November 2021 TA Playlist Wrap-Up – Brütal Legend

You sure you're ready for this? Because what I hold in my hand is not just gonna blow your mind… it's gonna blow your soul – Jack Black, Brütal Legend.

To this day, it still stands out as a game that was something different (in a good way) and illustrated some of the different things that could be done with games. The Tenacious D and Jack Black vibe throughout the game and the way it makes the ridiculousness of the setting feel so honest are almost endearing.
The dialogue, cameos, humour, gameplay, soundtrack, factions, units, and world are all really great. In particular, the specific brand of humour and the relentless metal-centric themes really stand out to me. Even from the boot-up - the intro cutscene and main menu sequence are awesome and pull you right into it.

It's surprisingly good. Despite the throw-every-game-genre approach it has, they all work well, just ok but that in itself is a miracle because it really shouldn't! What is even more incredible is the back story and lore of the game are remarkably strong and well thought out, so the people behind this def had a lot of love for the subject.

This is such a unique game. The direction it ended up taking in gameplay is not what I expected.

Just wanted to say that this game has one of the best video game menus of all time.

Shout out to the Prince of Darkness! What a strange cameo for a game, but I guess it's understandable in this context.

People have mentioned great reasons to play this game (amazing soundtrack, Jack Black and that the game is on GP and its DLC is free), but let's not forget about Ozzy Osbourne being your go-to for upgrades to Eddie's weapons and his Deuce!

Read into some cameos, but there are some real awesome ones in there. Of course, the most obvious one is Ozzy Osbourne as the Prince of Darkness, but man: so nice to see Motörhead's Lemmy as the bass-playing healer Kill Master. You gotta love that voice and accent, right?!
Also in there: Judas Priest's Rob Halford as the screaming Lionwhyte (Eddie Riggs quote: "Geez, that voice is so annoying!" ) and The Runaway's Lita Ford as the Amazon-like Queen of the Zaulia, Rima: scantily dressed as a tribute to how she started her career in the '80s.
Apparently, Jack Black was a fan of the game Psychonauts (also by Tim Schafer), and only after he got involved, the game surprisingly got an unanticipated celebrity cast.

"It started small and then kind of snowballed," Schafer explained, still seemingly a bit shocked. "In the beginning of the game, I never would have dreamed that Ozzy Osbourne would be involved at all, or that we'd get all these Black Sabbath songs. That was just crazy. We were thinking we'd get a voice actor who was like Jack Black, who could do a Jack Black character.

"When we crossed that line to, 'Let's try to get Jack Black,' when he signed on, all of a sudden it started rolling really fast. Then we started talking to the metal acts, and we had Jack involved. This was not a joke. It was a really serious thing. Then everyone that signed on, all of a sudden they got the next people to sign on, and then pretty soon bands were sending us their CDs. They still send me CDs. 'I wanna be in the next one!'

"By the end of it I couldn't believe it was happening," Schafer enthused, almost childlike. "I couldn't believe I was hanging out in the studio with Ozzy and Rob Halford and Lemmy. I'm on the phone with Lita Ford and stuff. It got to be where I was thinking, 'What else is my favourite metal song?' and then putting them in the game. The whole thing was so crazy. The most ridiculous, surreal moment for me was being on the stage at the VGAs while Jack Black shot a flamethrower into the air, yelling my name. That was one of those things where I was like, 'I don't know if it can get any crazier than this in my life.' Then four Amazon women hauled me on stage."

Playlist Trivia: Double Fine Studios has now had two games featured in the Playlist, with Costume Quest and Brütal Legend marking the first time two games from the same developer have been chosen back-to-back. But there are three game developers who've had more Playlist featured games, at three apiece. Can you name them?

Brutal Legend became the gateway game for my hard rock and metal buddies who didn't play a lot of video games before as well as the gateway for real-life video game friends who never or barely listened to hard rock and metal before.

Fantastic game, and even better than I was expecting. I'm a fairly casual fan when it comes to metal but the soundtrack blew me away! The particular highlight for me was having to escape the collapsing castle or whatever about halfway through the game while DragonForce's Through the Fire and Flames is playing. Such an epic moment. The humour and voice acting were top-notch too, and the gameplay was fun - even the RTS sections.

This is probably one of the most creative games out there, and it really proves the point that video games and metal share a lot of common ground. (Apart from hell gates, dragon-slaying, and Orcs).
The soundtrack is brilliantly chosen as it features many quite unknown songs from huge bands like Judas Priest, Black Sabbath or Slayer, which manage to not "disturb" the gameplay. However, they mixed in some really well-known bangers (The Through-The-Fire-And-Flames-Chase Scene was probably my favourite moment in that game).
And I agree. Best video game menu ever.

I started BL mainly because of its rock & metal side but put it aside when I got to its strategy part. Unfortunately, even TA Playlist month (and I voted for BL) couldn't convince me to come back to this game. Maybe someday as it was a nice one (except strategy and moreover control over "soldiers").

To keep it well rounded, I do seem to recall the actual stage battles felt a bit light on strategy and mechanics. And I know I had to use TA to find anyone in multiplayer.

Aged Graphics, hard to control RTS-Commands, Mopping up collectables and also the multiplayer component slightly suck. But ultimately, it is a brilliant rememberable experience. I'd love to see a sequel!

I played this years ago basically in two stints. I really enjoyed it but got a bit thrown off when it suddenly became a pseudo-RTS. Then I came back to it later and came to really enjoy the stage battles. I don't remember many details about the achievements; only that MP was a bit of a slog.

I wasn't convinced before I played this because RTS games are not my bag at all but it turned out to be really good.

While the stage battles did seem a little disconnected from the rest of the game, I still love the whole game. The soundtrack and the whole look of the game, and the way the music is linked to each faction. Also, having Jack Black, Ozzy, Lemmy, Rob Halford, and Lita Ford in it (and Tim Curry!) just absolutely made the whole game for me.

I remember playing the demo for Brütal Legend before the game was even out. I also remember how everyone was shocked by the unanticipated RTS aspects when it came out. I don't think Brütal Legend actually reviewed that well, nor that word of mouth was that great, but I think it deserves props for bringing RTS elements to Xbox when there were few.
Years ago, there was a massive video game history exhibition for months at our local science museum. My daughter made me take her every weekend (she loved old, clunky games as much as anything new). I remember Brütal Legend being featured in a relatively large section. Despite the initial shock of the gaming world not knowing where Brütal Legend really "fit," it's actually aged rather well. I don't actually like everything Double Fine has done, but they never fail to deliver something interesting.

Let's hope for a Brütal Legend 2! Psychonauts 2 took some waiting as well, right?

Thoroughly enjoyed this back in the day. Add me to the list hoping for a sequel!

We've always said that we wanted to make sequels to both Psychonauts and Brutal Legend. We can't make any promises but if Psychonauts is a success for us, then perhaps Brutal Legend 2 will be more possible?