Brutal-ly Honest: A quick review of Brutal Legend demo for the X-box 360

Brutal-ly Honest: A quick review of Brutal Legend demo for the X-box 360.

Tim Schafer began his gaming industry fame at the start of the late 80’s with the video game, Maniac Mansion. In the 90’s he had successfully worked on a sequel to Manic Mansion and worked on the Monkey Island series. In 2005, Schafer, as creative director, developed Psychonauts a tale of a gifted boy who develops his psychic powers and runs away to join a summer camp to become a Psychonaut. Tim Schafer resurfaces again in 2009 with a game called Brutal Legend, a rock and roll action-adventure game which takes funny man, musician, and actor Jack Black’s voice and throws it into this twisted world.

I took the advice of this game from a friend of mine and promised him that I would take a look into this game. I’m not a real fan of demos since it usually just displays one level of walking and shooting and then some advertisements for the game and you’re done with the demo. This is not the case for Brutal Legend. The demo gives the player a generous amount of gameplay along with some amazing comedic parts done by the protagonist Eddie Riggs as he walks in the depths of “hell”.

Upon loading the game, we are treated to a weird start menu of a guy unveiling the Brutal Legend record on a table. For me, this is the greatest start menu ever. It’s so common that games today have the typical serious start menu with bland, emotional colors, but Brutal Legend has such unique, bright menu that it makes me feel good about myself (well if black is your favorite color); makes me feel like I’m going to read, or listen, to this legendary tale of awesomeness. Most selections are blocked off due to the demo, we are given the “Start Game” and “Options” selections, blocked selections include “Credits”, “Continue”, “Multiplayer”, and “Extras”.

I started it up on normal and the mountain of skulls transitions into a massive rock stage as we are pulled into the storybook. We are treated to Black’s character Eddie Riggs, a roadie helping out a young “rock” band with their gig. He fixes and builds literally everything; he created the stage and help fix guitars. As the band plays “rock”, and I do use the term “rock” loosely, he helps save the stupid guitarist from falling off the set itself. Sadly, this leads to Eddie’s death as the stage comes alive and kills the “rock” band while the crowd eats up the super awesome special effects. However, we see that Eddie is alive and wakes up on the set now filled with bones and some monks chanting for their master. Riggs is mistaken and grabs an ancient axe and his rocking guitar and decides to kick some ass for the rock gods. On his journey, he meets a super hot rock babe who doesn’t know how to French kiss, creates the hot rod Druid Plow, and defeats a bone worm. All in all, a very enjoyable story with some amazing music to boot provided by such names as Ozzy Ozbourne, Megadeth, KMFDM, and many others including Black’s band Tenacious D.

Gameplay is on the same level as God of War for the Playstation. You press the “a” button for one attack, press the “x” button and quickly press the “a” button again to perform a three hit combo. Riggs will have a variety of weapons as well as attacks as the game progresses. The targeting and avoid system is a little odd since I am use to the right analog stick being the dodge away from an attack stick from God of War. In Legend, it is used to fix the camera movement and when locked onto an enemy, it will dodge away from attacks. This, for me, will take some time getting use to since I was spoiled by the great controls of God of War.

The graphics are cartoonish but tweaked with a surreal amount of seriousness. The color pallets aren’t dreary like a vast majority of games that are available today. Once you escape the stage and use your Earthshaker ability, you will see some bright colors pop out against the darker colors, especially when looking at the pile of skulls with the bright orange backdrop. The in-game engine animation cutscenes look very smooth and seems to work with loading times, assuming if it’s on a disc rather than on the hard drive of an X-box 360 or Playstation 3.

I had a very enjoyable time playing the Brutal Legend demo twice. This is going to be the game in which Schafer will be known for and undoubtedly will make a lot more sales than Psychonauts. Schafer has learned to hit the core audience of gamers that understand the business of true rock n roll mixed in with his comedic content is an absolute win for the industry. I am certainly awaiting the final product and a sequel to the game if it allows for a nice cliffhanger at the end. Tim, I never had so much fun with a game in a long time, thank you for providing a game with a fresh, less serious, look into the industry. Then again, Elmo’s Letter Adventure has bright colors too.

State of Resident Evil

A great series once started out in the year of 1996, a game called Resident Evil. The game won over the hearts of millions worldwide with cheesy voice acting and its bloody graphics. Although the blood was only pixels of red, Capcom had redone the game to make it spill out green blood. Tons of reedits were done to the game to further the population of the series. Resident Evil: Director's Cut busted out on the scene and helped recreate the game with many improvements and fan service. The director's cut featured a small look into Resident Evil 2, the game that would put Capcom straight on the map for survival horror.

Resident Evil 2 is still a fan favorite along with Resident Evil 3, Coder Veronica, and Resident Evil 4, the series had made its way around even spawning a spin off series out of Gun Survivor and Outbreak. Resident Evil 5 hit American shores on both the Xbox360 and Playstation 3 in early 2009. Capcom had stated that the story of Chris will end and come full circle. Granted it did, but sadly not the way fans would have liked it. Many complained that the game was so much filler and the characters didn't have enough background in the main story. However, players are forced to read about their backgrounds and learn from it. It helps out new players but the old school players would have loved a cut scene much like Wesker's Report.

So we end the era of ECW Chris and Jill's Sandwiches, but this leaves the story open for someone else to grab the spotlight of our roid infested character. Here are some basic ideas I have.

Idea #1. Leon gets control of the series and is the next main character. As much as Capcom loves Chris, the fans, mostly girls, enjoy the Leon character a lot so it would make sense. Now as far as plot goes, the only few things we have in Leon's storyline is Sherry and Ada and Claire. With Wesker's departing this puts Ada in a strange place seeing as she isn't controlled by Wesker anymore, so is she freelance now? Also with Sherry, was that plot suddenly erased from existance? As far as Claire is concerned, with the movie in mind, I don't think they will be seeing each other as much not with Leon's US Government job. That's some serious overtime there. Maybe some more occult village for Leon to go after.

Idea #2. Ada getting her own game. Maybe her grabbing more samples of the viruses Wesker left behind. Ada persuiting Leon a bit, and perhaps getting a kiss lol.

Idea #3. Please bring back Billy. Billy has a lot of storyline to be fleshed out with. I thought Billy would make a cameo in RE5 due to him being in Africa once before but sadly that didn't come to pass. We still have no idea where he is living or where he has hidden. I would hope that they do something with the character.

Idea #4. Rebecca is still out there. I dunno how much else she could get in storywise but the people seem to like her a bit, maybe stick her with a new group of commandos. You know the ones who won't die quickly. But with her passion for herbs and her experience with the Spencer Mansion, she is likely to become an agile fighter.

Idea #5. Barry Burton...oh wait I remember when they made a game with him as the main character....yeah....

Idea #6 Claire still may have some ummph in the series. Steve is apparently alive so I wonder when they will get to this? Probably never but you never know.

Idea #7. Eliza Walker. I said it, would of been a cool character but that idea was transformed into Claire. Would be nice to see her being reused and recreated again. (do it for me and the fanboys of her lol).

Idea #8. A new person....seriously, it would get new fans into the series as well as getting some supporting characters from the older games and blam, ya got a classic in the making.

Also, bringing back the infected Leon/castle storyline. I think that would work with anybody new or old.

Any if not all options are on the table for the series to move foward. As long as the gameplay and the story are good, the Resident Evil series will stay on for a while.

Bubble Tea

It's amazing what a shop in the mall could do to you after all these years. Sorry, I'm reminiscing a bit about Bubble Tea! If you haven't heard of it, trust me try it out for yourself, it's an amazing drink. It's like a usual drink, many flavors to choose from you can have it either warm or cold. It's a milk tea using Tapioca balls to add to the value of the drink. It costs around $2 to $3 bucks and for some strange reason it makes me feel good about myself.

Now, when you grab the drink it will be wrapped with paper which you can poke your big straw through. Yeah, the most noticeable thing will be the BIG straw in which you are required to use to get the balls out of the cup. Now I dunno if you chew it or swallow the ball whole, either way it makes for a good time!

Why do I write about this? A shop in the local mall actually sells the bubble tea and it's in the corner of the mall where shoppers don't normally crowd around. I was very shocked to see such a store in the mall as the last time my encounter with the tea was on Rutgers campus in this little cubby hole shop, you could literally fit about 10 people in there. There I was introduced to the wonderful flavors of bubble tea and it's many ways to taste an amazing product from Taiwan. I believe the trend started there and was later adapted into culture in Japan and now worldwide. It may sound gross but don't knock it off.

Another reason I decided to update today is the unfortunate passing of Wacko Jacko. You know, I was turned on by his music when Weird Al covered his parodys. His hits made it across the radio on some top 40 stations here in the tri-state area and so I was immediately in tune with the songs Billie Jean, Beat It, Gunna Be Starting Something, Thriller. Ah hell, I can't I forget about Thriller. The EPIC video playing on the Box music video channel in October. I wouldn't hear much about him until his music was featured in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. It was a suprise to hear his music while blasting bad guys in Vice City. It was very fitting and very cool to hear, always sang it. Even though this man has molested children and done weird things, you got to take that out of the equasion I mean beyond all of the shit that he done, here is a man that REVOLUTIONIZED the music industry and changed the game. Dare I speak of his own video game, Moonwalker, that I played in arcades.

Sadly, he is dead. He died a broke man and by broke I mean losing the Neverland Ranch, the support of all his fans during the trial, and his exile from the mainstream. He died much like Ed Mcmahon during his struggle to get his house back. But Jackson's legacy will be heard forever, much like the Beatles, over the radio waves.

Collector Edition Games?

Seriously, I love collector editions for my favorite games. I have a few of them and they really help stand out from the generic game box. However, I'm seeing more and more of them pop up for new games and existing franchises. Now, every damn company is doing these collections and I'm getting sick of it, especially if it's on the level of Halo 3 collectors, a helmet you can't even wear but your cat can.

A problem is the shelling out of money. This would be great to do, especially if the game costs the old school $50, but paying an extra $40 is just bad, just for stickers and a cell art frame so you can post it above your bedroom? Also, increasing game cost has made gamers into smart buyers. Retail now offers great deals on some current and old games. I bought Street Fighter 4 a few weeks ago and I love it (except for Seth......fucker) and I paid $37 for it. Sadly, I have missed good game deals over the past year. I missed out on Mirror's Edge for $37, but I did pick up Mass Effect for $40 and Bioshock for about the same price. I knew we had a collector's edition for that but why would you buy it for a new game? Sure the graphics were stunning but you would go out on a limb and purchase something you dunno if you would like? I don't think there was a demo for it on Live either. Correct me if I'm wrong.

If you're gunna do a collector's edition, make it like the World of Warcraft's boxes. I have the Burning Crusade expansion and it's massive....think I paid $90 for it but the thing comes PACKED with all kinds of shit. An in-game exclusive pet, an art book, a music CD, the game on DVD and CD-ROM, an invite to a wow website, cards from the card game, exclusive promos, and hell I dunno how much more but the box is very nice.
Oh yeah forgot about the amazing mouse pad and the behind the scenes DVD. This IS a collectors edition unlike, oh lets say, Dead Space and their art book with 3-D glasses. All I know is that it probably cost around the same for the dead space game.

Dunno what else to say but they way I say is, if you think you are getting a sweet deal with all the swag you're paying for...buy the collectors but if it's some lame ass shit, just avoid it all together because it's gunna be a trap hole for your wallet.

As far as next post, I think I'll look into some card games, maybe go into some detail about how I made mine or just ideas in general. Card games are the centerpiece of my life and it's great to play them, not as much today, but having all the pokemon or all of the secret rares in yugioh, it was a blast to play and make friends with everyone at a hobby shop. I'm in random mode now, but go out there and support your local hobby store, ask for leagues, get something going becuase these stores are going the way of the arcades.

Snafu Nook

Hey all, got around to having some time from these grueling weeks in preparation for my card game's next set, a mini expansion that will balance and break the game a bit. Some rather neat cards are on its way. I am now stuck on a new template for the card game since the last one was made in MS Paint, it was just a basic white or black background. I'm hoping to brush up, excuse the pun here, on my photoshop layering skills. I know this may be noobish to a lot of people, but I grew up on the damn MS Paint when I was just a wee lad. The days where windows sucked badly and we had to use command prompt to play a game, going through the C:// directory. Hell, we even had a fucking floppy disc games....yeah I like the old school!

I remember Phantasmagoria, a point and click adventure game from Sierra that worked pretty well on an old windows computer. Sadly, I could never finish it since when disc 3's intro loads up, it would crash and go back to the command prompt. Then wierd crash noises from the speakers came out....holy shit I thought...man Windows back then scared the fuck outta me...never knew when that thing was gunna crash. But I have to thank my cousin one of these days for getting me into the world of PC gaming when it was big. Without him, I don't think I would ever be the insane freak I am in real life....well when I think of a game scene in my mind that would be gross and awesome at the same time. I visualize the camera angles where I want the camera to be, etc. Dare I say I feel like the Taratino of the industry one day....

So we got the mini expansion down, just gotta make the cards and now my guild in Warcraft is probably making a run through Naxx tonight or better yet on the weekend, either way it's fine.

I dunno why but the title doesn't make a whole lot of sense, guess I just wanted to have a random title...could of just called it Shaq Fu.

But I will say this, the Nook part is apart of this new site I found out the other day while looking at some Warcraft bosses, Gamernook. I am on there and I think a lot of people are finding it out quickly. Looks pretty cool and spiffy so I made an account and started adding stuff to my games collection. Might as well post the blog up there too for all to see and maybe link this one back to the real blog. See how many have blogger and such. I get views, but now replys...I don't mind at all if nobody comments, if not this is a place where I can speak my mind and nobody hears me? Ah well, let it be the temple of my mind then.

Oh and another thing. I feel this may be kinda wierd but this girl the other week held my arm at work right when I was gunna leave. Looked online for an answer and it felt subconsiously done...love in my future? Hope I don't fuck it up, she is pretty cute and we talk a lot so I guess it's a step in the right direction for me before I lose my sanity of working nonstop. I dunno it feels about right, I just don't know if she really likes me at all....ah well back to being a nerd!!! lol.

I'm back!

got done with the creative writing that I had to do. Dunno if they will DQ me for some violence but hey the game has massive blood and violence so why the hell not.

Figured how to get a stie online tonite for the card game I made, so that was a 3 hour tutorial, but I got the hang of it. :) So I'm on cloud 9. I'll post the link to my writing maybe on the next blog.

In other news I have a Twitter account so lurkers can look at my doings, dunno what for but it seems worth it to a choice few. I'll put it up on the sidebar early in the week.

I also ordered a Play Arts Cloud Strife figure off Amazon the other day. I'm gunna try and tackle all the figures for a complete collection, I already have 3 so why not finish the set up? So that will be $30 every week out of the hole, but the detail is amazing and they don't disappoint, unless it's broken in the package via shipping.

so quick update and i'm out until tomorrow.

A Short Break

Hey all, just want to update you on a quick break that I will be taking. My creative juices are flowing over a contest online. So, needless to say I will be taking a short break to brainstorm and type up the treatment of the story.

Hopefully I will win, but that's a longshot right? lol Anywho, here's to hoping the treatment is good and I will see you in a few weeks hopefully.

Once I am done with the piece, I'll put it up here for you to enjoy.

March's Flame of the Month: GAMESTOP

Back to doing these, I really miss doing these. Basically, this is where I let loose, albeit the only posts where I will cuss like a sailor. This month is about the greatness known as Gamestop.

I remember when Funcoland was in business along with Gamestop, back when it was a little store chain, EB and Software Etc. In the later part of the 21st century, Gamestop had acquired ALL of the game companies in the nation. A fuckin Gamestop on every corner. Ok fine. Now that there is a problem. A BIG problem....doesn't this make it a monopoly since there are no other game stores like a Gamestop on the east coast besides a damn Gamestop?

Maybe the reason the economy is down in the shitter is because a fucking Gamestop and a Wal-Mart on every corner is KILLING mom and pop stores out there. Hell, I'd rather go to a corner store that sells games than go to a Gamestop ever.....but I have no choice but to go to a Gamestop nowadays. Especially for the unheard of games like Persona in which a Target or Wal-Mart will never sell since it isn't mainstream.

I went to Gamestop to cancel a pre-order on Guild Wars: Factions becuase the store didn't have the pre-order box...I got hassled into trying to keep it, I felt offended but I felt great cancelling the pre-order. I really hate the fact that they force you to reserve games, but they use the 3 question limit. Jeez, I just want to buy 1 game please can I leave?

Back in the day, they had action figures, card games and video games....it's a win win! But now since it's gone, I don't have any care for the stores anymore. Another goddamn thing is selling the game. What the fuck seriously. I go and sell some stuff and I try to sell a rare skinny green GameBoy Pocket. Thinking they don't have these anymore.....THEY WANT TO BUY IT FOR 2 CENTS......2 MOTHERFUCKING CENTS. It's sooo pathetic that they want to insult me with their prices. And they will sell it for $30 bucks if I gave it to them....what the fuck is up with that shit?

Another goddamn thing is this whole unsealed new games. I get a game in its package WITH some stickers on it AND they put the disc in the game along with the instructions..I can see if it's used but come on Gaystop, I want a game sealed!!!! Why would I pay full price for an opened game? Doesn't this entitle me to force you to cut the price by 20%? Hell even 10%?

And one more thing....I feel sorry for the companies out there who make these game only to be undermined by Gamestop's used game black market. Yeah it's a black market. None of the revenue gained from these used games are going to the game companies themselves. It's highway robbery and Gamestop is guilty as charged. Is this why a majority of smaller game companies went under? It's not a big factor, but if you think about all the money that they could have made off it, they would still be in business. Instead of Midway paying $200 million in debt they could have payed $100 million...still in a shit hole? yes but...oh nevermind they killed Mortal Kombat by making it 3-D. Hell if I had a game company right now, I'd pull all my games off their sales floors and make them beg for it. If they are still around 20 years from now, I will only sell to retail stores that have class, Gamestop does not have any class and no custome service....they are like the retarted kid at school, nobody wants to be around them and nobody cares about them.

So what do we do about the company? Sue them for selling used games, from a game company standpoint, but as their motto says, "power to the players" maybe the players should take the power away by boycotting the store and going to other retail stores, hell even mom and pop stores in your local town. I doubt they are around anymore, but at least you can get a warm, fuzzy feeling when you go in and talk to the guy behind the desk and request for something personal instead of getting asked 3 times on a reserve on a game. It's basic business model I understand, but most of these kids are anti-social and lack confidance so asking them 3 times is an insult to their knowledge to the industry.

I'm only going to Gamestop for the hard to get games. You know it makes me wonder why there are so many casual gamers nowadays. It's because nobody will dare travel to a Gamestop to grab the latest installation on Ponyz becuase Wal-Mart and Target have em there. I've downgraded my play time massively as well, dare I say I'm casual now for the simple fact of the economy, the higher prices on games, and for Gamestop for treating me and many others like shit. The only real way we will get outta this hole is by reducing the number of these mass monopoly stores and building mom and pop stores and hiring people for a ton of positions.

But yeah I rather walk down to St. Charles Place, down commoner ave, and pick up a game then to go to Park Place and buy a game new and then return it for a fucking lame $10.

What a Long Strange Trip It's Been...

It's been a while. A long while since I had ever written a blog on here. So I say hello to all lurkers and writers who are viewing this entry. I took a hiatus from blogging because I became tired of posting and I didn't have the time, the only thing I could have done was comment on Jaffe's blog here and there. I seriously thought of just stopping with blogs and the idea of puting random stuff on here. I then remembered the old days of ModBlog and what it meant to me. All the entries I use to do, I had a number of posters on there who would post some good things and enjoy the posts I made. I really miss them and the old days of ModBlog before they decided to shut it down permantly. First by removing their buttons, then ultimately their website after many complained on what was going on with the numberous site shut downs and missing images.

There, was the start of me posting on David Jaffe's blog and Cory Balrog's blog, both viewed my blogs so I guess I should be excited which I still am all these years. No matter how small time you are, you always have a chance to be spotted not just by some famous people but from your peers as well giving you that radical push you need in posting whatever the comment is.

A whole year has gone by...I just can't believe a year has passed that quickly. A lot in the industry has changed and our economy has taken the roller coaster ride to hell in several months. It's almost astonishing to see the crime rate rise becuase of these troubled times. I thought I might see people jumping out of their buildings which would be very reminicient of the Great Depression during the 1930's. But I see people are not doing so, I guess people have learned that a tarnished living is not a reason to kill yourself, espeically if you can start from the ground running again. I have been very frugal with my money and I'm not that afraid to admit it. I got my government check today so I bought a few things and I threw the rest of the check in the bank along with my pay. My greatest advice to saving? Buy the essentials, don't go crazy shopping buying uneeded items. If you have to write it down and cross it off, go ahead and do so.

Woah, I'm looking like an advisor on CNN or something, seriously they can hire me for some money, I'll spit out my opinion for dough. Speaking of spitting out an opinion, don't tell me how this transitions into this, but I've been wondering about getting a Twitter but is it worth getting? I mean one sentence status updates sound spiffy, but I'm just not sold on the idea of it. Hey, I can give into peer pressure if needed.

'Life, Love, Games' was the title of my old blog and I really want to go back to those days where I can write anything I can about what I'm doing and what I feel about the industry as a whole from a semi-gamer's perspective. I've actually stopped playing so many games since I feel my eyes are straining out from the graphics and the longplays I have done in the past. My 'Flame of the Month' entries will make a comeback where I just whine and complain about one thing, it's also where I cuss up a storm and you will see it too. It's such a great way to vent out any fustration I currently have bottled up in me. I think it's a good entry and I think I have a few entries in this blog site as well.

I will see by the weekend if I can get a flame entry out and I think I have a great entry for that. I am also looking foward to playing Resident Evil 5 soon. It looks amazing for a next gen game along with Killzone 2 and Fallout 3. All great games however, I am uneasy with Halo Wars. I just have a gut feeling that the company is attempting to break the FPS mold they revolutionalized for the X-Box. Ironically, Command and Conquer is one of my favorite series for a RTS and they also did a FPS. What a vicious cycle.

I will do a review of RE5, early impressions and no spoliers at all becuase I don't want to ruin a great gameplay and storyline experience for anyone else. Until next blog I will see you soon!