"Brütal Legend", the Tim Schafer/Jack Black heavy metal adventure

trailer: http://gamevideos.com/video/id/15547

so this is being published by SIERRA ?!

larger vid(slightly): http://www.gametrailers.com/player/26524.html

haha. music by dio.

Wow, this game looks so weird.

official site: http://www.brutallegendgame.com/us/index.html

No PC release (at least, not for a while)

:(

I wonder what the actual gameplay will look like. Great video, though!

Wait, is fucking Jack Black attached to this? What a buzzkill.

^^ OTM

Enh, whatevs. Dude's just doing the voice. Tim and gang are in charge of dialogue and design, which is enough of a selling point for me.

I love Psychonauts, don't get me wrong, but the combo of Jack Black and the "har har look metal duh" vibe I'm getting from this makes this look really fucking awful.

But on the other hand it does feature Lemmy voicing a character named "Killmaster."

I just fucking hate Jack Black.

I'll have to pretend it's not him.

No thread for this? For shame, ILG.

For shame.

New Tim Schafer, Jack Black, lolmetal, open-world game, out next month, etc. The preorder early access demo starts today (and in a charming bit of counterintuitive dickery from Gamestop, once you've gotten your demo code you are no longer able to cancel your preorder. Um?)

will have more to say after work once I've plaed it.

Ha, didn't know "post of this thread" meant "post what you just wrote," thought it was more "there's already a thread you silly man, rewrite that shit." I am no longer ashamed of you, ILG. Kind of surprised the search is foiled by the ümlaüt though.

http://cdn.buzznet.com/media-cdn/jj1/headlines/2009/09/jack-black-2009-mtv-vmas.jpg

:(

Eh, if it gets money in Double Fine's pockets I could give a shit. It seems like they kept a pretty tight leash on JB's Wacky Improvisational Antics in-game.

the closer this gets to release, the more nervous i am about it maybe sucking

I WANT TO BE WRONG THO

you can't always get what you want

but if i try sometimes i might just get what i need which is this game not sucking

look on the bright side: if this game sucks you can stick it in your pants

WIN/WIN

love Schafer, hate Metal. so confused!

see i love schafer and metal, which is actually what has me more worried than anything.

also i fucking hate school of rock and the references ive seen to that being part of the impetus for character development are making me all o_O

GOD I HATE JACK BLACK what a cock
i will likely gamefly this tho

Aaand my voucher code doesn't work. Awesome!

Gamesucker Blues

Turns out that while the email with the code in it says 11 AM PST, it's 11 PM PST, or 1 AM where I am. Fuck it, I'll do it tomorrow.

Though I did cave in and watch the recently released intro video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adbz29Ssb8w

The giant Motorhead snaggletooth beastie was a nice if not terribly subtle touch, and had an actual lol moment at the "do you want violence" menu popup.

the closer this gets to release, the more nervous i am about it maybe sucking

― A DOG, A BARREL... RIDICULOUS! (jjjusten), Thursday, September 17, 2009 2:54 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

by the day before are you gonna be a gibbering trembling wreck??

i can only hope i make it that far

Just finished the demo. It's short. Really, really short- just the opening movie and the ~15 minutes of game Schafer demo'd with commentary about a month ago. The controls are fine, the fighting is easy to pick up (maybe a bit too simple, though this is the tutorial level), the driving is decent, and all the technical stuff seems fine- steady framerate, no pop-in, all that stuff. All I can say is that it's funny, the environments look really, really good (I'm particularly fond of the giant chrome engine blocks hanging everywhere) and there's nothing obviously wrong with it. And that includes Jack Black- he's fairly subdued, or what passes for subdued for him.

as long as it's funny and well-designed and not shitty controls or overly short, i'll be a-ok with it

i took a pic of the gamestop promo stand-up for it, i'll try to post it here

I ended up preordering (and canceling) a second copy to get the Best Buy preorder bonus, a big LP-style package to put the game in. I'm planning on burning an mp3-CD of the full soundtrack to stick in it.

(so, so nerdy, here in my nerdcave)

the menus in this game are AWESOME

demo is out next week, along w/forza 3 demo?

http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-brutal-legend-demo/17-1393/

Yeah, the LP menus are a great touch. The all-around presentation of this game is absolutely amazing based on the demo, it just remains to be seen if it can throw up some interesting gameplay ideas when it gets to the open-world parts with the army leading, etc.

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/09/22/brutal-legend-video-explores-game-worlds-art-style/

cool story bro: I thought this game looked rubbish then I watched the gb ql and thought it looked great and then watching that video on the game's art style I think it looks greater still; I'm just worried (from what I've been reading) about the game spreading itself too thin (fable-lite combat, RTS modes, racing, etc.) but I've got faith in tim schafer

I love metal tho so I dunno if this is a ymmv game

3 Inches of Blood - Deadly Sinners
3 Inches of Blood - Destroy The Orcs
Accept - Fast As A Shark
Angel Witch - Angel Witch
Anthrax - Metal Thrashing Mad
Anvil - March of the Crabs
Anvil - Tag Team
Apostasy - Sulphur Injection
Bishop of Hexen - A Serpentine Grave
Bishop of Hexen - The Somber Grounds of Truth
Black Sabbath - Children of the Grave
Black Sabbath - Symptom of the Universe
Black Sabbath - Never Say Die
Brocas Helm - Cry of the Banshee
Brocas Helm - Drink the Blood of the Priest
Budgie - Breadfan
Budgie - Zoom Club
Candlemass - Witches
Carcass - No Love Lost
Cloven Hoof Nightstalker
Children of Bodom - Angels Don't Kill
Coroner - Skeleton on your Shoulder
Cradle of Filth - Her Ghost in the Fog
Crimson Glory - Queen of the Masquerade
Dark Fortress - Insomnia
Dark Tranquility - Cathode Ray Sunshine
Deathstars - Blitzkrieg
Def Leppard - Rock of Ages
Dethklok - Mermaider
Diamond Head - Am I Evil?
Dimmu Borgir - Progenies of the Great Apocalypse
Dokken - Mr. Scary
Dragonforce - Through the Fire and Flames
Emperor - Thus Spake The Nightspirit
Enslaved - Frost
Enslaved - Loke
Firehouse - Overnight Sensation
Girlschool - Bomber
Iced Earth - When the Night Falls
Iced Earth - Pure Evil
In Flames - Goliaths Disarm Their Davids
Judas Priest - Battle Hymn
Judas Priest - The Hellion/Electric Eye
Judas Priest - Leather Rebel
Judas Priest - One Shot At Glory
Judas Priest - Painkiller
Kabbage Boy - Girlfriend
KMFDM - Free Your Hate
KMFDM - Rip The System
King Diamond - Cremation
King Diamond - Welcome Home
Kiss - God of Thunder
Lita Ford - Betrayal
Marilyn Manson - Beautiful People
Manowar - Die For Metal
Manowar - The Dawn Of Battle
Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Mastodon - Oblivion Instrumental
Megadeath - High Speed Dirt
Megadeath - Tornado of Souls
Metal Church - Metal Church
Michael Schenker - Group Assault Attack
Ministry - Stigmata
Ministry - Thieves
Mirrorthrone - So Frail
Motley Crue - Dr. Feelgood
Motley Crue - Kickstart My Heart
Motley Crue - Live Wire
Motorhead - Back at the Funny Farm
Motorhead - In the Black
Motorhead - Marching Off to War
Motorhead - We Are the Road Crew
Nitro - Machine Gun Eddie
Omen - The Axeman
Ostrogoth - Queen of Desire
Overkill - World of Hurt
Ozzy Osbourne - Believer
Ozzy Osbourne - Mr. Crowley
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
Prong - Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck
Quiet Riot - The Wild and the Young
Racer X - Technical Difficulties
Racer X - Y.R.O.
Ratt - Lay It Down
Riot - Road Racin
Riot - Narita
Riot - Swords and Tequila
Rob Zombie - Superbeast
Rotting Christ - Ad Notics
Running Wild - Riding the Storm
Sanctuary - Battle Angels
Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King
Saxon - Wheels of Steel
Scorpions - Blackout
Scorpions - Holiday
Skeletonwitch - Soul Thrashing Black Sorcery
Skid Row - Youth Gone Wild
Slayer - Metal Storm/Face The Slayer
Slough Feg - Warriors Dawn
Static-X - Love Dump
Tenacious D - Master Exploder
Tenacious D - The Metal
Testament - For The Glory Of
Testament - More Than Meets The Eye
Tvangeste - Birth of the Hero
UFO - Rock Bottom
Whitesnake - Still of the Night
Wrath of Killenstein - Ignisis Dance

Manowar - Die For Metal

^^^^oh yeah!!

(incomplete) spotify link
- http://open.spotify.com/user/slimg/playlist/4j3pfMpakox9CBdWjb3OZO

Not sure if that's complete- "Ace of Spades" is in the demo, for a start. Also, I don't really know enough metal to know if I should be impressed or not, but I'm pleasantly surprised by the amount of Judas Priest. No Iron Maiden though :(

The demo was pretty fun.

And now I've had the chance to play it again with sound, no "Ace of Spades." My ears must be failing me in my old age.

Just finished downloading, stoked

Uhoh

Menu is cool, not feeling the actual gameplay AT ALL

Kind of a standard hack and slash, but there are some fun wrinkles later in the demo.

from another forum:

"Finished this over the weekend, not sure how final the code was but I'll go ahead and write up a dirty review anyway. I always find it easier to say what a game does wrong rather than what a game does right, so excuse the focus on the negatives.

This is spoiler free, so excuse lack of concrete examples, don't want to ruin anything as the story really is the strongest point.

So, the minor niggles persisted throughout the game, polish was definitely spread a little thin and so some sections become quite the pet hate. For me it was the team commands which grated, so every-time I saw a puzzle which required the double-team moves I'd sigh a little and just get it over with as quickly as possible. It does get easier as you practice, but like many context-sensitive commands, you'll fuck up a fair few times through no fault of your own. A lot of the time you don't really feel in full control of what you are supposed to be doing, the whole game at times feels like your just somehow winging it.

Graphically it's hit and miss, during the in game cut scenes they hold up really well and a lot of the rolling camera shots of the levels are pretty intense, but once the camera comes back down and locks to Eddy, things can get a bit repetitive, the game really doesn't have that many visual themes or textures and so a lot of different locations feel the same. Where as a platformer such as Mario can easily have you jumping between Ice worlds, Fire worlds, garden worlds and so forth.. here it's pretty limited to rocks, steel, magma and skulls.. lots of skulls.. steel skulls with magma pouring out the eye skulls.. you get the idea.

So what did I like.

The script and characters are awesome and unpredictable, highly original and well worth putting up with the niggles to see the conclusion for (well, conclusion might not be the right word but I won't ruin it).

Combat. It's not the best example of this type of combat, it feels like God of War but marred with a Fable control scheme due to the number of different attacks. But it's fun non the less, and for a game not really centered around the combat mechanics they do the job well enough. Maybe it's just because I was playing it alongside Ninja Gaiden 2 which is a complete bitch, but I could just chill out with the combat without feeling like I was ever required to master the moves. You feel like your kicking ass despite not quite knowing what you are doing.

Lots of mechanics! not the sweaty ones who I have to pay to change car wheels for me, but gameplay ones. While I moaned about them being rough and some being downright flawed, the constant switch from one game mode to another, jumping from using one skill to another. Is refreshing. Reminds me of Donkey Kong Country in an abstract kind of way (how they'd throw the barrel timing modes around the levels to break things up).

So the score, you just skipped straight here didn't you? It's a very solid 8 for me. Would love to give it higher but well, Brutal 2 might need the room for 2 more points should they iron all the annoyances out."

Im convinced this isnt going to be very good but Ill probably buy it anyway =(

Just tried the demo, and (as I found with psychonauts) I'd really prefer it if it was a movie I could just sit and watch, instead of being forced to play the fairly shitty game which is attached to the fun characters and decent writing.

I'm going to rent it, or borrow it.

How far did you get in Psychonauts, Jim? I thought the gameplay in the middle was fun.

this game screams "rent me" to me, it's like this is exactly what Gamefly was created for

reviews coming in are less than glowing. it's a shame because the story and writing, as expected, is praised, but it seems like they messed up the gameplay

How far did you get in Psychonauts, Jim?

Oh, er, not far. 3 or 4 levels? Keep meaning to go back to it.

It gets much more fun.

yeah this ain't so good. the RTS battles are a bummer and the second half of the story is rushed as hell.

yeah i was shocked to read reviews that implied that the RTS elements are sort of the primary gameplay? which seems given the target audience kinda, um, stupid?

This is definitely an odd little game- story/characters/presentation all A+ so far as expected, but I still haven't gotten a grip on the combat. Really wish they'd gone further in either the Zeldalike or RTS directions (ok, Zelda, I am a simple man with simple tastes).

I still don't know how Double Fine got Ozzy to enunciate so clearly, though.

i kinda feel like this was one of those things where you're at a point in your career where you can do any damn project you want and dude was like, you know what would be really cool? and this is what that kind of tilting at windmills get you.
^has not played game, talking out of his ass

Is this really true for Tim Schafer, though? I mean, Psychonauts really didn't sell a lick, even Brutal Legend was dropped by Activision before getting saved by EA. I don't think he's anywhere near the level of blockbuster hitmakers like Sid Meier, Kojima, Miyamoto, Gabe Newell, etc. who have the money and clout to do what they want (but hey, somebody keeps funding Peter Molyneux's projects, so what do I know?).

somebody gave tim a shitton of money to make this tho'.

Demo was enjoyable; the soundtrack is tripping me out with quality.
Think i'll get this today.

Something that will save you a lot of grief if you do: EXPLORE EVERYTHING. There are vital guitar solo abilities that you don't learn automatically but without which it is virtually impossible to win stage battles. Admittedly, the really important ones are close to major battles (the rally flag commands), but it helps to have Facemelter and Call of the Wild too. And when you get through the swamps and into the Norwegian black metal area, make it a priority to look for the Bring It On Home solo, which is too awesome to spoil.

Also, be sure to read the Legends (the bigger dragon statues), since bits of the story assume you've already read them and don't really make sense if you haven't. For almost the entire first half of the game, I mistook them for bigger Bound Serpents and figured I would have to come back and free them when I got a new pyro move. Not so- just do a quick Earthshaker and you can read them.

I'm playing this game, but I dunno... :/

i watched someone play this for like two hours over the weekend. visuals seemed great but story-wise all the now you will learn what it truly means to ROCK like a ROCK GOD rubs me the wrong way. that is def. mostly my problem though.

Is that effect from Jack Black's presence or something more with the intrinsic design?

I still have yet to try this out

This game is really boring to me so far. :(

how much of this is NOT rts? keep almost buying, but i just dislike rts intensely

About half, I'd say.

I'd say that if you don't like RTS's you shouldn't buy it.

bought it. good so far!

ok, there are some serious flaws here, although i am still (mostly) digging it. tons of stuff seems tacked on just to prove that they really could throw multiple game types in here. the racing is pretty dumb, but the worst offender BY FAR is the ridiculous "shoot at peeps from your stationary hoisted car" nonsense i finished a couple of stages ago.

its an ok game, but wow, really really repetetive, which given the kitchen sink approach is bizarre.

getting frustrated, may not finish

Ugh these later stage battles are merciless. Nothing like wasting minutes just to do it all over again.

Should say "45 minutes" up there btw