BRUTAL LEGEND: DEMO IMPRESSIONS

Activision dropping Double Fine Production’s ‘Brutal Legend’ was probably a bad idea. Win for EA, definite loss for Activision. I think I finally understand why they tried to block Brutal Legend from being released. Activision realized they made a pretty big mistake in letting this one go. Maybe a couple. One mistake was underestimating the talent and overall creative ability of Double Fine Productions. Ever heard of a game called Pyschonauts? It was just a sample of the greatness to come that is Brutal Legend. Somehow EA saw past the creative risks and they most likely will be rewarded for it. The second mistake, and probably their biggest, was trying to stop it’s release claiming they still had publishing rights to the game, when they were really just afraid of the effect the release would have on it’s Guitar Hero franchise. This was not a good move in the eyes of the public.

So let’s get this straight, Double Fine starts making this game with Activision as the publisher. Activision decides,’ hey you know what? We’ve reevaluated this game and decided to drop it. Sorry, but we have more games lined up that will surely make us more money.’ So Double Fine says, ‘well then fine.. in fact, double fine! This game is going to get published with you or without you.’ Then EA flies in like Superman to save this title from game limbo. And after a few lawsuits, and counter lawsuits, that’s how it still stands. Brutal Legend will not be stopped. EA stepped up the plate and made it happen. (Anyone notice how EA seems to becoming a better company lately? People are actually starting to like them again. Including myself.)

So with all the marketing and hoopla out there about this game, I only had one problem. I didn’t know what the hell this game was all about! Is it a rock game? Is it an action game? Will there be a guitar controller? Will Rock legends of generations past fly out of my TV screen and force me to make an 80’s inspired music video? That would be pretty sweet, but what kind of game is this? I don’t get it. All I knew was, it was Double Fine Productions, Tim Shafer is creative genius, and Jack Black is the voice of the main character, Eddie Riggs. With those facts in place, I was still unconvinced this game would live up to the hype. And after playing the demo, I’m not sure it changed anything. But I sure know a hell of a lot more about this game than before, and… I think I liked it.

For the first few minutes of the Brutal Legend demo, you don’t really do anything. And for good reason, as the demo gives you the story behind one of the greatest ‘roadies’ of all time. I am thankful that they did this because I was so confused about what this game really was. I won’t get too detailed with the story, but let’s just say heavy metal seems to be dead, and little emo kids are taking its place. (Wait, this is a fantasy world right? Sounds like reality to me.) Eddie then finds himself immersed into a fantasy world inspired by heavy metal album covers. With a mighty axe and magical guitar at his side, Eddie becomes this fantasy worlds savior as he leads the humans against a bunch of supernatural powers. Oh, he also has a bad ass hot rod to run shit over. Nice touch!

First thing that jumped out at me, besides the beautifully crafted artwork, was how brutal this game really was. And by brutal, I mean unapologetically bloody. Not to mention the coarse language, but with the language issue, Double Fine implemented a featured that throws a pop-up message on screen before Eddie spews out the profane words heard so often in rated R movies. I liked this feature. You can choose to hear all the words meant to be said in all its glory, or you could choose to have it bleeped out as if you’re watching PBS or KCET. I of course, chose to hear Jack Black be Jack Black, and read through his lines as it was meant to be. It was a good choice, however, the option was convenient if you have a kid or little nephew playing this with you. Block it if you want, or let it play as it was meant to be played. In my opinion, I’d just keep the kids away from this one.

With Eddie’s weapons, you can swing the axe and kill the demons coming after you using the A button. You can throw them up in the air and smack ’em towards left field ‘Babe Ruth’ style. You can summon the guitar gods with your guitar weapon to electrocute your enemies. You can perform some type of ground shaker move where you slam to the ground, launching your enemies back and sending boulders tumbling down around you. Gameplay was pretty basic and simple, but you can throw in a couple of combos which was nice. Upgrades along the way should help keep the weapons and vehicles fresh.

What impressed me most about this demo was Jack Black. He is the perfect guy for this role and his voice acting made the game very enjoyable for me. I couldn’t help but laugh as he really brought Eddie to life. He really made me feel like I was seeing this world through the eyes of Eddie. This bizarre fantasy world full of red skies, skulls and bones all over the place and just weird looking creatures. Creatures, vehicles and environments only Tim Shafer and Double Fine Productions could create. If you have played or seen Psychonauts, you know what I’m talking about.

In all, I enjoyed this demo and the idea behind this game is growing on me. I’ll have to see or play more to be convinced it’s a purchase but for now, I definitely want to at least rent this game and play through it all. I don’t doubt for a second this game will be a blast as the short demo surprisingly was. I still don’t know where the whole Guitar Hero issue came into play as there was only one part of the game that was similar to that title. It came in the form of a mini game where you had to play a quick solo to progress through the next stage of the level. As the guitar icon goes from left to right, you have to hit X, Y, A, B accordingly. It was a nice touch, but again, not sure how much they will use this in the game. They used this feature once in the demo, and it was over with in just a few short seconds. So, mainly this title is a third person action-adventure, and the Guitar Hero similarity may have been toned down. Add in multiplayer to the list of reasons you should play this game, and I think somewhere down the line you will see this game being a success. Time will tell.

Check out the demo for yourself and tell me what you think!

Brutal Legend will be released, this ‘Rocktober‘ 13, 2009.

ACTIVISION NOT SCARING EVERYONE OFF INTO 2010

I want to touch base on a topic I have discussed in the past concerning videogames and their release dates. Specifically, the amount of videogames that are released at the end of the year, just in time for the holiday rush. I read an article recently published on GOONL!NE, by Jonathan Cullen, and is titled “Congratulations, Activision, You’ve scared Everyone Off.” I found this article and Jonathan’s theory quite interesting. Interesting enough to post a comment, reluctantly in defense of Activision. Don’t get me wrong, the people talking about Activision as if they are turning into the EA of old, have a point. I agree with them to a certain extent but not regarding their Q4 2009 game releases. To blame Activision for making Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 one of the most wanted games of the year, and in turn scaring off other publishers from releasing their games around the same time is just not a theory I choose to believe. One game scaring off more than half the competition into 2010? C’mon! There are gamers out there who do play other games besides Call of Duty, y’know?

First off, all a publisher needs to do is look at the saturation of game releases of Q4 in 2008. (You can read my gripe about this in a post I wrote back in February titled “Too many games, not enough time.”) There were a lot of games released last year during a short period of time. A lot of excellent quality games. A couple of the good ones that didn’t get as much attention as it should have at the time, came from EA. Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge. They didn’t really sell as much as they had hoped. All publishers have to do is look back at 2008, and learn from EA with concern to their release dates. I think that’s what a lot of them are doing. It’s not necessarily all Activision’s fault for “scaring everyone off,” but more of a learning experience from years prior by all who plan to release their games into a sea of established titles. Not just Modern Warfare 2. EA has publicly discussed their release date mistakes in the past with GamesIndustry.biz: “EA: We’ve learned out lesson on release dates” and it’s about time others learned from them.

Here is the comment I posted on Jonathan’s article:

“More games getting pushed into 2010 the better in my opinion. Last year during the holiday was ridiculous with the amount of games released. Even if these delayed games were released holiday 09 as planned, we still wouldn’t get a chance to play them until 2010 anyway. We would be busy playing ODST, Modern Warfare 2 and Uncharted 2 etc. So many games, not enough time to play them.”

“I’m not a huge fan of Activision, but to blame them for making one hell of a game and marketing it properly, just doesn’t make sense. It’s a smart business decision for other publishers to delay most of their triple A games ’til 2010, Warfare 2 or not.”

“I agree, Activision has become the EA of old though.”

Jonathan made some other arguments to back up his theory, regarding the MW2 price increase in the U.K. but I won’t touch on that topic. He makes some decent points. Especially after hearing Activision is suing Double Fine to stop Brutal Legend from being released. Indeed, Activision needs to be careful they don’t alienate the huge fan base they have created over the years with Call of Duty, and the Guitar Hero franchises. Don’t get greedy now guys! But to imply that the reason the game industry is seeing a large amount of games being delayed into Q1 2010, (except for Halo 3: ODST, Assassin’s Creed II, Forza 3, Uncharted 2 and others), is specifically due to Activision’s must have title releasing at the same time, just doesn’t make sense to me. Indeed, publishers probably did take into account the mass popularity of MW2, but there has got to be other factors involved.

Publishers are changing tactics and I think they are looking at 2008 as a prime example. We, as gamers, should not expect the holiday season to be saturated with all these “must have titles” like it has been the case in years past. The economy has changed, publishers and developers have changed and well.. in the end, they’re running a business. So I think it’s a smart move on their part to delay their games, and spread out the release dates more evenly throughout the year. Whether Modern Warfare is released during Q4 of 2009 or not. But imagine this… imagine having 1 to 3 “must have titles” coming out each month throughout the year. How cool would that be? I’d much rather have that then for all of the big name games to be released in the same quarter. I just don’t have enough time to play them all. I can’t speak for you though, maybe you do?

Besides what I’ve written above, if Jonathan’s opinion is true, Activision’s Modern Warfare 2 is scaring everyone off into 2010, what does that say about those games being delayed? Doesn’t look like the developers and publishers are too confident in their games. Maybe the delay is a good thing? Lots of people get Christmas money and they’ll need to spend it on something right? I don’t know about you, but after spending money on gifts for my family and friends, the last thing I have is more money to buy games for myself before Christmas. I think it’s a smart move on the publishers part to delay some of these games until after Christmas. Spreading them throughout the year ever more would be the best case scenario. If it’s a good quality game, I will buy it no matter what time of year.

What say you? I’d love to hear what you have to say in the comments.