This game has a movie level story to it. Jack Black is great and who doesnt love metal? I got nostalgia to The School of Rock movie. The gameplay also feels extensive. Its possible to combine attacks and there is variation. Solid 8/10

After recently playing through, for the first time, Psychonauts 1 &2 I felt compelled to return to Brutal Legend and see if I could actually complete it. I did own it for my Xbox 360 but was too tied up with life to ever sink my teeth into it properly. Coming back to it in 2024 has been tough...it's not aged well at all!!

The game has soul and a big heart. The Double Fine writing makes it enjoyable and fun but the technical side of the game is an absolute sh1t show!! Despite running at 60fps it still feels awful to play. Stuttering constantly and frame drops happening frequently. The graphics themselves are not pretty and take you back to that smeary, Unreal 3 engine time.

As always with Double Fine most of the game mechanics are quite unique. Traversing the open world map is painful without a mini map. There's no jump button!! Action is janky as it the driving...it's hard work to play these days to be honest but if you WANT to play it then you'll probably just about scrape through the pain...

I wasn't able to get any further than 40% of the way through. It's just so boring to play with so little fun to be had. The action is just such a mess and when a game is speaking in it's own language and not explaining things enough or properly you just end up limping through it and that just isn't fun.

It's OK...tough to enjoy in the modern era due to the lack of certain features but hey...if you're bored then it'll keep you amused for a while just don't be expecting the usual amazement that a Double Fine game offers. This one is unique in that it just doesn't feel like a proper game...maybe hindered by the Xbox 360 limitations??!?

6/10

A solid game with a lot of passion behind it, Brutal Legend is a short but enjoyable hack and slash/RTS experience.

Pros
+ Draws very heavy inspiration from rock culture. The landscape, characters, enemies and combat all have plenty of references to common genre tropes.
+ Combat is simple but satisfying, and new abilities are introduced at a steady pace without being overwhelming.
+ Plenty of interesting lore that can be discovered by exploring the world.
+ The writing is entertaining and there's a good amount of comedy. Voice work is also solid all round.
+ Great soundtrack. If you enjoy metal music, you can likely just ignore the cons listed below and purchase the game right now.

Cons
- The RTS elements occupy a very weird niche. The segments that mandate them can drag on at times, and there's little indication as to how close you are to beating them. Whilst the mechanics are simple enough that you could understand them without ever having played an RTS, the standard hack and slash combat and boss fights are undoubtedly more fun.
- Controls can be a little stiff and delayed at times, though it's not nearly as bad as a lot of other reviews make it out to be. I was able to improve it by lowering the graphics settings.
- It does show its age, but that's fair enough. Things like models clipping into each other, or jigglebones on character models moving around a lot during cutscene transitions are noticable, but don't detract from the gameplay.