But it should come as no surprise to those familiar with Double Fine's previous work with Psychonauts that Brutal Legend's characters and its story are the primary highlights. Eddie Riggs, a roadie who remembers and worships the glory days of metal, serves as a perfect lead character who's magically transported to a world that ostensibly reflects his own image of heaven. This world is a vast place where enormous, crumbling statues and smaller, skull-encrusted shrines pay homage to the gods and titans that brought metal and its music to the land. Naturally, there's a heavy dose of irony involved in this setup, which gives Jack Black (who voices Riggs) plenty of room to do his funny--albeit expected--trademark sarcasm-laden, observational routine. But his act rarely gets old or overwhelming because Riggs, as a character, often humbles himself in an endearing way despite finding himself in a position of leadership. He never loses sight of his roots as a roadie, and as such, he is there to help people who have fallen under the oppressive boot of the demonic Emperor Doviculus and his human warlord General Lionwhyte (voiced by Judas Priest frontman, Rob Halford), who also happens to symbolize a not-so-subtle jab at hair metal.
Secondary characters are often just as entertaining and memorable as Eddie Riggs. Ozzy Osbourne gives an amazing (and surprisingly coherent) performance as the Keeper of Metal, a storekeeper of sorts dwelling within special monuments dotted around Brutal Legend's open-world landscape. He sells upgrades for attacks, as well as Eddie's various pieces of equipment, including his battle axe, guitar, and his vintage roadster--the Deuce. There's an equally amusing, if not subdued, performance by Motorhead's lead singer Lemmy, who--as The Killmaster--functions as a healer for Eddie's army of headbangers. Sure, part of what makes these characters so delightful is that they are just fantastical representations of their on-stage personas, but even those characters that aren't voiced by real-world gods of metal do their part to balance out the star power, and they do it well. For example, Magus, a dimwitted stage engineer, provides an extra bit of laughs when Eddie's engaged in more serious affairs.
These characters and the story they tell are major reasons to keep playing through Brutal Legend's single-player campaign, but there's also plenty of good action to be had despite some shortcomings. The game is set up in an open-world structure that lets you set the pace of progression, so you can either stick to Eddie's main mission to defeat Doviculus and Lionwhyte or drive around in the Deuce to find secondary missions with the help of an in-game map. At first, the motivation for taking the secondary route is pretty clear. Every completed mission rewards you with fire tributes, or points, that function as the game's currency, and because secondary missions are usually pretty easy and don't require much time, this is a quick way to make a substantial amount of cash. You can then visit The Keeper of Metal and exchange points for aforementioned weapon, combination, and vehicle upgrades--additional items unlock as you venture deeper into the game.
But at a certain point, perhaps even just a few hours in, the motivation to engage in Brutal Legend's equivalent to level grinding wanes, and the reasons are clear. First, most secondary missions share the same objectives, so it doesn't take long for all of the ambush, race, and defend-this-point scenarios to get old. Secondly, you can purchase most of the useful upgrades relatively early in the game, which makes these missions even less enticing. In fact, by the end of the game, you may find yourself purchasing upgrades just to check them out, never to use them again. There are some exceptions to the tedium in the secondary missions, though, including a run-in with a bat that has a human head resembling Ozzy Osbourne in his earlier years, but Brutal Legend's side missions would've benefited greatly from more of these kinds of scenarios and fewer of the cookie-cutter options.
Conversely, its primary campaign does a much better job of breaking up different mission types and mixing in action that plays to its different mechanics. Granted, there are a couple of dreaded escort missions where you have to follow your army's tour bus from one location to another while fending off enemies, but these aren't all that difficult as long as you keep an eye on where enemies spawn. Eddie also has to go on foot into unknown areas for some missions, relying only on his axe for close combat and his guitar for long-range lightning and fire strikes. It's in these moments that you also learn to use some of his other skills, specifically guitar solos.
These solos, which you can unlock by finding shrines, function as special moves for Eddie. They allow him to melt faces of nearby enemies, recruit new army members, negate an enemy's magic abilities, or even summon a massive burning zeppelin to crush enemies. Of course, you actually have to get the solo right (each solo has a different, miniature rhythm-game-like series of button presses), but the trick is that you can't use these solos all the time (some of them have a long cool-off period) and Eddie still takes damage from enemies while performing them. This adds a nice dynamic to an otherwise straightforward combat system, and the missions (along with their accompanying boss battles) where you have to rely on Eddie and his combat skills are thoroughly enjoyable, but it would've been great to have more of them.
Instead, Brutal Legend replaces what would ordinarily be more of these kinds of missions with stage battles--a recipe with hack-and-slash and real-time strategy as its ingredients. A good portion of Brutal Legend is a real-time strategy game, and surprisingly, it's one of the best console adaptations of the genre's mechanics in quite some time, though its multiplayer incarnation is definitely better than its single-player counterpart. To give some context: Stage battles usually occur when facing an important evil character in the game. Each side has access to what are essentially fountains of fans that you need to build merchandise booths over (by playing a guitar solo) in order to claim them as a resource for building additional "units." Building more merch booths and claiming more fans lets you not only summon more units, but also different types of units.
You can control these units in different ways, either by using various commands on the D pad (defend, attack, and move) or by taking to the air and setting waypoints via a marker that you can place just about anywhere in the level--a highly recommended move because it gives you a better overall strategic view. And yes, Eddie grows wings that let him fly and survey the battlefield, but in either case, you still have to be reasonably close to your units to issue these commands and ultimately make your way towards the final goal of destroying the enemy's stage. The single-player version of these battles does an excellent job of tying all of Brutal Legend's gameplay elements together in a real-time strategy scenario, barring some minor context-sensitive control problems with double-team moves when there are too many units crowding around you.
Still, aside from the final confrontation, most of these stage battles are won through brute force--making a mad dash for all of the fan fountains and throwing wave after wave of units at the enemy is usually enough for a victory on normal difficulty. But multiplayer stage battles are completely different beasts that require far more skill and strategy--trying to win these matches through strength alone often results in complete failure within minutes. In fact, these battles almost become games of chess where fan fountains and merch booths become the pieces on the board. You use some of them to advance and strengthen your forces while you sacrifice others to the enemy for the same purpose.
Indeed, diversionary tactics also play an important role for success because another player can easily drop in and see what you're doing at any given time. As such, it's important to send out different groups of units to various areas on the map at all times, using one to bait your enemy into thinking that's where your main attack is coming from while you have a stronger group of units taking another route. Sometimes it's worth it to throw a few units directly at an enemy's stage or to drop in yourself and wreak some havoc and fly back to safety; if only for distraction purposes while you adjust your strategy. And the great thing about all of this is that you can play as one of three different factions--each with wildly different units--and an evenly matched battle shouldn't last more than 20 minutes or so.
While multiplayer is genuinely the surprise hit of the Brutal Legend experience, the single-player mode does have many other notable qualities, including a great metal soundtrack. Some of the songs seem a little questionable given the theme of the game ("Rock of Ages" is a great song, but doesn't seem like it belongs), and it's great that you can listen to anything while driving the Deuce around. But the soundtrack truly shines when it's obvious a specific song was chosen for a specific mission. "Through the Fire and Flames" by DragonForce is perfect for its intended sequence as is Nitro's "Machine Gun Eddie." There's a little bit of everything here on the spectrum, but to be fair, if metal's not really your thing, you might find it a little grating.
But one thing that should appeal to just about anyone is Brutal Legend's visual style. It's not necessarily a technical powerhouse in terms of special effects, but it more than makes up for it with cool-looking characters and varied environments that obviously had quite some thought and detail put into them. One particularly cool location is near the Sea of Black Tears--a gothic-inspired area decorated with candelabras and dilapidated cathedrals. But no matter where you are in the world, there's always some cool object to look at, whether it's a massive guitar statue sticking out of the ground or some a gigantic wall of amps where seagulls with microphones for heads fly. Unfortunately, there are some hiccups in the frame rate here and there, particularly when you're driving around or when there's a bit too much happening in a stage battle, but otherwise it remains rock solid throughout the game.
Whether it's excellent vocal performances from heavy hitters of metal or a strong multiplayer element, Brutal Legend is a game that continually surprises, and it does so in a genuinely fun and interesting way. And Double Fine deserves some major respect for keeping so many aspects of the game closely tied to its subject matter. Of course, Brutal Legend also has some shortcomings. The secondary missions are weak and the single-player campaign lasts about seven hours if you're not too keen on unlocking every single last shrine or secret item. In that respect, it's unfortunate that there's just not more of the good stuff, such as the on-foot missions with boss battles or more fleshed-out side quests. Otherwise, Brutal Legend is just about the finest tribute to this genre of music that a fan could hope for, and its successful execution of real-time strategy elements in an action setting is something that should get everyone off their feet and clapping.
By
Giancarlo Varanini,
GameSpot
Review:
These characters and the story they tell are major reasons to keep playing through Brutal Legend's single-player campaign, but there's also plenty of good action to be had despite some shortcomings. The game is set up in an open-world structure that lets you set the pace of progression, so you can either stick to Eddie's main mission to defeat Doviculus and Lionwhyte or drive around in the Deuce to find secondary missions with the help of an in-game map. At first, the motivation for taking the secondary route is pretty clear. Every completed mission rewards you with fire tributes, or points, that function as the game's currency, and because secondary missions are usually pretty easy and don't require much time, this is a quick way to make a substantial amount of cash. You can then visit The Keeper of Metal and exchange points for aforementioned weapon, combination, and vehicle upgrades--additional items unlock as you venture deeper into the game.
Instead, Brutal Legend replaces what would ordinarily be more of these kinds of missions with stage battles--a recipe with hack-and-slash and real-time strategy as its ingredients. A good portion of Brutal Legend is a real-time strategy game, and surprisingly, it's one of the best console adaptations of the genre's mechanics in quite some time, though its multiplayer incarnation is definitely better than its single-player counterpart. To give some context: Stage battles usually occur when facing an important evil character in the game. Each side has access to what are essentially fountains of fans that you need to build merchandise booths over (by playing a guitar solo) in order to claim them as a resource for building additional "units." Building more merch booths and claiming more fans lets you not only summon more units, but also different types of units.
But one thing that should appeal to just about anyone is Brutal Legend's visual style. It's not necessarily a technical powerhouse in terms of special effects, but it more than makes up for it with cool-looking characters and varied environments that obviously had quite some thought and detail put into them. One particularly cool location is near the Sea of Black Tears--a gothic-inspired area decorated with candelabras and dilapidated cathedrals. But no matter where you are in the world, there's always some cool object to look at, whether it's a massive guitar statue sticking out of the ground or some a gigantic wall of amps where seagulls with microphones for heads fly. Unfortunately, there are some hiccups in the frame rate here and there, particularly when you're driving around or when there's a bit too much happening in a stage battle, but otherwise it remains rock solid throughout the game.
The larger hard drive-equipped console was released in the UK and Europe on October 1 in a variety of bundles, including one containing the acclaimed PS3-exclusive Infamous. However, despite reports of an Uncharted 2 bundle bearing a North America-only ESRB rating label, so far SCEA has only announced plans for an a la carte version. Japan will be getting a limited-edition 250GB PS3 Slim packed in with Final Fantasy XIII in December.
What we heard: That Insomniac Games would be working on a new PlayStation 3 title isn't a particularly big shocker. After all, the Burbank, California-based independent developer has made its bones exclusively through Sony's PlayStation platforms from its inception, establishing such franchises as Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank, and, most recently, Resistance.
Notably, the billboard also gives a small clue on the plot of the title. In the past, Insomniac has used the "A" in Resistance's titles to display a landmark from some pivotal location in the game. The original Resistance: Fall of Man featured London's Big Ben, while Resistance 2 showed San Francisco's Bay Bridge and Resistance: Retribution for the PSP displayed Paris' Eiffel Tower. As for Resistance 3, the A in the billboard clearly depicts the Statue of Liberty, indicating New York City will be a prominent locale.
It hasn't even been a month since Spider-Man, Captain America, and all of their friends stormed stores in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, but Activision has already announced the first Marvel heavyweight you're going to be able to download and use in your game.
So far, Carnage's dialogue actually seems on par for his character. "It's a scream," "Dinnertime," and "It's more fun when they fight back" all fit the insane maniac Kasady's supposed to be -- and the Freddy Krueger-like voice gives me the willies.
Review:
Drake's impressive agility plays a major role during combat, but it's when he has the freedom to explore that his leaping prowess is fully revealed. You can climb up walls, swing from ropes, shimmy across ledges, and even leap from one moving vehicle to another during a thrilling chase sequence. The platforming sections do not demand that you be ultraprecise. Drake easily grabs onto any ledge he jumps near, so you need to worry more about what path you're going to take rather than how to land a ridiculous leap of faith. The environments you have to navigate are organic. You can climb a large variety of structures to continue on, whether it's a traffic sign in a war-torn city street, an icy rock face in a frozen cave, or a dangling branch in a tropical jungle. The only problem is that the platforming is pretty linear, so you often can't interact with surfaces that seem like they should be climbable. While this minor quibble chisels away a bit at the believability of your actions, the platforming sections are well designed and quite entertaining. And just when you get comfortable making your way across a treacherous precipice, a handhold will fall apart in your hands, making you quickly figure out a new way across and ensuring you never relax during these awesome sequences.
The competitive multiplayer is even better. The levels are once again modeled after the environments from the main quest, but your impressive agility in battle combined with the powerful weaponry make for explosive competitions. There are a number of gameplay types, which are variations on such popular formulas as Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Territories. But the sheer thrill of battle raises these beyond the forgettable squall of other shooters. Your agility is the main differentiating factor. It is simply incredible to spring away from your vicious buddy who is happily wielding a shotgun, leap across a gaping ravine, and grab on to a far-off ledge with just your fingertips. Frantically slamming on the X button to hoist yourself to safety while your opponent comes storming after you is a heart-racing experience, and turning the tables on your pursuer as he tries to make the same treacherous leap is so satisfying. There is also a perks system that gives you rewards beyond mere fun for sinking time into this endeavor. These rewards increase your killing power and make the mode even more fun.
Now the original NES edition of Final Fantasy, the version that first shipped to the States almost 20 years ago in 1990, has been re-released in Virtual Console form on the Wii. And it's easy to remember, within just the first few minutes of playing it again, just why it caught on so quickly two decades ago.
And other, more subtle improvements made in subsequent sequels and remakes are sorely missed here, too -- like simple battle commands. Final Fantasy's battles are iconic, with your party of characters lining up on one side of the screen and an array on unanimated enemies appearing on the other. You issues orders to your men using menus and a big pointing finger cursor, telling your heroes when to attack, when to cast magic, when to run.
Star Wars. It seems that once the new trilogy sprang to life that the flood gates were burst wide open and the amount of new, official stuff coming from the franchise is growing by leaps and bounds yearly. The 3D animated Clone Wars series is the latest thing to hit, and with it have come a handful of titles based on its look, feel and storytelling slant. The latest is Star Wars: The Clone Wars -- Republic Heroes, a title that is clearly aimed at the younger audience out there. Now just because the target audience is younger doesn't mean that the game should get any less polish or have lower production values than stuff catered towards the hardcore crowd, but unfortunately that's the case here.
After a while, you'll find that all of this boredom and frustration just goes on and on. I have no idea what the point of the story was or what the end goal was going to be for a long, long time, so that wasn't drawing me through the adventure. Aside from having to play it simply to write this review, I had no interest in playing the game, and I think that says enough.
Video game publisher LucasArts ruled the world of 1990s graphical adventure games with an iron fist. Every new game offered considerable advancements, from voice-over "talkie" versions on CD-ROM to 3D graphics…and they were all riotously funny. And this nearly flawless iPhone version of The Secret of Monkey Island is just as clever as we remember.
Also, the great save system means you can exit out at a moment's notice and find your game autosaved right to the line of dialogue at which you quit. You can even save your progress in separate slots. These hint and save systems take out the frustration factor completely and let you enjoy Monkey Island's story, graphics, and sound design without any hang-ups.
The Secret of Monkey Island's new graphics, voice-over, hint system, and autosave make a great game even better. It's a truly an entertaining and memorable experience, whether or not this is the first time you've played it.
The Jak and Daxter series got its start as a fairly straightforward action platformer game that focused on a pair of mascots jumping all over a bright, shimmery island world. As the years went on, the series grew and added more variety to the gameplay with lots of weapons and lots of vehicles. Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier for the PSP is the latest game in the franchise, and though it doesn't quite mark a return to those simpler times, it does look like it should bridge the gap between early and late Jak games by giving hints at both its early style and the wackiness that ensued in later iterations.
What's New: The last time we had a look at The Lost Frontier, we got to see a Jak level that was heavily focused on jumping puzzles, which felt like a nod to the series' roots. This time around, we saw something a bit different. The new level we checked out was one focused on Dark Daxter, which is the transformed version of Jak's wisecracking sidekick, Daxter, after he has been overtaken by dark eco. Dark Daxter is a more beastly version of his normal self, complete with mean spikes on his back and the ability to pull off moves such as the frenzy whirl (a Tasmanian devil-style cyclone) and a ground pound attack.
In Cars Race-O-Rama, players will join Lightning McQueen and Chick Hicks in Radiator Springs as they prepare their academy of student racers to compete in the Race-O-Rama Exhibition. Players will encounter 12 new playable characters making their video game debut. A new and improved Lightning McQueen will come fully equipped with special racing kits, allowing him to better maneuver brand new, action-packed tracks that will take players to metro city streets, the Baja desert and sandy beaches. In addition, players are now able to modify Lightning McQueen's wheels, rims, hood, side skirt, rear bumper, spoiler and paint with special customization features, giving Lightning a personalized style and look that has never been seen before. As players compete in this high-speed, racing adventure game, they will be able to utilize Lightning McQueen's newly designed drifting abilities and perform "Kachow" poses for enthusiastic reporters and fans encountered throughout the game.
