Brütal Legend

From the moment we heard about it, we’ve been in love with Brütal Legend’s can’t-miss concept: “A roadie for a metal band fights demons. He’s got an axe, a guitar...and he’s voiced by Jack Black!” That’s a formula no music lover could resist, but the game’s multiplayer mode — well, that’s much less of a no-brainer. Sitting down for some hands-on playtime, we were stunned to learn that it’s...a real-time strategy game?

That’s right: To complement Brütal’s more action-adventurey solo campaign, the wacky minds at Doublefine (maker of Xbox epic Psychonauts) have devised a strategic skirmish mode. Up to eight players go at it in what’s basically a unit-based battle of the bands, with the goal of making their base — in this case, a wondrously bedecked concert stage — the last one standing. You can control one of three factions: Ironheade, the hard-rockin’ humans led by main hero Eddie Riggs (Black); the undead, goth-inspired Drowning Doom; and the malevolent, vaguely S&M-ish Tainted Coil, who double as the main villains in single-player.

Our demo consisted of three one-on-one matches, which let us sample each faction and devise some decent tactics. Besides generating a bunch of units, one of your first goals is to capture the fan geisers situated around the map. Fans are your credits — what you use to buy more units — so grabbing extra fan geisers gives you more money to spend. In our first match, playing as Ironheade leader Eddie, we cranked out just a few Headbangers (melee units) and guitar-toting Razor Girls (ranged infantry) and then raced for a geiser, where we dilly-dallied a bit while experimenting with the controls. Bad idea: we’d given the Tainted Coil team enough time to amass superior forces, and they strolled in and crushed us. The rest of the match went just as poorly, and before long, they smashed our stage. Brutal defeat!

For round two we played as the Drowning Doom, and, with some coaching from Doublefine, we churned out some creepy, powerful units who’d seem right at home in a Tim Burton movie. One, the Ratgut, looks like a hideously pregnant zombie; when your faction leader (Ophelia) joins with him for a special move, you control the rats that burst forth from his stomach, guiding them as they gnaw any opponent in their path. Another favorite is the Brood, a baby carriage that attacks enemy vehicles; team up with it, and you can steer it around until it explodes in what our Doublefine guide dubbed a “Mamakaze.”

Following another loss, we switched to the Tainted Coil, who work a bit differently from the other factions in that they generate new units right there on the battlefield, rather than back at your stage. This time, we were even more patient, whipping up just enough basic units to hold our own, but saving most of our fans for über-units like the Hate Cage (two giant legs holding a caged demon; stomps foes flat) and the Pain Lifter (a vehicle that launches an explosive Agony Ball). After annihilating scores of Ironheade with the latter, we rushed their stage and unleashed our ultimate weapon: a massive, blood-spurting monstrosity called the Bleeding Death. Within seconds, their stage was toast. Brutal victory!

After more than an hour of playtime, we’re genuinely intrigued by what Doublefine’s accomplished here. Our staff RTS newbies found these skirmishes intuitive and appealing; they definitely benefit from Brütal’s inventive characters and quirky art style. We’re still surprised to see so much strategy in a game aimed at action and music fans, but the designers clearly followed their muse, and we’re eager to try more when the game releases.