[First Impressions] Brütal Legend demo

This article is indeed a bit delayed, given that the demo for this game was released last Thursday, but I have the national elections for making me leave town and not allowing me to play it for any amount of time. At any rate!

Fall 2009 was always going to be a crowded time as far as videogame releases are concerned. Many companies are preparing their heavy hitters for this time of the year, most notably Activision with their follow-up to 2007 smash hit Call of Duty 4, Modern Warfare 2.

With that in mind, Fall 2009 doesn't sound like the best time for a small company to be releasing their brand-new game, but Double Fine Productions and its owner, Tim Schafer (of The Secret of Monkey Island, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango and Psychonauts fame) don't seem to care.

They're releasing their latest game Brütal Legend in the middle of October, or Rocktober as they like to call it, and hope that Jack Black (on whom the main protagonist Eddie Riggs is based, and also does voice overs for said protagonist) and several Heavy Metal icons such as Ozzy* or Lemmy Kilmister are enough for the game to find its own audience.

As for the game itself, it continues the recent trend for Schafer of doing away with his point and click adventure roots and exploring new grounds. This time, he's tackling the action adventure genre, with the action being reminiscent of such games as Devil May Cry or God of War, with added strategy elements, not unlike say, Overlord.

Judging from the demo that was recently released [*2], Brütal Legend seems to have what it needs to stand on its own during the videogame downpour that is going to befall us in the next couple of months. It's one of the most stylish and funny games out there, with the art direction really standing out. While the polygon count on characters is rather low, making them somewhat blocky, the actual designs are fantastic.

Voice acting also stands out, with Jack Black in specific being his usual entertaining self and providing with many hilarious catchphrases. I guess if you hate Jack Black in general, then you won't find him entertaining in this game either, but this shouldn't come as a surprise to you, right?

The soundtrack should be a treat for Metal fans as you'll be decapitating suckers and running over fools to the tunes of such classics as "Children of the Grave" by Black Sabbath and "Painkiller" by Judas Priest. Hell, even the charmingly-named band Rotting Christ from own little country, Greece, appear on the game's soundtrack.

The game's writing, arguably the most important part in any Schafer game, is once again top-notch. From the introductory video (which has a strong Full Throttle) vibe until the moment the demo ends, you're being bombarded by devilishly funny lines, from the woes of being a roadie, to Eddie teaching a girl about French kissing.

You may have noticed throughout all these paragraphs that I haven't really mentioned anything about how the game actually plays. There's a reason for that, and that's because not unlike its predecessor Psychonauts, Brütal Legend doesn't have anything new to offer, gameplay-wise. It's a by-the-book action adventure, with features that will be instantly recognizable to fans of the genre.

That means that if you're the kind of person that only cares about innovative gameplay, this might not be the game for you. If, on the other hand, you like games that are solid on the gameplay department but at the same time try to do something new presentation-wise, you will probably be in for a treat when the game is released.

TL;DR version:

Roktober sounds about right!

* There's only one Ozzy
*2 Thanks for the two week delay, EA[*3]
*3 Hey, that rhymes