I have always had a spot in my heart for music and many of its genres: classical, rock, alternative, jazz, rap (sometimes) and even metal. Lot of game companies try to work off of this by making games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band that allow people to play some of their favorite songs with color-coded button mashing. There haven't been too many that have dedicated a game towards a genre until this came out. Welcome to the world of 'Brutal Legend'!
(The Age of Metal lives on!)
Channeling the spirit of everything that is 'metal', 'Brutal Legend' pays tribute to the music genre of heavy metal and its various subgenres. The game plays out like a hybrid between action, adventure, and real-time strategy games, with the factions of Ironheade, the Drowning Doom, and the Tainted Coil battling it out for the control of the ancient world of Metal. The only one who could change the course of history (at this point) is a simply roadie named Eddie Riggs (voiced by Jack Black)
In the beginning, Eddie is considered one of the best roadies in the business, capable of building any set, tune any instrument he finds and capable of organizing one hell of a show. The only downside is that he somehow got roped into helping a band that is basically a mix between Linkin Park, Justin Bieber, and the worst aspects of pop rock music. They end up accidentally killing him when they were goofing around with the set, getting some of his blood to drip down to his belt buckle and summoning a metallic beast. The beast ends up sparing Eddie and killing off the band (much to our enjoyment).
Eddie wakes up, alive and well, in the ancient land of metal. He ends up killing off several cultists of the Tainted Coil (demons who have bondage tendencies) with an axe he found and a guitar that manages to summon powerful magic. He also gets help from a girl named Ophelia and builds a hot rod car he called the Druid Plow that helps them escape the Tainted Coil at this point. However, the Big Bad of the Tainted Coil, Emperor Doviculus, learns of that Succoria, a powerful demoness, as returned when he examined one of Ophelia's dropped blades.
Meanwhile, Ophelia manages to lead Eddie to the resistance group, mostly comprised of herself and the brother-sister team of Lars and Lita Halford. Apparently, Lars is an excellent motivational leader, but can't handle the logistics of war planning and the like. Eddie decides to help them out, seeing as they need a roadie to help with the planning to take on the Tainted Coil. They manage to recruit several human factions to the resistance, including a healer named Killmaster (voiced by bass player of Motorhead Lemmy Kilmeister) and the Guardian of Metal (voiced by Ozzy Osborne). They form the army of Ironheade (which pays tribute to the early history of Heavy Metal, mostly the 70s and 80s) and take on General Lionwhyte, a human whose hair allows him to fly, his voice that can shatter rock, and leads an army of human subjects in Doviculus's name (which are basically Ironheade units if they were paying homage to Hair Metal).
Partway through the war, Eddie somehow sprouts wings and develops more demonic features (albeit temporarily), with Ophelia believing that the Tainted Coil must've poisoned Eddie somehow. Course, this just pops up every now and again as Ironheade recruits more soldiers and takes the fight straight to Lionwhyte's fortress, taking out his army and having the General killed off (though that last bit was his own fault. Apparently, shattering glass with his voice was his own undoing). They celebrate their victory a bit, but know that the Tainted Coil is next to fight.
Speak of the devil, Doviculus comes in to survey the destruction with Ironheade hiding and watching to see what the demon is up to. Mostly, he monologues about Succoria's reappearance and the destruction of Lionwhyte (though really, he doesn't give a crap about him), saying how she was supposed to infiltrate the humans and take them out. Eventually, Lars has had enough and takes the fight to Doviculus with another speech. The Emperor, in a show of being Genre Savvy, mortally wounds Lars on the spot and summons monsters to take down the rest of Lionwhyte's castle. Ironheade manages to escape, but Lars dies of his injuries. Lita takes her anger out on Ophelia, believing her to be Succoria. Lita believes that the power of the Black Water may've manipulated her into helping Doviculus. Eddie is surprised at this (mostly because he was starting to fall in love with Ophelia) and doesn't like how Ophelia was hiding secrets from them. So, the group abandons Ophelia and heads north to avoid the Tainted Coil until they can replenish their strength.
Cue to several months going by, with Ironheade trying to plan out what to do next. They soon find themselves ambushed by the Drowning Doom, a faction who is inspired by Gothic Metal (not Emo, as many would believe). Ironheade manages to beat them, but discovers that the army was sent by Opheilia, since they bear her mark. When trying to pass over a bridge, Ophelia greets them, though now completely under the control of the Sea of Black Tears. She destroys the bridge, forcing Eddie to retrieve supplies from Bladehenge to build another one. Once they do, Eddie finds some animals to try and recruit to Ironheade, but gets captured by a group of Amazons known as the Zaulia. They try to execute Eddie, but he manages to use his guitar to reveal an ancient relic. From here, he learns that his father, known as Riggnarok, came from the past to the future (modern time) to stop the Emperor. He reveals that the belt buckle belonged to him and how he found it after his father passed away. Seeing this, the Zaulia join up with Ironheade as they continue their journey.
They end up crossing paths with Ophelia again, this time revealing how she went back to the Sea of Black Tears after feeling so depressed about the group abandoning her. She still launches an attack against Ironheade, which manages to get repelled with some effort. Their next stop: the Sea of Black Tears itself. The army attacks, with Eddie threatening to kill Ophellia to get the Emperor. Ophellia laughs it off, fleeing before Eddie could attempt a finishing blow.
Eddie tries to confront Ophellia again, but Emperor Doviculus enters. Here, its explained that Succoria was the previous Emperor before Doviculus, fleeing to the future and apparently having a kid with Riggnarok, making her Eddie's mother. Just to twist the knife, Doviculus pulls out Ophellia's heart and stores it within his body. Ophellia dissolves (weird) and Eddie heads back to the Ironheade army when Doviculus starts summoning a massive monster from the Sea of Black Tears. Still, Ironheade manages to fight it off, as well as Tainted Coil forces while Eddie takes the fight straight to Doviculus (who happens to be inside of said beasty). In the clash, Doviculus is decapitated and Eddie tries to retrieve Ophellia's heart, but it ends up dissolving as well. The beast collapses and Eddie falls into the Sea of Black Tears, finding the real Ophellia (the other one was just a copy of sorts). He manages to pull her out and they are reunited.
In the end, the Tainted Coil is defeated, Lars gets a statue while Lita gets praise for helping to lead Ironheade, while Eddie just sticks to the shadows as a roadie (something he doesn't mind doing). He decides to stay in this world, with Ophellia as his girlfriend and everyone basically lives happily ever after.
...and that would be Brutal Legend, a video game tribute to the age of Heavy Metal. From what else I learned, the game was supposed to be focused on the multiplayer, with story mode basically being one big tutorial level. Still, I found the whole pretty fun and different in a good way.
Until next time...
Brutal Legend was developed by Double Fine and published by Electronic Arts.
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