Hey Duders,

Here is the latest Deep Look! Deep Looks are largely gameplay and commentary like a Giantbomb quicklook; however, I try to cover games that have been out for a while and I intend to use the videos to highlight moments and mechanics that I found particularly worthy of highlighting and exploring. Also I aim to keep the videos under 20 minutes.

In this Deep Look I drive around the incredibly rich and detailed heavy metal inspired world of Brutal Legend and show off the fantastic art design and world building that makes the game so unique. The world of Brutal Legend is not merely made to look like a series of heavy metal posters, but the story of the game and the history of its world lend additional depth to its aesthetic. Come check out the game that made me like heavy metal, and hopefully you will come out of this a metal-head too!

I'm already a metalhead! Maybe I should play the PC version of this game, since I own it and all.

FUCK YEAH BRO!!!!!!! \m/

And yes this is heavy metal heaven .... gameplay could´ve been so much better (in terms of Eddie´s attacks is kind of basic) but the aesthetics / story / art designs / sound track compensates for it.

@aetheldod: But the face melter! And the Lead Zeppelin! And the guitar hero controls! Actually the combat opens up a little bit when you get the team up attacks and unlock all of Eddie's moves. I still agree that the action adventure part is a bit weak, but the action combat is good enough when used in the stage battles. Also swooping down into a crowd of enemies and then melting their faces is amazing.

@believer258: The PC version is SO MUCH BETTER than the console version. I tried capturing the console version first because I had a saved game from a while ago and oh boy does the lower resolution and graphic quality stand out. The lighting and particle effects on the PC are just a huge step up from the console version and it really helps the already incredible art design. The game also felt like it was running a little faster on the PC, like the animations were a little faster. The PC version also comes with cool Psychonauts related cosmetic stuff. I saw some weeird jittery model stuff during some cutscenes, but other than that I really recommend at least looking at the PC version of Brutal Legend if you like metal album art.

This game introduced me to the most awesome metal song ever, Angel Witch by Angel Witch from the album Angel Witch.

@corevi: I actually bought that song once I heard it in Brutal Legend since it was so funny + good. It was one of a few metal purchases after that game came out. Unfortunately iTunes only had the live version at the time and let me tell you Angel Witch might not be the best live band.

I liked Brutal Legend a lot! It still has my favorite licensed soundtrack of all time. I don't have anything else to say right now.

@corevi What? That was the one song in that game that I couldn't stand at all! Musical taste, huh?

I've had this game installed on my machine for half a year. I can never find it in myself to press the play button.

What a fucking amazing game.

As a pure concept, this easily one of my games of the generation. Never in all my life did I imagine we would ever see such a cartoony, masterful rendering of the soul of metal. It's such a bizarre monument, and so devoid of the usual corporate bullshit that would surround a Genre Piece like this. All the cameos in the game and the roles they play, the aesthetic of the place - it's such a cliche to say but it really does look like the cover of a maiden record come to life. I didn't really enjoy playing the game that much in the latter half, but wow - one of my favorite worlds of all time.

@geraltitude: As I was playing the game I just kept asking myself, "Who let them do this?" It has such a narrow and specific focus that the game couldn't have possibly made its money back given the venn diagram of metalheads and rts buffs. Thank goodness they got to do it though. it is beautiful.

@cerberus3dog: Do it!

@mooseymcman: I don't know what else competes as far as licensed soundtracks go. Some GTA game I guess? Saints Row the Third's use of Kanye West was pretty great.

Crazy Taxi.

That was great. Such a wonderful game; thanks for reminding me just how much fun I had playing it back when it came out. In every aspect, Brutal Legend absolutely nailed the metal aesthetic, from hiring the best possible actor for Eddie (c'mon, Jack Black is just perfect) to the killer soundtrack to the cartoony yet sinister aesthetic.

Oh man, I absolutely loved Brutal Legend. Even bought it a second time for the PC.

I loved this game so god damn much. Driving around listening to Technical Difficulties made me love open-world games for a second, and then Enslaved started playing at the frosty area and it was amazing, too. I even thought the RTS mechanics were well-thought out and a fun challenge on hard. Fun, surprisingly intriguing story. Great characters. A ton of charm and great art.

Brutal Legend is a hell of a game. Shame that its downfall was people expecting something completely different.

The visuals and audio are perfect. Playing the game was fine up to a point, but I remember getting to the first fight against the goths and I had to drop it down to easy. I even struggled with the RTS elements after that point. The final battle was a nightmare for me.

I always felt like they didn't give you enough time to warm up to that stuff, and there's not enough stage battles to get good at it. I feel like the game would have been much better as an action adventure game from start to finish.

The game starts off with The Hellion and has you fighting a demon voiced by Tim Curry to Painkiller... it's absolutely perfect. It super bums me out that I really don't like the game part of this game. It has double the Rob Halford and laser panthers!!! I should love this game.

@gunstarred: Yeah the game has pacing issues and it does a poor job preparing you for the largest stage battles. Like a bunch of the team-up attacks are very powerful but their usage in a stage battle is not immediately obvious based on how the team-ups were tutorialized. I wish they found a way to blend the action moments with some rts situations instead of creating a bunch of action adventure levels with team-up attacks thrown in. The final battle is a nightmare for everyone. It is paced completely differently than every other stage battle because the final army does not tech up in the normal fashion. Instead the Tainted Coil just jump up in tech level as you beat the final boss. So if you try to kill the final boss too quickly without building up your army, the Tainted Coil just run you over.

@csl316: Brutal Legend is the only open world game that has ever made me drive around to simply appreciate the art and the world. The loose handling on the driving and the music helped, but it was really that amazing art and aesthetic that sold me.

@macka1080: Thanks! Yeah I doubted Jack Black a bit going into the game, but he really reigned it in where he needed to and hit it out of the park on most of the jokes.

One of the best game MENU intros ever

Would easily be in my top ten list for "games of the generation"

I went round and got every song and damn collectible in that game simply because it was fun and rewarding. I even found it to be better playing through it the second time around.

I really didn't care for the RTS element, but everything else was fantastic. I would absolutely love a sequel.

@rebel_scum: I had the same experience. Once I understood how the world worked I got a whole lot more out of the game. I think I might have even gotten all of the bound serpents and some of the optional side quests.

@stealthmaster86: I don't know that the game sold well enough for a sequel, but I would love to see more of that world.

They originally planned a sequel which was to incorporate much of the content cut from the original game, including a fourth faction, but it was cancelled by EA, which almost ruined Double Fine and is why they are now making $15 downloadable games.

@corevi: I didn't know they had a deal in place for Brutal Legend 2. I can understand why EA canceled the project, but I hope Double Fine gets to the place where they can think about making a Brutal Legend or Psychonauts sequel. Their older IPs are just so damn good and I would love to see them revisited. Then again I like 90% of their new stuff too so I don't know which direction I like more. Couldn't they just become a super third party developer/publisher on the back of strong writing and whimsy? I would love to see them rise to the position of an EA one charming downloadable game at a time.

i fucking love this game. Ozzy's performance is actually pretty good and so is Rob Halford's. Incredible soundtrack. oh man i might have to go back.]

EDIT: oh man that spider boss fight with Cry of the Banshee by Brocas Helm, so good.

I loved Brutal Legend/Pyschonauts era Double Fine. I own both on multiple platforms.

I really enjoyed Brutal Legend, it was one of the more unique settings and games of last gen. And I actually really liked the RTS stuff, little odd at first but after a while I got what they were going for (assembling the band etc).

That being said I felt like you could not have picked a more non-metal developer to make a love letter game to Metal. Double Fine did a absolutely wonderful job, especially getting those big name contributors and songs, but it was all done in their style and brand of humor (which incidentally is probably why I liked it), which isn't remotely Metal in sensibility.

@slag: A bunch of the DF developers are huge metal fans and I think it shows in their art and attention to detail. I honestly really appreciated the jokey atmosphere in the otherwise heavy metal world because taking all of the death, druids, and hotrods stuff seriously could have made the game a lot more alienating to non-metal fans. They embraced the aesthetic and the dedication of metal fans without forcing the tone of metal upon the game. They took the "this stuff is awesome" aspect of the fandom without delving into actual occult and satanic stuff. I think the game had a similar tone to Tenacious D, embracing all of the trappings without wholly committing to the hokier source material.

@thatpinguino: agree with all you said. Definitely felt like Tenacious D the game, which is more my speed than most Metal is anyway.

I had some friends who were metal heads and I just can't see them liking this game, because ironically I don't think they'd think it's well..."metal". If that makes sense. I just find that kind of ironic in a way for a game all about metal.

I really wanted to like this game, but I just could never get into it. I finished some battle against a bunch of Goths swarming out of a death swamp and then just stopped. I think I didn't have much left to go, but I lost motivation. When Double Fine advertised Brutal Legend, they emphasized everything BUT the real time strategy system that turned out to be the core of the game. So, I went into it expecting to meander about a game world consisting of set pieces from heavy metal album covers, anticipating the madness of hacking my way through armies of demons and glam-rocker fiends while metal blared in the background.

For the first few hours, it was kind of like what I expected. The melee combat kind of stunk and the open world was surprisingly devoid of content save randomly hidden collectibles, but I love Jack Black, metal, Double Fine Studios, and heck... a giant skull mountain of druid bikers. A bluff consisting of gargantuan speakers roiling the sea with their thumping bass. Good stuff. Bit by bit, I started having to command units and micro-manage minions, but I had played Overlord before this and figured it was going to be a bit like that. Fair enough.

Nope. I got to the first stage battle and grimaced. Double Fine had bamboozled me into buying a game from a genre I suck at and rarely touch. :-D I trudged along best I could, but hit that wall of apathy before the end. If they had made an action-adventure game, I would have been much happier. The characters, art style, voice acting, and so on were all stellar... but an RTS game in action-adventure clothing? Why? Grumble grumble. I was disappointed, in case you can't tell. :-P

Brugal Legbone is fucking metal.

@slag: Yeah they definitely had a more tongue in cheek tone than the often deathly serious tone most metal takes. But I think the move broadened the appeal of the world and I'm grateful for it. It was like a Patton Oswald joke: based in a deeply nerdy thing, but communicated in a universal way through comedy and deep appreciation for the source material.