Brutal Legend Review (X360)

All of these gameplay parts combine to form a rollercoaster of highs and lows throughout the story. When you can explore the world in search of collectibles and side missions and can just drive around in your car listening to the amazing soundtrack, it is pretty fun. But when the stage battles pop up the fun factor takes a dive and you just grind through them to get back to the good stuff. Unfortunately, the multiplayer is made up of these stage battles, so the longevity of the game takes a bit of a hit. You’ll beat the story in 7-8 hours, spend a few more hours rounding up a few more achievements, and be done with it.

The ultimate problem with the gameplay as a whole is that it never feels like it could truly stand on its own. There are parts of it that can be fun, but it is all undeniably shallow. It feels more like a delivery method for jokes and cutscenes instead of something that is truly fun that you’ll want to keep coming back to. You kind of get the feeling that Brutal Legend would have been better as a movie or something instead of a game.

The presentation is where Brutal Legend is truly at its best. It starts with a nifty video intro of Jack Black going into a record store and finding the Brutal Legend album, and I have to admit, I was giggling like a schoolgirl seeing it all. Then you get into the game itself and the art style is distinct and over the top and awesome, the character designs are great (we especially like the KISS army chicks …), and everything in the game is a heavy metal mix of leather and chrome and spikes and guitars and amps and, just, craziness.

The sound is definitely the best part of Brutal Legend. The voice work from the cast of heavy metal royalty is well done, for the most part, and really helps sell the story and setting. The soundtrack is also absolutely amazing, and pretty much every one of the 107 metal songs is worth a listen and it is fun to just drive around and enjoy the music.

Ultimately, Brutal Legend gets everything right except the gameplay. It just plain doesn’t play nearly as well as it should, and with a couple of design changes could have been a better game. With that said, the setting and story and characters and music and everything else is strong enough that if you love Jack Black and heavy metal music, it is hard not to still enjoy the game immensely despite its flaws. But because of those flaws, it is bumped down to merely “rental” status instead of “buy”.

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.