The game is NOT 4 hours long, I honestly don't know hoe Ryan could have done that unless he was playing on easy and rushed as fast as he could.
 I've been playing for 4 hours so farand have just about hit half way(according to the achievements) on the main story. The reason Ryan says the single player acts like a tutorial is because it slowly introduces all the functions that are in the multiplayer but it's no way a basic tutorial. I've also barely done any side quests and to show you how many collectible things there are 18 different things to collect and unlock, some of them with over 100 to get. I'm only 28% complete. And I'm keen on trying out the multiplayer after getting a taste of the RTS bit.
 
Just to let you know, play this game on Brutal. The games easy and playing on Brutal will give you a much better experience.
 
This game isn't perfect and could be longer but I'm expecting at least 8-10 hours and that's before jumping online...so...yeah.

Good to hear. I've read four reviews so far and NONE of them have actually said how long the game is, only that it's "short".

My game should be here very soon, I'll take your advice, I hope Brutal mode isn't some insane mode I won't even get pasted the tutorial on.

He did say strictly going through the main story.

" My game should be here very soon, I'll take your advice, I hope Brutal mode isn't some insane mode I won't even get pasted the tutorial on. "

My playtime was 5 hours and 7 minutes start to finish.  Also, it felt like the story ended right before the climax.  The fact that you don't get to use all your units until 75% of the way through the game really made the story mode feel like half of a game.

Thanks, Metal_Mills. I believe your completely unsubstantiated opinion over that of several video game critics.

" Thanks, Metal_Mills. I believe your completely unsubstantiated opinion over that of several video game critics. "

" @HandsomeDead said:

" Thanks, Metal_Mills. I believe your completely unsubstantiated opinion over that of several video game critics. "

Actually, other websites say 6-12 hours for the main game so yeah, there actually in agreeance with me. Only GB said 4 hours. "

This game is not 12 hours long if you stick to single player missions.  Impossible unless you are really, really bad at the game and are a supreme masochist.

" @Metal_Mills said:

" @HandsomeDead said:

" Thanks, Metal_Mills. I believe your completely unsubstantiated opinion over that of several video game critics. "

Actually, other websites say 6-12 hours for the main game so yeah, there actually in agreeance with me. Only GB said 4 hours. "

Did others say 6-12 hours if you stick strictly to the single player missions and ignore the side quests etc? "

" @HandsomeDead said:

" @Metal_Mills said:

" @HandsomeDead said:

" Thanks, Metal_Mills. I believe your completely unsubstantiated opinion over that of several video game critics. "

Actually, other websites say 6-12 hours for the main game so yeah, there actually in agreeance with me. Only GB said 4 hours. "

Did others say 6-12 hours if you stick strictly to the single player missions and ignore the side quests etc? "

Yes. They said 6-12 for the main story. "

The four hour estimate is fairly accurate for the single player, I'd say.  Re-evaluating the time I spent playing the game, I probably spent an hour or so playing side missions.

" @Metal_Mills said:

" @HandsomeDead said:

" @Metal_Mills said:

" @HandsomeDead said:

" Thanks, Metal_Mills. I believe your completely unsubstantiated opinion over that of several video game critics. "

Actually, other websites say 6-12 hours for the main game so yeah, there actually in agreeance with me. Only GB said 4 hours. "

Did others say 6-12 hours if you stick strictly to the single player missions and ignore the side quests etc? "

Yes. They said 6-12 for the main story. "

Link, please. "

The thing is is that there is little to no incentive to go do the side story missions.  Especially when they all are so derivative and dull and the story is by far the most fun thing to play.  Ryan saying that it'll take 4 hours to do the story missions is accurate.  That's all that most people are going to play and that's all that most people are going to care about.   If more than half of your gameplay time is spent doing side missions, there is probably not enough story.
 
I mean, the only game I bought for the side missions was Saints Row 2.  and even then it was because there was so much variety and ridiculousness that it was refreshing to play them.  The side missions in Brutal legend are very dull and derivative and just make me want to go play the story mode.

I was a bit surprised when it said that on the review, since on the Gametrailers review it says that it's 8-10 hours long... can't wait to get it on Friday :)

" @HandsomeDead said:

" @Metal_Mills said:

" @HandsomeDead said:

" @Metal_Mills said:

" @HandsomeDead said:

" Thanks, Metal_Mills. I believe your completely unsubstantiated opinion over that of several video game critics. "

Actually, other websites say 6-12 hours for the main game so yeah, there actually in agreeance with me. Only GB said 4 hours. "

Did others say 6-12 hours if you stick strictly to the single player missions and ignore the side quests etc? "

Yes. They said 6-12 for the main story. "

Link, please. "

Gametrailers for one. They say 8-10 hours. There were a couple others too. The point I'm making is a lot of people are going "OMG 4 HOURS FORGET IT" when it's not 4 hours and even if it was, that's the core story, not the rest. There acting like it's a linear point A to point B style of game. "

Fuck, they say its that short, damn I hope that its not true, I pre-ordered it

" @Metal_Mills said:

" @HandsomeDead said:

" @Metal_Mills said:

" @HandsomeDead said:

" @Metal_Mills said:

" @HandsomeDead said:

" Thanks, Metal_Mills. I believe your completely unsubstantiated opinion over that of several video game critics. "

Actually, other websites say 6-12 hours for the main game so yeah, there actually in agreeance with me. Only GB said 4 hours. "

Did others say 6-12 hours if you stick strictly to the single player missions and ignore the side quests etc? "

Yes. They said 6-12 for the main story. "

Link, please. "

Gametrailers for one. They say 8-10 hours. There were a couple others too. The point I'm making is a lot of people are going "OMG 4 HOURS FORGET IT" when it's not 4 hours and even if it was, that's the core story, not the rest. There acting like it's a linear point A to point B style of game. "

Did you even read the review? That's what Ryan was saying when he says that's sticking to the very core missions and not doing anything else. I don't even know what kind of people you're talking about but you're aware that those people are morons so right now, you're just coming across as a really petty fanboy. "

The seemingly short length of the game is definately a big disappointment for me. I was hoping for at least a 10-12 hour long experience (not counting side missions and collecting stuff). Oh well, it still looks like an awesome game.

When a review says that a game is 6-12 hours long, they might as well say that it's 1-40 hours long.

I figure that as someone who works as a video game professional with a ton of achievements, Ryan is pretty good and fast at finishing video games. 
 
Whenever I read about someone's time spent on a campaign, I tack on at least 50% as my expectation for how long I would need to complete the same experience.

At the rate I'm playing at (playing on Brutal, exploring the world, doing other missions, upgrading stuff etc.) I'll probably be finishing the game at the 9-10 hour range.  
 
The only way you would get 4 hours is if you strictly did story, played on normal or less, and basically played the game like a speed run going from point A to B, which like others have said is what Ryan has said he focused on. 
 
So unless you plan on playing like that then you really shouldn't worry about length.

I played the game strictly trying to have as much fun as possible.  It took me 5 hours and 7 minutes.  The story missions were the most fun part of the game and I was super bummed that there weren't more.
 
Also, the end of the game comes a lot sooner than you will be anticipating.

" I played the game strictly trying to have as much fun as possible.  It took me 5 hours and 7 minutes.  The story missions were the most fun part of the game and I was super bummed that there weren't more.  Also, the end of the game comes a lot sooner than you will be anticipating. "

" @Metal_Mills said:

" @HandsomeDead said:

" @Metal_Mills said:

" @HandsomeDead said:

" @Metal_Mills said:

" @HandsomeDead said:

" Thanks, Metal_Mills. I believe your completely unsubstantiated opinion over that of several video game critics. "

Actually, other websites say 6-12 hours for the main game so yeah, there actually in agreeance with me. Only GB said 4 hours. "

Did others say 6-12 hours if you stick strictly to the single player missions and ignore the side quests etc? "

Yes. They said 6-12 for the main story. "

Link, please. "

Gametrailers for one. They say 8-10 hours. There were a couple others too. The point I'm making is a lot of people are going "OMG 4 HOURS FORGET IT" when it's not 4 hours and even if it was, that's the core story, not the rest. There acting like it's a linear point A to point B style of game. "

Did you even read the review? That's what Ryan was saying when he says that's sticking to the very core missions and not doing anything else. I don't even know what kind of people you're talking about but you're aware that those people are morons so right now, you're just coming across as a really petty fanboy. "

I just rented it and finished it in 4 hours and 20 minutes. 
 
I don't like that game.

Oh well, people will buy ODST at $60 for a 6 hour campaign, Portal for something like 4 or 5, COD 4 for 6, all great games for sure.  
 
But if people won't give Brutal Legend a chance just because they have heard it's short (even though people are exaggerating how short it is), then it's their own loss, I've never judged a game on length alone, Portal, a very short game, was one of the best game experiences I had played in a long while.

I just watched the GT review and they said 8-10 hours, I sure hope thats true

All this Brutal Legend shenanigans bums me out :(

Portal was included with The Orange Box. You didn't drop 50 bucks for Portal.
 
Decided to not pick up Brutal Legend, i'll wait for a price drop in the near future.

" Good to hear. I've read four reviews so far and NONE of them have actually said how long the game is, only that it's "short". "

" @Elazul said:

" Good to hear. I've read four reviews so far and NONE of them have actually said how long the game is, only that it's "short". "

I'd rather them say that it's short because every ones experience differs. Just like when they said Heavenly Sword was 6 hours long. It wasn't for me. It was about 8-10 hours. "

Who cares about the length of a game FFS.

How is the multiplayer ?  I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive.
 
I think Ryan's review covered the single player very well but failed to give a good idea about the multiplayer (which is honestly hard to do since no one else had the game when he reviewed it). At the core, the game is an RTS and the real value of any RTS is in the multiplayer.  To be honest, I was hoping Brutal Legend would be the game that finally breaks the RTS problem on the consoles but from the sound of most reviews, it looks like it doesn't really succeed in this regard. :(

Arguing about review scores! Always a good decision!

I think it's a mark of greatness when opinions of the game, both from critics and gamers, are so polarized. Although the GB review surprised me, I went ahead and opened my copy up anyways and in all honesty next to Batman: AA it is the best game I've played so far this year. 
 
The funny thing also is this length argument. It is very possible to beat the game in under 5 hours, but the same could be said for basically every game in existence if you speedrun from point A to point B. I'm 6 hours in and I've only gotten 3 of the 9 story achievements (under the assumption that the time taken per achievement is represented by a linear function)...but this is because of the way I play the game. I've been playing it but I get sidetracked a lot in open world games (I put 40 hours into GTAIV but didn't even end up finishing it).

One last thing is that I agree with the OP on how retarded some people are being on this site. So because GB said the game is a 3/5 this is to be taken as gospel and all people decrying said gosepl should be labelled as blasphemous? Right, get real. There are many reviews for this game and the average currently sits at about a 86%. That's pretty damn good. Again, the massive disparity between how reviewers received many of the games mechanics has to be taken into account.
 
At the end of the day it really doesn't matter what a reviewer thinks if you had fun with a game.

This game is not 4 hours, it's 5 hours!! Woop dee doo it's a short linear game with nothing to do after the main quest and an online multiplayer which will be dead after a month or so. Good luck and enjoy your purchase!

" This game is not 4 hours, it's 5 hours!! Woop dee doo it's a short linear game with nothing to do after the main quest and an online multiplayer which will be dead after a month or so. Good luck and enjoy your purchase! "

" The game is NOT 4 hours long, I honestly don't know hoe Ryan could have done that unless he was playing on easy and rushed as fast as he could.
 I've been playing for 4 hours so farand have just about hit half way(according to the achievements) on the main story. The reason Ryan says the single player acts like a tutorial is because it slowly introduces all the functions that are in the multiplayer but it's no way a basic tutorial. I've also barely done any side quests and to show you how many collectible things there are 18 different things to collect and unlock, some of them with over 100 to get. I'm only 28% complete. And I'm keen on trying out the multiplayer after getting a taste of the RTS bit.  Just to let you know, play this game on Brutal. The games easy and playing on Brutal will give you a much better experience.  This game isn't perfect and could be longer but I'm expecting at least 8-10 hours and that's before jumping online...so...yeah. "

If a game like this is roughly 8 hours long according to other people's casual reviews, I can imagine it's true when Ryan says it's 4 hours if you churn through single player only on normal difficulty.

" I just rented it and finished it in 4 hours and 20 minutes.  I don't like that game. "

" This game is not 4 hours, it's 5 hours!! Woop dee doo it's a short linear game with nothing to do after the main quest and an online multiplayer which will be dead after a month or so. Good luck and enjoy your purchase! "

" This game is not 4 hours, it's 5 hours!! Woop dee doo it's a short linear game with nothing to do after the main quest and an online multiplayer which will be dead after a month or so. Good luck and enjoy your purchase! "