. Secondary characters also appear to be humorously animated in the game as well and Eddie Riggs' love interest, Aphelia, is introduced in one of the opening sections. Masquerading as a demon, Eddie looks more than surprised when she disrobes (she's wearing stuff underneath - don't get too excited) and continues to fight the remaining demons alongside him.

These early sections of the game are primarily hack and slash based, introducing gamers to Eddie's guitar based special moves and a newly acquired axe weapon called The Separator. Double Fine is obviously not aiming to redefine hack and slash gameplay with its offerings in Brutal Legend but the content we saw can certainly hold its head up amongst the stagnant pool of mediocrity in the genre. All of the essential boxes have been ticked: combos, charged attacks, and context sensitive moves. Additionally, some pretty frills have been added for good measure to ensure that the action doesn't get too repetitive.

These are set to include special moves that utilise Eddie's guitar and Separator, such as the Earthshaker (playing a power chord that sends enemies flying) and a Grand-Slam Attack that launches demons in the air with the guitar and then kills them with the axe (the metal one). A Rare Reefer attack can also be used to summon relics from the ground and skewer large groups of the scissor-faced bad guys. Double-team moves will also feature in the combat, with examples including Eddie throwing Aphelia at enemies or lighting the crossbow of another rock dame who then fires it while straddling his shoulders.

Set by themselves, these are the building blocks of a promising hack and slash experience even if it is a little bit on the mild side of things. But Brutal Legend is considerably more than mere combat, offering-up everything from driving sections, open-world exploration, squad gameplay, epic battles, puzzle solving, and even a sprinkling of RPG style mission choice as the game progresses. Without a doubt, it's a well blended mash-up of genres that seems to have been engineered well enough that it doesn't suffer the problem of being a Jack of all trades (ironically enough) and a master of none.

Soon after the game's opening combat scenes you're introduced to The Deuce, which is Eddie's hot-rod complete with the standard flame spewing paintjob for a rock roadie. The car is not only used as a form of transport for some of the game's later open-world sections as we also saw it utilised in a number of scripted sections too. Numerous vehicle based objectives were thrown-up during our first look, ranging from the fairly tame intro sections (mowing down demons was the main concern) to more challenging vehicular mayhem later on (avoiding chasms in a rapidly deteriorating highway or protecting a truck from attacks by demon motorcyclists).

The Deuce was also used during a boss section featuring a huge beast that was like a cross between the Piranha Plants from Super Mario Bros. and the gaping jaw of The Kraken in the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Anyway, the plant struck down on The Deuce periodically and Eddie had to use the car's boost to avoid its attacks. It didn't look like anything too strenuous but who can argue with the inclusion of a few bosses? The section then came to its conclusion with a fairly tame puzzle although, again, it's good to see some gameplay variation in there to break up the action.

Head-Bangers' Wall

Brutal Legend settles into its open-world once Aphelia takes Eddie back to the HQ of the human resistance (it turns out that's three people) and it's here that Eddie realises he can use his organisational roadie skills to help their cause. Firstly though, he needs an army of loyal followers and what better place to start than the local mine? As we were guided through the mines, it became apparent that men with incredibly muscular necks were pounding the rock by banging away at it with their heads (a funny reference to head-banging metallers, particularly as they're not too bright). Doviculus had brainwashed them using his evil army, the Tainted Coil and so Eddie took it upon himself to start a revolution with the oppressed neck people.

He was provided with a choice at this point of whether to start the revolution now or later. Double Fine is promising more of these types of choice in the game, although it was hard for us to deduce exactly how dynamically they will affect the plot. We suspect that it may simply be a case of when you want to do the mission rather than it having any knock-on effect, but we'll have to wait and see on that one. So, with the revolution set in place, Eddie then had a squad of head-bangers to command. To start with this squad consisted of four minions who could be given the usual hold position, attack, or demolish building orders. Later on in the game, however, we saw a squad of literally dozens of these head-bangers who could then be separated off into smaller sub-groups.

Double Fine has also added a couple of nifty little additions to the open-world features, such as the ability to summon both head-bangers and The Deuce using Eddie's axe (the six stringed one), and some classic rock tracks (non of which are confirmed at this point) that can be played and shuffled while you're driving The Deuce. All in all, then, the developers appear to be doing a fairly good job of building open-world gameplay that should be competent at the very least, and likewise for the scripted vehicle sections and combat. If there's one thing that Brutal Legend will have in abundance then it's variation and we've certainly seen games such as Naruto: The Broken Bond succeed with this philosophy in the past. To round off the presentation, Tim Schafer told us a little bit about where this blended level design goes in the rest of the game:

"There are a few more convoy missions like what we've seen, there are more missions where it's just you and your axe, and there are these epic battles that take place too. You never know what to expect when you start a mission and this is something that carries on throughout."

If there's one word we'd use to describe Brutal Legend from our first look, it's entertaining. It may not be a game to challenge the skills of the gaming core but it should be both enjoyable and funny. With a mish-mash of gameplay from different genres blended together with good balance and pacing, Brutal Legend gets a thumbs up from the TVG team.