Brütal Legend

Overview

Brütal Legend is an action-adventure game with real-time strategy elements, made by Double Fine and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It came out in October 2009 in North America, Europe and Australia. It was meant to be published by Vivendi Games, but after Activision's merger with Vivendi, Activision dropped it. Electronic Arts picked it up, and the two publishers ended up in a legal fight that was settled out of court.

You play Eddie Riggs, a roadie who gets pulled into a fantasy world that looks like a heavy metal album cover. He has three tools: a broad axe called The Separator, his Flying V guitar Clementine, which casts spells through note-matching solos, and a hot rod called the Druid Plow, also known as the Deuce. Fire Tributes buy upgrades at the Motor Forge. The world is open and covers roughly 40 square miles.

The game also has Stage Battles, where you command troops to beat the enemy and defend your own stage, in both single player and multiplayer. Tim Schafer took the multiplayer inspiration from older strategy games, especially Herzog Zwei, and it was the first major feature the team built because no Double Fine game had done multiplayer before.

Schafer has been a heavy metal fan since high school and had the title for around fifteen years before the game came together after Psychonauts. Eddie is modelled on Jack Black, who also voices him. Lemmy Kilmister, Rob Halford, Ozzy Osbourne and Lita Ford voice characters, along with Tim Curry. There are 107 metal tracks from 75 bands in the game, picked by Schafer and music director Emily Ridgway.

Two downloadable packs came out: Tears of the Hextadon in early November 2009, which was free on PSN for its first two weeks, and The Hammer of Infinite Fate in mid-December 2009, with new multiplayer maps and single player extras. A Windows version came out in February 2013 and Mac and Linux ports followed in May 2013.

Reviews were positive, with the PS3 version at 83 out of 100. Critics praised the writing, the world and the voice work, and some felt the mix of action and strategy was awkward. Sales in the United States in October 2009 were about 215,000, which was not considered strong, but Schafer said in 2011 that it had sold over 1.4 million copies. It won Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Soundtrack at the 13th Interactive Achievement Awards.

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Action-adventure, Real-time strategy

Developer

Double Fine Productions

Publisher

Electronic Arts

Composers

Peter McConnell

Designers

Erik Robson

Writers

Tim Schafer

Producers

Gabe Miller

Directors

Tim Schafer

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

No

Online multiplayer

Yes

Release dates

Editions

Buy this game

Trophies

Trophies60

Platinum possibleYes

Platinum

1

Gold

2

Silver

10

Bronze

47

Total

60

Points

1485

• Rock God Get all trophies Platinum 2.68% of players
• Metal God Achieved 100% completion on the stats screen Gold 5.14% of players
• Serpent Savior Freed all 120 Bound Serpents Silver 7.54% of players
• One Hit Wonder Purchased 1 upgrade in the Motor Forge Bronze 77.23% of players
• Serpent Samaritan Freed 40 Bound Serpents Bronze 28.19% of players
• Serpent Spanker Freed 80 Bound Serpents Bronze 14.79% of players
• Flowerslave Summoned all Motor Forges Bronze 18.21% of players
• Now You Must Tell the Tale Viewed all Legends Bronze 12.96% of players
• Virtuoso Learned all guitar solos Bronze 20.77% of players
• Voices From Beyond Unlock all songs in the Mouth of Metal Bronze 8.73% of players
• Loyal Customer Purchased all upgrades in the Motor Forge Silver 10.64% of players
• Tourist Viewed all vistas Bronze 8.47% of players
• Protector Completed 20 ambush, outpost defense, or mortar secondary missions Bronze 28.45% of players
• Overkill Completed all hunting secondary missions Bronze 15.13% of players
• Squeal Like a Chicken Completed all racing secondary missions Bronze 23.76% of players
• Favored Acquired 3,000 Fire Tributes Silver 18.53% of players
• Some Demon Flesh on your Bumper Slayed 150 enemies with the Deuce - any mode Bronze 34.47% of players
• Sellout Spent 250,000 fans - any mode Silver 3.99% of players
• I've never touched an axe before. Personally smoted 300 enemies - any mode Silver 48.14% of players
• Silence, ground walker! Gained 5 or more seconds of hang time in a single jump - any mode Bronze 29.97% of players
• Euthanasia Hit 15 enemies with one Agony Ball using the Pain Lifter's Double Team Bronze 4.46% of players
• Death From Above Killed 20 enemies with one Bleeding Death Bronze 5.02% of players
• Dollpocalypse Hit 6 enemies with the explosion from a Brood's Double Team Bronze 5.25% of players
• Ringleader Trapped 15 enemies in one ring of fire with the Fire Baron's Double Team Bronze 5.28% of players
• Painkiller Killed 25 enemies with the grinder of one Rock Crusher Bronze 4.28% of players
• Six Degrees of Schafer Play with or against another player who has this Trophy Bronze 8.12% of players
• Got a Car and a Date Completed "Welcome to the Age of Metal" Bronze 93.84% of players
• Start a Revolution Completed "Exploited in the Bowels of Hell" Bronze 87.58% of players
• Thick as a Baby's Arm Completed "Lair of the Metal Queen" Bronze 78.63% of players
• Hair Remover Completed "Battle for Bladehenge" Bronze 72.3% of players
• French Kiss Instructor Completed "Pilgrimage of Screams" Bronze 62.18% of players
• Chicks n' Booze n' Stuff Completed "Sanctuary of Sin" Bronze 56.95% of players
• Ran to the Hills Completed "It's Raining Death" Bronze 55.62% of players
• Fistful of Fog Completed "Dry Ice, Wet Graves" Bronze 46.23% of players
• No More Tears Completed "Sea of Black Tears" Bronze 42% of players
• Subjügator Won 10 match-made multiplayer battles. Silver Needs online 4.33% of players
• Victör Won a ranked multiplayer match Bronze Needs online 8.16% of players
• Cönquerer Won 50 match-made multiplayer battles. Gold Needs online 3.81% of players
• Master of the Flame Double Teamed with every Ironheade unit Bronze 41.46% of players
• Practice Bloody Practice Won an AI stage battle - any difficulty Bronze 21.99% of players
• Master of the Tear Double Teamed with every Drowning Doom unit Bronze 11.3% of players
• Master of the Blood Double Teamed with every Tainted Coil unit Bronze 10.57% of players
• Armchair General Won a stage battle by yourself against the AI without attacking Bronze 8.6% of players
• Boar Bather Rode a Razorfire Boar into the Sea of Black Tears and lived to tell the tale. Silver 10.53% of players
• Quill Tosser Killed a Tollusk using only Ground Urchins. Bronze 8.67% of players
• Groupie Completed Campaign mode on Gentle Silver 38.55% of players
• Roadie Completed Campaign mode on Normal Silver 26.01% of players
• Legend Completed Campaign mode on Brütal Silver 8.31% of players
• Coolest Thing Ever Jumped over a Hextadon in the Deuce Bronze 13.03% of players
• Beast Master Rode every animal in the world Bronze 11.93% of players
• Iron Fist Won an AI stage battle - Brütal difficulty Bronze 6.44% of players
• Carnivore Ran down 20 animals in the Deuce with the Coiling Maw equipped. Bronze 16.86% of players
• If You Want Blood, You Got It Killed 20 Tainted Coil units with the Disgorger. Bronze 14.22% of players
• Cry Me a River Killed 20 Drowning Doom units with the Eye of Sorrow. Bronze 14.51% of players
• Whispering Rock Chiseled four Razputin heads onto Mt. Rockmore. Bronze 16.86% of players
• Beard Beard Action Beard! Made out with Ophelia while wearing the Mountain Man Threads. Bronze 15.28% of players
• A Face Like a Beast Killed 15 enemies with a Metal Beast while wearing the Zaulia Threads. Bronze 13.93% of players
• Hammer of Infinite Fate Tourist Played a multiplayer game on all Hammer of Infinite Fate multiplayer maps. Bronze 13.08% of players
• Hammer of Fate Champion Won 10 games on Hammer of Infinite Fate maps - ranked or vs. the Brütal AI. Bronze 10.12% of players
• Norwegian Sendoff Visited the grave of a fallen hero while wearing the Black Metal Threads. Bronze 15.23% of players

Space and patches

Update patch01.02

These are the patches Sony still hosts for this disc ID. The game's real history can be longer.

DLC

Two add-on packs came out in late 2009 with new multiplayer maps and single player extras.

Items

Name	Adds
Tears of the Hextadon	Two new multiplayer maps and a new single player weapon. Free on PSN for the first two weeks, released early November 2009.
The Hammer of Infinite Fate	New multiplayer maps, new weapons for the Deuce, outfits for Eddie, a GPS for collectibles and figureheads of Razputin and Schafer. Released mid-December 2009.

Playable today

Reception

Aggregates

Outlet	Platform	Score	Scale
Metacritic	PS3	83	100
Metacritic	Xbox 360	82	100
Metacritic	PC	80	100

Critics

Outlet	Score	Scale
IGN	9	10
Game Informer	8	10
GameSpot	8.5	10
Eurogamer	8	10
Computer and Video Games	7.9	10
GameSpy	4.5	5
Giant Bomb	3	5

Staff and cast

Staff

Role	Name
Director	Tim Schafer
Writer	Tim Schafer
Producer	Gabe Miller
Designer	Erik Robson
Programmer	Nathan Martz
Artist	Scott Campbell
Composer	Peter McConnell
Music Director	Emily Ridgway

Cast

Character	Actor
Eddie Riggs	Jack Black
Doviculus	Tim Curry
General Lionwhyte and Fire Baron	Rob Halford
The Kill Master	Lemmy Kilmister
Mangus	Alex Fernandez

Notes for collectors

• Activision dropped the game after merging with Vivendi, and Electronic Arts took over publishing. The two companies sued each other and settled out of court.
• The name uses a metal umlaut, and the trophy names Subjügator, Victör and Cönquerer keep it.
• A demo was on the PlayStation Store in September 2009, first for people who pre-ordered at GameStop in North America.
• The soundtrack has 107 tracks from 75 bands.
• Three trophies need online matches: the ranked win and the 10 and 50 match-made wins.
• A Wii version was talked about but cancelled.

Credits

Region

US

Time to beat

about 9 hours