The Metal LIVES!!!! (kinda)

"A good roadie knows it's his whole job to make someone else look good. Keep someone else safe. Help someone else do what they were put here to do. A good roadie stays out of the spotlight. If he's doing his job right, you don't even know he's there. Once in a while he might step on stage just to fix a prop, to set something right. But then before you even realize he was there, or what he did, he's gone." - Eddie Riggs, Protagonist of Brutal Legend

Tim Schafer is not a man who dabbles, that has become clear. In Psychonauts, he explored the minds of characters with different neurosis's in a way that was both interesting and fun. Despite that game being little more than a cult hit, Schafer went all in again with Brutal Legend, and comes out smelling worse than a rose, but better than the alternative.

Brutal Legend is metal, that much is obvious from the minute you start the game. This works to the games advantage most of the time, like in the design of the world, enemy designs, story, characters, and combat; Other times it seems that the designers were too focused on the metal to polish some parts of the game, like the upgrade system and real time strategy component. The world of Brutal Legend is most definitely metal, from bondage covered demons to giant engines as part of mountains, and this works well with the attitude of the story that metal is all there is. This is great for looking at, but a little problematic to interact with, as the world is not especially full of things to do. Outside of story missions, there are only approximately 40 missions, most of which consist of fighting one wave of enemies and killing them with at least one ally unit still alive. These missions, when taken all together, add maybe three or four hours to the game, and the most time consuming can be done concurrently with the story missions. It seems like the designers recognized this, and placed 120 statues to find around the game world, and then tied personal development to finding them. After every ten statues found, you get an increase of health, health regeneration, ally healing, or flight speed. The problem with this is that some statues are within sight of one another, or follow a distinct path or road, while others are tucked away in places you would only go to in order to find these statues. In the end, I suggest a map if you are going after them, and even then you may miss one like I did.

Combat in Brutal Legend is fairly basic, consisting mainly of two input buttons, one for melee, and one for special attacks, but thematic as melee is handled with an axe, and special attacks are played on a guitar. There are power cords available to play during combat, with various effects from increasing the strength of allies to melting the faces of enemies, but these rely on a timing aspect similar to guitar hero, during which your character can be killed, limiting the usefulness of these attacks. Enemies are sufficient in both number and toughness, never becoming simple cannon fodder, and their designs are perfect for the tone of affection towards metal in the story, as the first enemy set encountered is bondage themed, like most metal album art suggests. However the true skewering of metal occurs with the next set, who are clearly based on hair metal and lead by a glam rock lead singer that can fly using his hair as wings followed by a set based on emo/goth music.

However, the focus on the front half of the game shows in the back half, when the game tries to transition into a action/real time strategy game familiar to anyone who has played either Pikmin or Overlord, except that Brutal Legend requires resources gained from specific buildings and has highly specialized units, which quickly begin to show that they are not worth the expense in most situations. Compounding this is that enemy commanders can strike down your units with a few quick attacks, while you must repeatedly attack their units with help from your units in order to kill them. On top of all of that, order giving is based on range, with all units in a given area around your character blindly following orders, unless the player holds down one button, freezing all allied units in the area, selects a unit group, and gives that group specific orders. However, as this only freezes allied units, most orders will end up worthless as the enemy kills allied units while frozen waiting for orders. Throw in some poor enemy commander intelligence, at least in story mode, and you get a half executed gameplay mode, which sadly makes up almost the entire second half of the story missions. There also are basic escort missions which, while not as bad as the RTS mode, are not the best executed either.

Graphically, this game looks good, mainly because of the consistent style and commitment to the source material, with great work having been done on the characters themselves. However, some of the areas of the world are similar enough to blend together into a background that inspires a "meh" at times. In addition, the copious amount of gray in the environments make find those statues even more difficult, as they are gray as well. Time is marked in the game with a rising and setting sun, and rain at times, however overall the effect feels a little tacked on. The sound is where the game truly shines, with a good soundtrack, great voice work from Jack Black, Tim Curry, Ozzy Ozbourne, and the rest of the solid cast, and great ambient noise, including receiving reports when you pass groups of allies in the world. The only issue I have is that the music rotation of your vehicle is based on your location, meaning that I heard "Leather Rebel" way too much for my taste. You can manually select a different song, but then the rotation returns to the area group.

Extras are highly limited, consisting of finding those statues, finding songs for the vehicle radio, and a multiplayer version of the RTS battles, where a number of the achievements for the games are tied to. Since I did not enjoy the RTS of the main game, adding in competent opponents would likely only increase my frustration with the controls during these battles, and therefore didn't actually attempt the mode. However, I know you can control the different groups in this mode, and that one even plays slightly different from the others, requiring one unit to summon other units, rather than simply building the units like the other groups.

In the end, Brutal Legend is brutal for sure, in some of the ways they meant, and some that they didn't. Worth a rental for the world and story, but not a purchase in my opinion.

Graphics: 7 out of 10

Great style, but too much gray in the environment leads to some losing sight of objectives.

Sound: 9 out of 10

Would be a 10, but the shuffle doesn't work well enough. Also, can someone please ask them to release the full soundtrack somewhere?

Gameplay: 6 out of 10

The RTS sections and one vehicle level really hurt the game here, as the basic gameplay is easily an 8.

Controls: 7 out of 10

Mostly good, but fall on their face in RTS mode, hard.

Replayability: 6 out of 10

There is little reason to replay the story, and the multiplayer, well, your mileage may vary.

Overall: 6 out of 10

Entertaining as hell, but only half of the game is executed well, which severely hurts what could have been a great game.

Sex, Violence, Racism: Are Games the Next Moral Battleground?

Now look, I'm not saying that there is much of a battle to be had about racism. Instead, I would like to say that Games are beginning to become the medium of choice for people to read racism into. This is also not to say that there haven't been racist games in the past, as Custard's Revenge is clearly racist. I would instead ask why those who cried racism have never cried out about the eradication of Germans over the years, be they Nazi or otherwise. Yes, I understand that WWII shooters kinda need to use Germans in some way, but what about Italians or Japanese, or encountering Spaniards or Norwegians working in German manufacturing plants or actively fighting? These games could be an avenue of teaching for this genre, instead of rehashing the same battle for the now hundredth time, as I actually had to look up other Axis allies on wikipedia. I have always found it intriguing that white people can seemingly be slaughtered wholesale in Games without anyone batting an eye, but if you make a palette swap it suddenly becomes racist. However, having said all of that, I can understand the feeling of the article about Resident Evil 5, as the original trailer definitely had a "travel to Africa, kill the poor" vibe, as opposed to looking like it was about zombies.

That really doesn't segue well into anything, but let's say it goes to violence. Most games contain violence, whether this is for the better or worse I leave as an exercise to the reader, and as an industry there seems to be an economic incentive to go as violent as they are comfortable. This has resulted in games which go over the top into satirical territory, such as the Mortal Kombat or Gears of War series', and some which avoid violence as much as possible, such as Little Big Planet or Bejeweled 2. Of course, like any other medium, there are a great number of variations between these extremes, some of which are cartoony (Smash Bros.), and some of which are serious and realistic (Manhunt). Interesting, it seems that the only times violence is objected to by many of the press, and therefore the public, is when it is treated in a serious, thought-provoking way. In this way Games are already being treated much like Film, except in the latter case it is sex instead of violence that is found repugnent.

Sex is, in America at least, a taboo topic in media, no matter the medium. Sadly, most Americans would be more offended by a female nipple being shown in a game than a person being shot in the head at pointblank range. Sadly, I can't help but agree to an extent with those people, as the use of sex in games is basicaly fan service(BMX XXX), instead of being used for any coherent reason (God of War, because it's basically a send up of male fantasies). If sex can be used in Games like it is in Film (think art movies, not porn), then I would be less uncomfortable about the inclusion of it in a piece of entertainment, but until then I think there needs to be better restraint when it comes to its use.

Message to Cor

I can't believe that was just a training exercise. I mean, I know it was, but still it felt so real. Do the instructors even care about us, sending us in to a live-fire combat exercise against each other? The MJOLNIR armor is pretty amazing and all, but it still seems reckless. Ah well, it was fun in a scare the ever loving shit out of you way, but I wish that my teammates would have listened to my strategy. You know, protect our flag first, then go get theirs after they're eliminated. But instead they acted like 12 year olds playing a video game, running straight at our opponents shooting wildly. I'm sure they failed both the tactical test and the efficiency test. At least our test was on base, in the Pit. I heard other groups had to go fight it out in recreations of covie controlled places. Although it was difficult shooting the other team instead of those damn Covie targets, I figured it out pretty quick. I know, you wanna hear about the exercise, right?
Well, first they tell us that we get a live fire test, which got us all excited, spending all that time firing blanks and shit. Then they tell us that the bullets are gonna be real coming back too. A couple of us got nervous at that, but then our XO told us to shut up and be SPARTANS. Did it with some weird flair he said came from an old vid disk. Anyway, we showed up at the pit, and got told it was an exercise in priority target acquisition and defense of resources. Really, we were playing capture the flag, just with real bullets and live grenades. They told us that the suits would protect us, and if we got critical the suits would somehow extract us from the exercise. I mean, how do they do that? Does the suit get up on its own and walk out or something? Nah, I don't know how it happens, I just know that when you come to, if that exercise ain't over, you're right back in it. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true! Anyway, but asshole teammates go running off God-knows-where, while I try yelling to them to watch the flag. Of course none of them come back, and I start hearing the first shots, and then explosions. I'll admit it, it was kinda cool, but I was trying to watch that flag still, right? So I'm sitting there, watching the flag, when all of a sudden across the comms comes this voice saying "enemy flag taken" or something like that, and I get kinda excited. Then, I hear "enemy flag dropped" and not even five seconds later my one teammate goes running back off into the pit from somewhere that I didn't see. Before I know it, all of them have gone past me a couple times, while I haven't seen even a flash of enemy color.
You know that couldn't last, as all of a sudden I see a flash of red, up on a floor above me. I tossed a grenade up there, just to spook them, and got three sent back at me. I knew I was in trouble, but my teammates just kept running in a different direction, while I was fighting three on one to keep that blue flag from getting moved. I did a good job, too. Knocked two of them down, even got one of them a second time, but eventually they got me in a corner and I got taken down. I open my eyes back up, and there I am, next to the flag again, before I hear a shotgun cock next to my ear. Guess one of them grabbed that and the active camouflage before running over to the flag. Caught me just coming around, and took me right back out. By the time I was back up, he was half way across the map, with suppression fire keeping me from pursuit. By the time my teammates knew what was happening, that damn voice was telling us that they had captured our flag. I looked back, to see a new flag in the old one's spot, so I went back to guard duty, looking for red, or that weird distortion from active camo. I was so busy looking for them, I couldn't hear the rocket until it was on me. This time when I came back, I wasn't near the flag, but I was next to a shotgun. I figured I could beat that rocket launcher guy to the flag and take him down, mafia style. Problem was, he had a rocket and was looking for me too. Before I can get a clean shot on him, he blows me away again, and apparently grabs the flag and runs back to his base. 2-0 them, and we are looking pretty shabby. I decided that I wouldn't leave the flag again, as much as I could avoid it. Too bad about that sniper, I mean I don't even know how he hit that shot on me. One minute I'm standing their looking for red, the next I'm opening my eyes to a cadre of reds, and one throwing a plasma grenade at me. Yeah, he stuck me alright, right on the visor, couldn't see a damned thing! Just blue glow before I went down again. I ended up getting back in just as they scored that last flag, talk about disappointing. We might've stood a chance if my team had some brains in their helmets, but the instructors should set them straight, right? Tell me about how bad they got it when I get back from repairs over at Mombasa.

Genre? We don't need no stinkin' genre! (Or do we?)

I've been thinking lately that while I never know what to write in here, I always have some contradictory feelings about what I've read. So I thought that maybe today I would let out both sides of my brain, in one post (hence the title). Today's experiment: Genre's in Games. I guess I'll call my argumentative side my Devil, and it's opposing view my Human, because I don't think I have an Angel up there. First up, here's Devil!

Devil: Why do we really need Genre's in Video Games in the first place? I mean, really who do they help? Scholars never apply them right, or over react (I'm looking at you Mr. "Halo is the best EVAR!1!"), and "journalists" always bitch about how a game gives in to its genre tropes, or is a "typical" example of that Genre, unless it is the next big teat for them to suck on. Then, it is always "pleasantly accessible" or "immediately playable" or some other trash. Amazing how that works. Reminds me of how ESPN treats the Yankees or Red Socks. Also, I notice lately that developers are constantly crossing genres anyway, just so they can say it is special. I mean seriously, what's next a Sonic platformer/racer/shooter/puzzle/RPG? And then there are things like Ico or Shadow of the Colossus. I mean, what the hell genre are they, Adventure? Kinda, but without puzzles really, more like platformers maybe. or RPG's. or... you get my drift. I need to go away now before we get in trouble, or worse BORE you.

Human: Um, excuse me, but I use genre's, mainly to help me decide what games I might be interested in. I mean, if I like FPS', then I would like to know that Gears of War is not an FPS, or that Borderlands is. When someone says they played a JRPG, I can easily understand that the hero has spiky hair for no good reason, while the latest Racer likely doesn't even have a character avatar (apart from the car). Genre's also make it easier for those outside of the Game culture to access it. After all, if your Grandma goes in and asks for a "Halo Game", you're probably getting your second copy of Halo 3, rather than a new FPS. Do genre's prevent this? No, but they at least provide tools for the uninitiated to maneuver around in the culture, albeit in fits and spurts. Genre's help everyone identify game characteristics and mechanics included in a game, especially when listed as a "element of", rather than a true crossover.

In the end, I guess I feel that Genre's are as useful to a person as that person want's them to be.

art and games - the extended cut

This is kinda a long one, so keep that in mind when setting out to read it.


It is often said that what constitutes Art is an exercise left up to the individual, which is a fascinating concept in and of itself. Art is a individual decision about what qualities something must contain in order for it to be artistic or "worthy" of being considered art. In this way, Art is much like Beauty, and the two are often tied together in that a beautiful painting or sculpture is often considered Art, simply because someone thinks it is beautiful. Can Video Games be considered Art in this context, where beauty is a major defining characteristic? I think yes, but not often enough to reflect the cultural impact Games have had on our culture, both as a generation and as a world community. I think that there are more important characteristics when it comes to defining Art than just Beauty, such as the interweaving of different techniques, or ,most importantly, that the piece says something reflective about the society that produces it.
How can this definition be applied to Games, however, when all of them are an interweaving of different techniques, especially in the modern times of games, when there are voice casts and lighting directors, designers and artists, all working on one final product. When it comes to Games, however, I think that the most critical measuring stick as to it being Art is if it says something about the society it comes from. For example, while the last five or six Madden football titles look better than it, none of them are on the artistic level of the Grand Theft Auto series, especially titles number three, Vice City, and San Andreas. This series, while basically defining a genre, also offered a surprisingly deep critique on the pop culture of a particular era of America, either the eighty's Miami in Vice City, or the early ninety's Los Angeles in San Andreas, or even late ninety's New York in Grand Theft Auto Three. This, more than the car stealing, mass murdering, or prostitute procuring is what attracted many people to the games. Unfortunately, those in-game actions prevented many from accessing these valuable critiques on American shared culture. Another game by the same developer that embraced this cultural critique was Bully a Grand Theft Auto style romp through private school. Bully examined things like bullying, obviously, violence and delinquency; however, it also showed the positives of attending class, treating others with respect, and finding solutions other than fighting. The key to the game was the freedom the player had to decide how to proceed.
It should be noted that not all games that provide you with copious amounts of freedom would qualify as Art under this definition, as games like Crackdown, Saint's Row, and True Crime: Streets of LA all contain a great deal of freedom, but are not artistic, as they do not say anything about culture. Likewise, while good games, Half-Life, The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, again do not qualify, despite their moral freedom. A game that fits in with this latter group, while saying something about the culture it emerged from, is Mass Effect. In Mass Effect, the player is tasked with stopping a intergalactic war by being a dark operation unit. However, the game gives you a reasonable amount of freedom as to your interactions with others, all while spinning a tale very reflective of politics of the past and foreseeable future. The addition of a not-so-subtle racist view directed towards the player is what truly sets this game apart, however. I'll try not to spoil anything, but racism can actually win here, depending on the player's actions.
Other games also qualify in this definition, such as some titles in the Final Fantasy series. The early titles all boil down to big evil is defeated by the player's party. However, some games in the franchise have messages that they are trying to impart, saying something that originates from the culture they come from. Final Fantasy Six, known as three in America, has quite a bit to say about unregulated development of military technology, and the loss of contact with reality that is more possible than ever in today's society, but is most notable for its inclusion of an opera, with full score and lyrics. The opera itself has things it says about culture, much of it being about respecting the past while embracing the future (The opera makes more sense if watched rather than described). The reason this opera is so notable, however, is that the player actually plays through much of it as a participant, selecting verses during the moving aria, beautiful despite the audio of the Super Nintendo. (The aria section can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuvSDedrtKM ) The following game in the series, Final Fantasy Seven, became known mainly because it introduced many people to the Role Playing Genre, but is also known for its very environmentalist focus, speaking out, indirectly, about the use of fossil fuels and other environmentally destructive practices. Final Fantasy Eight and Nine both failed to rise to the level of art, but Final Fantasy Ten not only delved back into artistic expression, but also back into a more subtle environmentalist message. In Final Fantasy Ten, the sins of the past continually come back to haunt the living, quite literally, as the big bad is named Sin. However, this problem has been repeatedly dealt with in the game world through history, it just keeps coming back. This sounds nothing like environmentalism, until you substitute the words "pollution" or especially "Nuclear Waste" in place of Sin. The game also features a well written, believable love story that gets no small influence from Romeo and Juliet, both of which are rarities in Games. The final game in the series that truly says something about culture is Final Fantasy Tactics, which places the character in a medieval setting, caught between warring factions of the royal family. However, what brings this game up to the level of Art is the way it handles the puppet nature of the whole situation, eventually making itself into a critique of the Roman church in Medieval Europe.
Still more games qualify, like Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, but unfortunately I cannot speak about them in any depth as I never played them. Another game that sadly falls into this personal category is Beyond Good and Evil, which would qualify if what I have heard is true. It is sad, however, that while this has been a subjective look at Art and Games, I could not find more examples personally of games that are Art, and that so few games that would be considered a part of the cannon of games qualify as Art under these circumstances.

Brave and Bold, or The?

It was a dark and stormy night. You drive across a bridge and up to the front of an enormous Gothic structure. You exit the car, and drag the Joker to the door, ready to turn him over to the authorities at Arkham Asylum. You are Batman, and you are about to have one crazy night. That's the set up to Batman's latest foray into the world of video games, and the execution falls in line with the hype for the first time in his long history. Batman has had a lot of bad luck with games over the years, and Arkham Asylum walks a fine line between falling to the same problems as its predecessors, and becoming one of the standards for super hero games.

Arkham Asylum really works hard to immerse the gamer in the atmosphere of the Asylum, and tries to make the gamer feel like they really are Batman. In some ways, like the combat and gadgets, this succeeds wildly; in others, like some of the boss fights and some level design issues, it is disappointing at best. Using gadgets as Batman is easy and fun, and if you can't do something that seems like you should, just come back later with your newest gadget and try again. However, gadgets are not as useful in combat situations as one would think for the Dark Knight. If Batman hits a mook with a batarang, he should go down, unless it's an uber-mook; yet at best a batarang in Arkham Asylum will stun someone for one or two seconds. Eventually they will go down, but not before multiple batarang hits. Combat situations rarely devolve into the chaos required for the use of gadgets, luckily, because when they do the gadgets sometimes are a little unpredictable. Most boss fights are simplistic pattern recognition exercises most gamers have mastered years ago, and that are simply frustrating to those who have not yet mastered them. Also, some of the level designs break the mood of being Batman, because Batman isn't going to climb up an elevator shaft, he's going to use his grapnel gun to just zip up to the top floor.

Combat is something that has gotten a lot of print in Arkham Asylum, with some saying that it is too easy, and others saying it is a solid and entertaining system. I come down somewhere in between, in that it is perfect to keep you in character by allowing Batman to destroy standard enemies in hand to hand combat with three or four strikes, effortlessly counter an attack from behind, and incapacitate enemies in a variety of ways. However, the warning indicator in place on easy and normal mode, while useful initially, becomes both annoying and counterintuitive after a short period of time in the game. The inclusion of "challenge rooms" is a perfect way to show off the combat system in battles the magnitude of which make no sense in story mode, but which gives the experienced player a much-needed challenge. The opposite of the combat would be the stealth abilities that Batman is well known for also. In some ways, this is where Arkham Asylum both shines brightest and stumbles in the dark. The feeling of picking off enemies one at a time, slowly building the fear of the remaining enemies until only one remains is unlike anything I have experienced. The tension of some of the late game situations could be cut with a knife, as you hunt the enemies while they hunt you. The only problem is that the game encourages you to use its "detective mode", an x-ray view of the surrounding area that highlights interactive objects and shows the skeletons of all characters in the game, including enemies. While not removing all of the difficulty of the game, it does considerably reduce the challenge of the campaign. There is also a challenge mode for the sneaking, which challenges you to perform three specific enemy takedowns while clearing the level as quickly as possible. Strangely, I learned most of the optional takedowns in this mode rather than in the story mode, although my favorite is introduced in the story mode (inverted takedowns are awesome!).

Graphically, the game looks good, and the art direction is great in creating a mood more in line with the latest Batman movie, while still retaining some comic book styling. Unfortunately, with the game encouraging the use of detective mode, most of the graphical polish goes unnoticed. The sound is wonderful, with Mark Hamill, Kevin Conroy, and Arleen Sorkin reprising their roles of the Joker, Batman, and Harley Quinn from the Batman animated series of the mid to late nineties. Ambient noise is subdued, and music intrudes less than you would expect. Most noticeable is the taunts and information played through the loud speakers of the Asylum from the Joker. These range from funny to sinister, but capture the character of the Joker perfectly.

Extra content is limited, and ranges from entertaining to frustrating. Extra content includes both challenge modes, as well as the search for all of the Riddler's "Riddles". Some are merely statues hidden away in difficult to locate vents, or hard to reach ledges, while others are all about finding an object that links to another character, such as a picture or a piece of their equipment. The search for these riddles becomes a sort-of side story of a competition of sorts between Batman and the Riddler. Since I'm a packrat at heart, these game wide collectathons always interest me, and because of that it is where I spent the majority of my time with the game. As I like collectathons, I also am an achievement whore to a point, so I can tell you that many of the gamerpoints are locked away in these extras.

Overall, I like the game, despite its flaws, because the atmosphere it creates is so powerful. Yes, even with detective mode. After all, glowing skeletons are all the rage, right?

Graphics: 7 out of 10

Would be better, but detective mode kills too much good work.

Sound: 9 out of 10

Voices are perfect, especially Hamill, but the little noises could be a little better.

Gameplay: 8 out of 10

Engrossing, but some level designs are for monkeys instead of superheroes, and it shows.

Controls: 9 out of 10

They do the best they can with what they have available.

Replayability: 5 out of 10

Challenge mode only goes so far. Really, it does.

Overall: 8 out of 10

Solid and entertaining, but with some flaws that detract more than they should.