Brütal Legend: Why Double Fine's heavy metal adventure deserves a big Xbox sequel

Source: Double Fine Productions

Later releasing Psychonauts in 2005, Double Fine Productions would spend the next four years working on their next big projection — Brütal Legend. Brütal Fable was an action-risk game / real-time strategy hybrid that celebrated the heavy metal music genre. It featured an art direction inspired past heavy metal album covers, characters voiced by real rockstars, and a licensed soundtrack that compiled some of the greatest hits in metallic history.

I retrieve loving this game dorsum when it showtime came out on Oct 13, 2009, on the Xbox 360. I spent hours driving around in the open world listening to Judas Priest, Motorhead, and Blackness Sabbath equally I mowed downwardly bad guys with my badass hot rod. Thank you to Xbox Game Pass, I can at present relive those celebrity days and bear witness y'all why Brutal Legend deserves a big Xbox Game Studios sequel.

In that location are some story spoilers for Brütal Legend beyond this point!

The Brütal Land

Source: Windows Key

Brütal Legend tells the story of Eddie Riggs, the globe's greatest roadie that unfortunately works for the world's worst heavy metal band, Kabbage Boy. After an accident during ane of Kabbage Boy'due south gigs claims Eddie'southward life, his blood trickles onto his ornate belt buckle and causes it to summon the spirit of Ormagöden, the Eternal Fire Brute.

With a mighty world-shattering roar, Ormagöden revives Eddie Riggs and sends him back in time to an age where the world looked like a heavy metal album cover come to life. But this Brütal Country is under the thrall of the Tainted Coil, a race of sadistic, evil demons that accept enslaved humanity to do their bidding. So with his roadie skills and newfound abilities, Eddie vows to free humanity and cook demons' faces off with his guitar along the way.

Source: Windows Central

I admittedly adore the art design of Brütal Legend'south setting. It perfectly captures the larger-than-life nature of heavy metal. The starting area lonely has fields covered in skyscraper-sized swords, complete with a towering Mt. Rushmore stand-in that you lot tin can customize the faces of. It features mountains made entirely of amplifiers, copse made out of spears and car exhausts, so many more metal-inspired landmarks.

Equally you venture farther into the game, more areas will start to opening upwards. These include a jungle inhabited by amazons with KISS make-up and panthers that shoot centre-lasers. You'll traverse a swamp infested with zombie goths that skulk the wasteland. As you progress, the Tainted Coil will showtime to corrupt the land in retaliation to your rebellion — reddening the heaven and defiling your metal monuments, wrapping them in cybergoth chains gear.

Source: Windows Fundamental

Brütal Legend's globe blueprint is notwithstanding so unique, bursting with imagination and creativity. It's like an interactive homage to every alternative music subculture, and translates that effortless music industry coolness with confidence and style. The depth lore covering how this world came to be is impressive in its own right. There are collectibles scattered throughout the globe that tell $.25 and pieces of the Brütal Country'due south creation. From Ormagöden's death shaping the globe and giving birth to its races, how the Titans created this world'south heavy metal, to how the Tainted Gyre came to despise and enslave humanity. It's engrossing. Each piece of lore is relayed through astonishing illustrations and an ballsy narration provided by Corey Burton (the vox of Disney's Yen Cid and Shockwave from G1 Transformers). The earth juxtaposes alien landscapes with familiar popular culture, and that extends to its colorful bandage of heroes and villains.

Source: Windows Central

Source: Windows Central

The characters of Brütal Legend are also ane of the game's highlights. Like the corny merely endearingly charismatic Lars, the battle-hardened but mistrusting Lita, and the terrifying leader of the Tainted Coil, Emperor Doviculus (voiced by the legendary Tim Back-scratch). As mentioned earlier, there are many NPCs in the game voiced by real rockstars. These include Black Sabbath's Ozzy Osborne, The Runaway's Lita Ford, Judas Priest'south Rob Halford, Kyle Gass from Tenacious D, and the late, dandy Lemmy Kilmister from Motorhead. Their appearances are brief but sweet additions that add charm and authenticity to Brütal Fable's world.

Merely past far, the star of the show for me was Eddie Riggs. He is an unabashed lover of heavy metallic, who immediately sets virtually undoing the injustice of this strange country. Eddie finds his true calling in Brütal Fable, finding a spot in the limelight after a life as a thankless roadie for faux-rockers. And to top information technology off, Eddie'southward metalhead personality is brought to life by the vocal performance of Tenacious D'due south Jack Black, which is just crimson-painted icing on a glorious death metal block.

Gameplay: Hack due north' Shred

Source: Windows Central

Unfortunately, as awesome as the setting and characters are, Brütal Legend's cadre gameplay had some controversial aspects that held it back from its well-nigh awesome potential. The offset of Brütal Legend was a fun open-world action-adventure game, but then it gradually changed into a strange action-risk / strategy hybrid. Suddenly nosotros had to worry about resource management and building armies to take downwardly an enemy's stage in a literal Battle of the Bands.

This shift in genres surprised and turned many people off because they felt the real-fourth dimension strategy gameplay was half-baked compared to the open-world gameplay. For a long time, we all wondered why the developers never advertised these RTS segments just many years subsequently, we would finally become an respond.

According to an interview done by NoClip with Brütal Fable's artistic manager, Tim Schafer, it was originally going to be a real-fourth dimension strategy game in its entirety, inspired by the likes of Warcraft and Herzog Zwei. Merely over time, as they worked on the single-player entrada, it gradually evolved into the action-hazard / RTS hybrid we know today.

We all idea Brütal Legend was going to be an action-adventure game because Brütal Legend'south publishers (Vivendi Games and after EA) forbid Double Fine Productions from talking about the RTS elements. They did this considering at the time, they felt nobody cared nearly real-time strategy games anymore. If anyone saw the RTS gameplay and asked questions, Double Fine Productions was ordered to change the subject and whatsoever trailers they made were to showcase the action-run a risk gameplay only. The developers besides considered making the RTS segments optional in the final build, but they ran out of fourth dimension to practice it. It's rather unfortunate this happened considering if consumers were enlightened of the RTS elements from the start, perhaps Brütal Legend would take had a better reception.

Source: Windows Central

Source: Windows Cardinal

My own personal feelings on the gameplay are mixed. The RTS elements definitely felt subpar compared to the action-chance generally due to the game remainder. I destroyed entire armies using the Facemelter guitar solo and but used the units to attack the buildings, and then there was barely any strategy involved. The only fourth dimension I had to worry well-nigh strategy was during the final dominate where I had to coordinate with my army to have down multiple objectives. However, it wasn't a bargain-billow for me because there was still plenty of open-world exploration and sidequests to back-trail the RTS segments.

But permit'due south get back to the positives of Brütal Fable, like the combat. The gainsay system was elementary but effective — chaining melee attacks together with my guitar attacks to form satisfying combos that sent enemies flying off cliffs. And playing the guitar solos that blew my enemies upwardly, buffed my army, or summoned bears with acquit-traps for mouths. Plus running over demons in my customizable hot rod never gets one-time.

And how can I talk about Brütal Fable, a massive tribute to heavy metal without mentioning the music? In addition to its awesome original soundtrack, Brütal Legend features over a hundred licensed tracks from dozens of heavy metal bands. Tunes from Blackness Sabbath, Motörhead, Judas Priest, The Runaways, Megadeth, Cradle of Filth, Bracos Helm, Iced World, Dragonforce, Tenacious D, Manowar, Mötley Crüe, and many more.

Running over demons in my customizable hot rod never gets one-time.

You can unlock these tracks to play on your car'due south radio by finding collectibles through the world. The game also plays these tracks during special moments, making you lot feel like the protagonist of your very own OTT heavy metallic music video. Like Brocas Captain'due south 'Cry of the Banshee' during the Metal Queen boss fight. Or Dragonforce's 'Through the Fire and Flames' while escaping General Lionwhyte's crumbling Pleasure Palace.

The music was also used to profoundly enhance dramatic moments in the story. A good example of this is my favorite moment in the game. Before the final battle, Eddie Riggs has a dream of being with his dearest interest, Ophelia, who at this point of the game has go a bad guy. It's a bittersweet moment for Eddie, longing for the good times earlier everything went to hell, all while Scorpion'south 'Vacation' is playing in the background. The dream is cut short by the sound of Ophelia's ground forces, the Drowning Doom, who begin their arroyo. The music violently transitions to Mirrorthrone's 'Sofrail', punctuating Eddie'southward feelings of anger and sadness that he's now going to take to fight and possibly even slay his one-time lover turned bitter enemy. It's these conscientious, thoughtful moments that truly sold Brütal Fable for me.

Brütal Legend ii: Improving what came before

Source: Windows Central

When all is said and done, I love Brütal Legend despite its flaws, and I would love to see a sequel to this game. I don't know if information technology is even possible for Double Fine Productions to make a sequel. EA and Activision settled out of courtroom over who owns the rights to publish Brütal Legend, but the exact current ownership remains a little unclear. Not to mention, Double Fine is busy working on Psychonauts ii at the time of this writing. If it was possible, I have a few ideas about how a sequel could be made and how it could improve upon its predecessor.

For starters, since all the issues plaguing the Brütal Country get resolved by the end of the beginning game, I would have Eddie Riggs go back to the present day for the sequel. The impetus for this would be that Eddie receives a vision from Ormagöden and information technology shows that the fourth dimension menstruation he came from has become a corporate nightmare in his absence. About all forms of music accept been banned, except for sanitized corporate music that pushes narratives that do good the corporations. Anybody that didn't comply and wanted to make their ain music would be imprisoned for life or fifty-fifty executed.

Source: Windows Key

Source: Windows Central

Horrified and angered by what the future holds for his earth, Eddie Riggs decides to render to his own time to set things right. He would be accompanied past friends he made in the offset game, and together they would embark on a second Tour of Destruction to save humanity's future and preserve the glory of metallic.

For gameplay, I would shelve the RTS segments peradventure, and focus on expanding the open-globe exploration and combat system. The overworld gameplay could revolve around destroying the bad guy'due south propaganda and replacing them with the crawly heavy metal monuments and landmarks of the first game. As you spread the give-and-take of heavy metal, the world would gradually change from being your typical corporate dystopia, liberated from the clinical lounge music of the oppressors.

You wouldn't just be controlling Eddie this time, yous would too directly control unlike characters that join your ring. Each character would have their own musical abilities and weapons that could be used to solve puzzles and bring the house down on enemies. Plus, you would be able to bandy control between teammates in the middle of melee combos to extend them to an absurd caste. Something alike to the tag team mechanics of the Warriors Orochi or Marvel Vs. Capcom games.

I would definitely endeavor to go on the involvement of heavy metal artists for the sake of authenticity, it wouldn't be Brütal Fable without it. Mayhap we could run across a range of newer heavy metal stars from more recent generations, who are fighting confronting the corporations in an underground rebellion. Could we take Mick Thomson from Slipknot fighting aslope Ozzy Osborne? Alice Cooper teaming up with Dave Grohl? I would love to play equally Eddie the Head from Fe Maiden, or a badass ax-wielding James Hetfield, in the style that only Double Fine tin do.

A Brütal Legend

Source: Windows Central

There'southward just so much potential that could exist achieved with Brütal Legend'southward world if given another chance, and hopefully, I have shown why it deserves one. A polished sequel to Brütal Legend with more than style and graphic symbol would be a dandy improver to Microsoft'due south portfolio, perhaps even becoming one of the all-time games on Xbox. But until that day comes, I'll keep spreading the gospel of Brütal Fable so that it will never exist forgotten.

Rock on!

Brütal Legend

Allow out your battle cry and fight for the glory of metal!

Step in the boots of Eddie Riggs, a roadie that'southward been summoned to a fantasy earth straight out of a heavy metal album cover. Gear up out on a bout across the world to slay demons and save flesh with the power of heavy metallic.

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