SPray really pissed me off. After like eight hours, I was about to hit my first boss battle in the game before it bugged out on me. All over the internet there's both warnings of game breaking bugs and other people swearing they've never experienced any issues, and I proudly belong to the former category.
I went to the volcano temple, solved a bunch of puzzles, then went through a teleporter that was supposed to take me to the boss. Instead, it restarted the whole game, taking me back to the developer/publisher logos and title screen. Reloading did nothing as a gate that led to the teleport was permanently closed no matter how many times I attempted to open it. Three times specifically.
So I went straight back into Brutal Legend. My last attempt to play the game evidently got me about half way through, and I blasted through it in about 8 hours ignoring most side quests. Brutal Legend has this vibe like there's a giant open world to explore, but there's barely anything interesting in it aside from the occasional side quest. I made a vow to only play the side quests that popped up directly in my path, an undying promise that led to me playing a singular optional mission.
Regardless of the hollow world, it's still brimming with personality. There's a ton of funny dialogue and tiny monsters to run over. The story is full of cute little references to all sorts of metal stuff, which really appealed to me.
Most of the rest of the game is pretty unappealing in every way early on. The early, mostly beat-em-up levels are absolute torture. There probably was 8 million triple A games like this one back in 2009, so it makes sense, but in 2019 it makes you want to vomit.
Things pick up halfway through when the game finally reveals it's true form: a kick ass action/real-time strategy hybrid. You, as Jack Black guy, amass resources to create different types of units that go into battle, sometimes jumping in yourself to ensure victory. It gets pretty crazy later on as the game ramps up the difficulty, forcing you to address multiple threats at once and frequently requiring your car's firepower.
Brutal Legend wouldn't go in my top 500, but it's definitely a fun and unique game. I have a personal problem with some of the choices they made: there's a huge fan service heaped onto Ozzy, Lemmy, and Rob Halford, but none for Dio! Jack Black has appeared in Dio's music videos, written songs about him, and even had him appear in the Tenacious D movie, but they couldn't squeeze him into Heavy Metal: The Game? Especially now that Dio's passed, it feels like a huge slap in my metal worship face.
Speaking of metal worship, isn't it weird how metal people literally worship certain performers, bands, and albums? Other people can have favorite albums, but as a metal head I feel totally subservient to the awesomeness of all my metal gods. Like Wayne and Garth when they meet Alice Cooper, bowing down and proclaiming their unworthiness.
I got to play drums with my favorite Canadian metal god Thor though and didn't really have that kind of feeling. Perhaps there was a desire to avoid being a goofy mark or to exhibit a certain level of professionalism, being a member of the band for that day. I did tell Thor that it was an honor to play with him and noted that he'd signed all of my Thor memorabilia in the past.
Perhaps in all my love for my metal gods there's a fear that they won't live up to my pedestal I put them on, although it's pretty clear Thor is just as enthusiastic as he appears in the film Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare. Maybe if I met more of them I'd be able to understand, but I probably will never meet enough metal people I deeply respect to come up with a large enough data pool.
Anyway, I started up Ys 7! Hope it's cool!
