Review by David Jenkins - We hate games like this. We so desperately want to give it a high mark and yet we'd be being dishonest if we didn't admit its many, if never ruinous, flaws.

Whereas Uncharted 2 tries nothing new but does almost everything perfectly, this attempts far too much and ends up getting none of it quite right.

Well, nothing except for the jokes and the heavy metal homages anyway.

Although the setting and gameplay are completely different, this has a lot in common with Double Fine's previous game: the undeserved flop Psychonauts.

That game was never a particularly good platformer but the world, characters and dialogue in which it operated were superbly well realised and executed.

It's the same here. This isn't a great beat 'em-up, driving game or strategy game. But it is still a lot of fun.

The game has you playing a roadie voiced by Jack Black (who does a great job no matter what you usually think of him) upset at the state of modern rock.

Luckily for him he ends up being transported to a bizarre other world that looks suspiciously like an amalgam of every heavy metal album cover ever.

At this stage the game is primarily a beat 'em-up, using both a magic lightning firing guitar and a real axe.

There are plenty of simple combos and different magic powers to utilise, as well as team-up moves with the various allies you meet, but right from the start it's obvious this is no God Of War or Devil May Cry.

The controls are just too clunky and imprecise and the gameplay lacks any real nuance or innovation.

The same is also true of the driving elements and their flighty controls.

The third element to the game is a surprisingly complex real-time strategy element, where you sprout wings and summon legions of head-banging friends to fight your demonic enemies.

There's resource management, tech trees and plenty of different units - but the controls never seem quite able to keep up with the pace of play.

This is less of an issue in multiplayer as everyone has the same problem.

We emphasise that none of the game's elements are anywhere close to being broken, it's just that they'd never cut it if it weren't for the presentation.

The dialogue, voiceovers (including the likes of Ozzy Osborne and Lemmy) and infectious love for the subject matter show just how embarrassingly unimaginative most other games are.

It's a hugely enjoyable experience, but at best only an above-average game.

IN SHORT: It may not be a great game but even card-carrying metal haters will get drawn into this gutsy homage.

PROS: Effortlessly funny tribute to the best of heavy metal with pitch-perfect dialogue, voiceovers and artwork.

CONS: Clunky, imprecise and shallow combat and driving. Short story mode with repetitive side missions.

SCORE: 7/10 Out: Now (UK)

Just what I thought really, a homige to Metal with good scripting and average gameplay. Not played the demo either because I assumed the same.

Not a purchase from me.

I played the demo and it was a good effort but it was just to boring.

played the demo - thought it was alright. the gameplay is nothing special, but the actual concept of the game, the setting, soundtrack etc were pretty good and it is a fun game to play. i'll probably get a copy once the price drops but i wont be paying £35-£40 for it.

i saw a video a while back - admitedly without sound - and wasn't taken with it.

i think if i was into heavy metal though i'd be all over it. :)


i'd recommend that anyone check this one out for some of the most imaginative and memorable level design i've seen in a game. difficulty curve is a bitch at the end though!

im not really a big heavy metal fan but i thought the soundtrack was pretty awesome

Played the game for about five hours on Sunday, I think its certainly the most fun games I've played in a while. I did start to get the feeling it was going to start getting repetitive pretty soon though, and if you don't like heavy metal and stupid violence, you probably won't like it. Oh and Lemmy should stick to the day job ..

just catching up on some ZP reviews.

this week's is for Brutal Legend and it's, well, brutal... :)

escapistmagazine.com

that was funny ..didn't fancy the game anyway and after that don't want it even more