Zero Punctuation: Brutal Legend

[Lithium Calibre]

He says what we're all thinking, well me at least.. so that's not everyone, ahem. Well I'm most can relate.

 

[CD-R]

If you just played the demo, you'd probably just think it's a hack 'n' slash with slightly iffy targetting.
That's EXACTLY what I thought. Also, I'm still a bit frustrated that Yahtzee still blatantly diserns Multiplayer aspects of games, I still have no idea how Brütal Legend's multiplayer works.

Except for the big flaming letters at the end that say you lead an Army.

 

[legolas23]

I'd feel like I'm the only person who liked the RTS parts, except that my boyfriend who loves RTS also liked the RTS parts. I don't understand what everyone else has against it. My only guess is that they were all anally raped by an RTS in order to so fully hate anything resembling an RTS. I think that everyone just took to playing it like an RTS, and therefore hated it. I spent just as much time in the air ordering a large mob of troops to attack as I did on the ground melting faces and double-teaming with my troops.

I do agree that the story was very short, but after that whole publisher ordeal Double Fine was going through, I can't say I'm surprised that we got a game that reflects the budget and time constraints they went through with the game. Activision and EA have only just stopped fighting over it, for crying out loud. Perhaps if Double Fine had just been properly backed to begin with we would be looking at the game at its fullest, instead of 2/3 of what was originally planned.

No I also liked building and commanding an army of headbangers, amazon women that ride fire breathing beasts, baby carriges that shoot homing exploding pirhanna dolls etc. Also being able to summon a flaming zeppelin of death to come crashing into earth at will never gets old.

I enjoyed it too. Quite a bit, actually. And I remember thinking to myself that if all RTS were that simple and yet that fun, then I would enjoy the genre a lot more. The only problem I had with them was sometimes they had quite a learning curve to them, but I had come to expect that after playing Psychonauts.

I found the whole thing to really slide in smoothly, if I say so myself. I enjoyed the fact that the game managed to mix the hack and slash, guitar sequences and RTS elements rather smoothly.

By the way, I found this review rather funny considering most of it rings true, but really...Yahtzee's friend DIDN'T figure to think outside the box a little bit? Perhaps the box needs to be widened...or he needs to think more.

 

[blackfur]

Wow, really? everyone on forums is an expert. its both funny and sad at the same time. I see some of you actually know better than Tim Schafer and Jack Black. You could probably make a better game than EA any day right?

YOU FAIL CONCEALING FALLACIOUS LOGIC FOREVER.
It's okay to criticize a game even if you're not an experienced programmer because suitable grounds for criticism of any given concept is not being capable of making it but being capable of liking it.

who do you think you are?
Here's a quote from the first page. There are now 8 pages. you can't read? you want to talk about "logic"? I wasnt talking about opinions. I was talking about tone. You make my point for me. Arrogance! You know better than anybody else. So much so that you had to type in CAPS. go take a shit on your hands and look at it you fughkin stoodent.


"The whole Jack Black, heavy metal, axe guitar thing didn't appeal to me much in the first place, but up until now I thought it had some potential. But the fact that it's an RTS in disguise completly ruins what fun could have been had from this game. Game developers need to learn how to pick a genre and stick to it. Awesome video though."

 

[dudeman0001]

If you just played the demo, you'd probably just think it's a hack 'n' slash with slightly iffy targetting.
That's EXACTLY what I thought. Also, I'm still a bit frustrated that Yahtzee still blatantly diserns Multiplayer aspects of games, I still have no idea how Brütal Legend's multiplayer works.

Except for the big flaming letters at the end that say you lead an Army.

Did it say how? Since it's inevitably going to be different in some way.

 

[Cruit]

Video doesn't work for me, it freezes after 1 second and wont play no matter what I do.

 

[mangus]

I liked everything about the game except the gameplay. Did a facepalm when dragonforce came on, though.

 

[Triforceformer]

If you just played the demo, you'd probably just think it's a hack 'n' slash with slightly iffy targetting.
That's EXACTLY what I thought. Also, I'm still a bit frustrated that Yahtzee still blatantly diserns Multiplayer aspects of games, I still have no idea how Brütal Legend's multiplayer works.

It's basically Brutal Legend's Stage Battles from Single Player, but you fight against an army controlled by a human player, with up to 4 VS 4 in one match.. Or you could create a "Practice Match" Against an A.I. on 1 of 5 difficulty settings.

 

[Jinmasa 8]

i must say that i agree that the rts elements or overtones or whatever you want to call them are FAR overused, but the game is funny for the first half at least and the last half can be sumed up as such, not funny, to sad, way to much rts; thou i throughly enjoyed the game for its first half and am only playing the second half because Schafer has a great way of ending games. (still waiting on psyconauts sequel thou)

 

[soliduck]

The Spiderman gag was classic. <3

 

[The Great JT]

See, this is where I'm gonna have to have a difference of opinion with our favorite cynical foul-mouthed game reviewer. I enjoyed the game, I found the story interesting and the landscapes fun to look at. I didn't exactly love driving around looking for the motor forges and the other findables too much, but I'd still reccomend it.

 

[Tony2077]

not bad but please for god's sake learn how to say brutal

 

[The Great JT]

not bad but please for god's sake learn how to say brutal

He was pronouncing it with the two dots over the U.

 

[The Big Eye]

Wow, really? everyone on forums is an expert. its both funny and sad at the same time. I see some of you actually know better than Tim Schafer and Jack Black. You could probably make a better game than EA any day right?

YOU FAIL CONCEALING FALLACIOUS LOGIC FOREVER.
It's okay to criticize a game even if you're not an experienced programmer because suitable grounds for criticism of any given concept is not being capable of making it but being capable of liking it.

who do you think you are?
Here's a quote from the first page. There are now 8 pages. you can't read? you want to talk about "logic"? I wasnt talking about opinions. I was talking about tone. You make my point for me. Arrogance! You know better than anybody else. So much so that you had to type in CAPS. go take a shit on your hands and look at it you fughkin stoodent.

That was a quote from the, uh, seventh page, little man.
I'm sorry if I upset your delicate sensibilities, but I'm just saying that it's okay not to like a game even if one oneself could not make a better one. It's not like the game designers are mentally handicapped and deserve a break if some people didn't like their game.
To be clear, I am not arguing with anything else you said: there's no problem in disagreeing with the general bent of the discussion. Personally, I'm neutral to this game; I like Jack Black and I'm fond of a little heavy metal every now and again to get the ol' blood pumpin', but I'm not fond of games that attempt to tackle a whole bunch of genres at once and overstretch their resources.
I'll ignore that "sh*t on hands" bit because I love you. But don't let it happen again.

EDIT: Also, could someone please tell me who that fire-breathing fellow at 3:53 is? He keeps showing up in ZPs and I've run out of possible guesses and Google search phrasings as to who exactly he might be. Odds are I'm just out of the loop, but... I like loops. Anyone wanna help me out here?

EDIT AGAIN: Whoops! [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-escapist-presents/1039-Live-Chat-with-Ben-Yahtzee-Croshaw] Never mind.

 

[Ardna Xela]

I like the fact that there's someone who pronounces Brütal Legend the way I pronounce it.
Great job as usual on the review as well.

 

[Cucipher]

Great review. And so very true about the "stealth RTS" aspect. I was looking forward to this game being a funny slash n' hack and its actually a funny, repetitive RTS. Not funny enough to keep you playing though. I gave up after the second or third stage battle took one joyless hour from my life.

 

[TheHitcher]

Yahtzee has an annoying way of changing my opinion on games.

It's not that I let him think for me, it's just that he gives me another way of looking games.
I've gone from thinking "what an awesome game" to "meh". The idea is good and the humour is great. But I've only realised how annoying it was when I thought the game was some kind of platformer with racing missions and it really turned out to be a badly crafted RTS.

OT: Another one of Yahtzee's funnier reviews. Especially the bit about the fucked up Tyler Durden relationship.

 

[OnyxLion]

I was almost convinced to buy this after playing the demo, i would've slapped someone if i went and bought it to find its actually the only genre of game i DON'T play lol

Funny review as always!!

 

[Obeliskos]

My Wednesday is complete, though I would have preferred Borderlands.

 

[Dys]

Yeah, I did get more of a Jack Black vibe from this game, but then again, I don't exactly hate Jack Black.

I was appreciative of the few Psychonauts nods throught the game, but I, and everyone else on the planet it would seem, fully agree that the RTS really bogs the game down.

It sad, though, because I feel as if this game's sales are going to directly affect whether or not we'll ever get to see Psychonauts 2.

The game's still enjoyable, to a degree, but every compliant here is legit.

Also, seriously, where the fuck is the Hornblower?

Even though the RTS elements bog down the game, and even though it's annoyingly not as good as psychonauts (despite the huge potential), it's still an above average game. Given the amount of hype surrounding it and the fact that it isn't complete shit, it's probably a fair bet to assume it will sell fairly well. I'm looking forward to the next double fine game, be it something like brutal legend (hopefully without the annoying RTS), psychonauts or something completely new. I'm amazed to be saying this, but it would also be good if EA partnered with double fine again, so that they could get the publicity they deserve and have an even more sucessful game.

I'd feel like I'm the only person who liked the RTS parts, except that my boyfriend who loves RTS also liked the RTS parts. I don't understand what everyone else has against it. My only guess is that they were all anally raped by an RTS in order to so fully hate anything resembling an RTS. I think that everyone just took to playing it like an RTS, and therefore hated it. I spent just as much time in the air ordering a large mob of troops to attack as I did on the ground melting faces and double-teaming with my troops.

There are a lot of reasons why people didn't like the RTS elements. For a start, console RTS are the bane of the genre, the controls just cannot match up with that of a PC, and because of this they tend to substitute any real strategy with "everything go kill shit of the other colour". The whole RTS stage battle thing also felt out of place in what was at large, an open hack n slash game. Having to constantly move back and order your troops to go forward and attack gets old, fast and breaks the flow of the battle. It's certainly not a gamebreaker, but it was unexpected and poorly executed.