I have some vacation coming up pretty soon and I need something to play during that vacation. Now my financial situation isn't as good as it used to be. Therefore I have to cut down on some of my expenses. So I thought that now would be a good time to get to play some of the "older" and cheaper releases. 
 
Now I am a big fan of Psychonauts, hell IMO it's probably one of the best PS2 games. So I was of course looking forward to Brutal Legend, but then the reviews came out and I was not so sure if this was really a game I wanted to play. Not because it got espicially bad reviews or anything, it just sounded like the further and further you got into the game the more it started to play like some rts game, learning you all the basics so you can use them in the multiplayer.  
 
One of the things I liked the most about Psychonauts was the characters and the humor, to me that meant just as much as the gameplay for that game. Also I need to add that I played the demo of Brutal Legend and it definitely had it's charm. But as far as I can understand the gameplay changes drastically through out the game. So I guess my question is: Is Brutal Legend worth checking out for the characters and humor or does the gameplay change so much that it almost becomes unplayable? How big a part does the rts element take up of the main story campaign and is it even worth buying if I'm only interested in the story campaign and not the multiplayer?

I loved the characters and humor in Brutal legend and the game was a blast with an awesome sound track.
Unfortunately the pseudo RTS parts suck donkey balls and it becomes the main part of the campaign from about 1/3rd of the way through it I'd say.
However it is on the short side also, so unless you found it realy cheap I would not recomend buying it if you are strapped for cash.

I really like the setting, characters and music, but the RTS bit makes me not anxious to get it.
20 bucks for it sounds about right in my ears.

I wouldn't recommend it. The start of the game was very enjoyable - mostly due to the characters, dialogue and style, but as soon as the rts parts kicked in, it was ruined for me. They just aren't fun to play, compared to proper PC RTS's, Brutal Legend is very shallow and there's not much room do interesting stuff in it. I haven't finished the game, so I don't know if the story towards the end is good enough to warrant playing through it, but even if it was, I just wouldn't want to spend my time playing through the strategy parts.

Obviously I'm in the minority here but I thought the RTS bits were fun in their own right. It was a unique take on the genre and of course the game is funny and silly and all that aswell.  
So.. If you like to try new things I would check it out for sure.

Well thanks for the quick answers and it sounds like Brutal Legend maybe isn't for me anyway. I guess the next Double Fine game I'm gonna be playing is Costume Quest, which looks awesome by the way. :)

It's an awesome game, as long as you know beforehand that it's a a weird RTS type game. I wasn't surprised, and had an awesome time, I played the online until I got the win 50 games achievement and even a little more after that. The single player was my favorite part, but I wish it was longer.

I still have some time to decide which game I should buy for my vacation, but for now I just put it on my maybe list.

" I still have some time to decide which game I should buy for my vacation, but for now I just put it on my maybe list. "

• Medal of Honor: Airborne
• Hitman: Blood Money
• Just Cause
• Battlefield: Bad Company
• Far Cry 2
• Army of Two
• Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway

Wauw you did quite some research xMP44X :) 
 
I should probably have mentioned this, but I'm not the biggest fan of FPS games. Although I might check Just Cause 2 out some time.  
 
But I found Darksiders pretty cheap, so I think I'm going to buy that. It also seems as a fairly long game with some good combat and decent puzzles. All in all it seems like a great title and Giantbomb gave it a good review so why not! 

I thought all the other elements were so good that they totally outweighed the shoddy RTS gameplay.
Tho the RTS parts are not very good, I also didn't find them difficult enough to ruin the game for me.
 
...I say Yay, but I'm a TS fanboy so take my opinion with a handful of salt.

I love the setting, the humor, the characters, the story, the music, and just the whole feeling the game has. I wouldn't say that the RTS part of the game is bad, but it is very different from the rest of the game. I would say you should buy, just to try it out, and because it is Double Fine. The game is great, so you wouldn't be wasting your money, just be prepared for the RTS part of the game.

Goddammit you people are not making it easy for me! Okay then I just buy both! Are you happy now!?! ;P 
 
I found it pretty cheap anyway so buying Darksiders and Brutal Legend will still be cheaper than buying a completely new game. Problem solved. :)

I enjoyed the game. It's well worth playing in my book (if a little clunky).