Brutal Legend magazine scans

[netmonkey]

So, is Brutal Legend an action-adventure with a level system like Psychonauts or is it more of an open ended sandbox like Grand Theft Auto... I read something about a "massive world"... or maybe it's more like the Legend of Zelda?

It's definitely Full Throttle meets God of War but with the awesomeness of full throttle and without the retardedness that is god of war.

[Thrik]

Erase your cookie for the Brutal Legend site.

Feel victim to that one earlier. ¬

[Roderick]

I think that Brütal Legend will defy genres a bit more than Psychonauts did (at first glance in any case), but I think you can expect a sort of Zelda-ish big world with some troop-gathering elements and lots of fights with insanely awesomely designed monstrosities.

The thing that surprises me most is how gruesome it all is. It definitely caught me unaware, because after the random silliness of Pnauts, Double Fine had tricked me into thinking they'd always do silly instead of bloody. So I really like this level of gore. It fits the style and it's a step outside the comfort zone, which I'll always applaud.

[Cigol]

Those screenshots above aren't in-game surely

[Roderick]

Unfortunately, no. But we're all hoping the in-game graphics won't differ too much from them. Polygonwise it's certainly possible, but the spit 'n polish will be absent of course.

[Thrik]

Yeah, those aren't in-game.

It's hard to gauge just what exactly the in-game graphics will end up being like as we're not sure at what stage the assets and engine are at. There seems to be a bit of inconsistency in how polished various bits of the game actually look (based on the magazine and website).

We are talking about Double Fine though here, and the game is only coming out on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. I'd say it's pretty safe to assume that the end result will be something quite visually overwhelming.

[netmonkey]

The graphics kind of remind me a lot of Guitar Hero for some reason. They're seem no match to your typical AAA but who the fuck cares. You know the game will be saucier in many other areas.

Ironically, I'm trying to download the HD trailer, lol. But the link doesn't seem to work anymore. I googled around but all I could see was flash videos. Could anyone point me out to a download location for this trailer?

[Thrik]

Sierra's FTP would appear to be wrecked at the moment, probably from the bandwidth that was presumably burnt like a bonfire.

I was hoping GameTrailers would mirror the HD version like they usually do, but it appears not as of yet:

http://www.gametrailers.com/game/5666.html

[Moosferatu]

Sierra's ftp site is working just fine. However, they appear to have removed all Brutal Legend content.

[Thrik]

Hee, Sierra's FTP is great. I like it when they keep these big time sinks of media/demos/etc going for years, kind of like LucasArts' FTP (although I swear theirs was once more full of stuff).

[Thrik]

I still had the HD trailer lying around on my never-ending hard drive so I've put it on GameVideos:

http://www.gamevideos.com/video/watch?video=15850&largeFormat=wmv

Seeing as it has weirdly become pretty pesky to get hold of.

[ThunderPeel2001]

[LOPcagney]

The thing that surprises me most is how gruesome it all is. It definitely caught me unaware, because after the random silliness of Pnauts, Double Fine had tricked me into thinking they'd always do silly instead of bloody. So I really like this level of gore. It fits the style and it's a step outside the comfort zone, which I'll always applaud.

I had the opposite reaction. As much as I loved Grim Fandango (and Psychonauts), I'm not excited for Brutal Legend. All in all it just looks too brutal. I liked the way Schafer was able to make games both mature and family-friendly at the same time, and I feel like going for overt, full-on gore is an immature cop-out if you're trying to add an edgy, macabre aspect to a game.

[Thrik]

I don't know if I'd call using gore inherently immature. Perhaps it's just the type of game Double Fine want to do, and it's nothing to do with trying to appear edgy. After all, metal as a theme usually carries some violent undertones, so avoiding the whole violence thing would be pretty weird.

I know a lot of people have said the Brutal Legend trailer is exactly what they'd say a metal game should look like, and I have to agree. It feels right, and I can't really think of another way the theme could be approached successfully off the top of my head.

I think to assume Double Fine would only use gore as an immature cop-out to look cool is a pretty shitty assumption.

With all that said, I can't help but feel that the final game won't be the relentless gore-fest that the trailer makes it out to be. I'm sure there'll be plenty of killin', but it wouldn't be a Double Fine game without great characters and storyline to back it up.

[LOPcagney]

I don't know if I'd call using gore inherently immature. Perhaps it's just the type of game Double Fine want to do, and it's nothing to do with trying to appear edgy. After all, metal as a theme usually carries some violent undertones, so avoiding the whole violence thing would be pretty weird.

I know a lot of people have said the Brutal Legend trailer is exactly what they'd say a metal game should look like, and I have to agree. It feels right, and I can't really think of another way the theme could be approached successfully off the top of my head.

I think to assume Double Fine would only use gore as an immature cop-out to look cool is a pretty shitty assumption.

With all that said, I can't help but feel that the final game won't be the relentless gore-fest that the trailer makes it out to be. I'm sure there'll be plenty of killin', but it wouldn't be a Double Fine game without great characters and storyline to back it up.

I hope so. I'm just speaking generally. I have faith that Double-Fine will make a good game out of this and the metal/violence connection certainly has to be made. But I don't think it's a shitty assumption to say that Double-fine can do better than to make a game (or at least a trailer) so apparently violence-centric. Take Grim Fandango: When people were shot, they pushed up daisies. That was poetic, and it said something about the world Schafer was trying to create. Now I'm all for good-old-fashioned decapitation if it's done tastefully or if it just works with the game (I admit, it's a little early to pass judgment). But something about the neck-snap/throw at the start of the trailer made me wince (probably because a quiet neck-snap is not the typical over-the-top violence you associate with metal), and I don't think it's wrong at all to say that I'm skeptical about Brutal Legends because of the way the trailer was treated.

[ThunderPeel2001]

The "gore" is just silly, over-the-top fun. I don't understand how anyone could see it as anything else?

[LOPcagney]

The "gore" is just silly, over-the-top fun. I don't understand how anyone could see it as anything else?

I may have overreacted. I just hope it's as good as Grim Fandango.

[vimes]

I am not that enthusiastic about the gore too: I feel like it's one aspect that doesn't require a peculiar talent to be achieved successfully, so it saddens me to see DoubleFine using this approach rather than doing something no other dev team can do.

[Roderick]

That is bullshit. Gore is not inherently any 'easier' than any other part of content in a game. It may seem that way because most games use it, and use it in a facile way at that. But literally anything can be made as challenging and artistic and creative as the developer wants. Execution is everything.

[vimes]

Well, I'm not going to pretend that DF can't surprise me, but in my opinion, gore, as in "fountains of blood pouring out of throats or severed limbs", can't really go that far in terms of aesthetic and theme. I might be narrow minded, but I can only distinguished two flavors of gore : the comical type (Army of Darkness, Brain Dead) and the creepy, serious type (texas chainsaw massacre, Ichi the Killer) .. and if I enjoy the first one, I must admit you can't really make it deeper than the gross joke it is.

And since I can't find a classic Heavy Metal cover that feature severed limbs gushing out rivers of blood, I'm not sure this will make the game any truer to its inspiration.

[Roderick]

I contest that. You can take the very simple thing of spraying blood in many different directions. From Gears of War's black globules to the ephemeral smokelike effects from the Streetfighter 4 trailer. But the issue is not aesthetics here. You are or were implying that gore and blood can only be used in an easy, juvenile way (and with juvenile I also mean the 'serious' gore), but it can be just as much part of a world and its themes and its subtle depth as any other thing you can think of; the use of cars, monsters, sex, dialogue, whatever. Anything. We've just been conditioned to see gore and mindlessly violent, shallow games as the same thing, but this is an unfortunate fluke.

Ironically, this predisposition many will have will make it harder to succesfully pull off artistic gore for a developer. The context is just too strong; people automatically project their views upon it. But even so, it's silly to treat either gore or likeminded subjects such as sex like they can only be used in a certain way. That's just not true.

[DanJW]

I imagine it will like the gibbing in Team Fortress 2, which is both cartoony, stylish and satisfying, a good feedback reward. Ah, how I have missed gibs; so many years of indestructable ragdolls...

[ThunderPeel2001]

Geez, it's FUN. It's supposed to be silly and enjoyable. It's not supposed to be shocking! I can't believe what I'm reading here....?

[LOPcagney]

I am not that enthusiastic about the gore too: I feel like it's one aspect that doesn't require a peculiar talent to be achieved successfully, so it saddens me to see DoubleFine using this approach rather than doing something no other dev team can do.

Thank you. And to everyone else, it's just an opinion. It's nothing to get so furious about. I don't want to see DoubleFine take the road of so many other less inspired developers, and just because I voice a complaint doesn't mean that the game isn't going to eventually dispel all my doubts and become the greatest thing ever. I'm just saying: look at the flowers in Grim Fandango (a game which has considerably darker undertones), and look at the blood in Brutal Legend (or any other game for that matter), and tell me honestly which is more artfully and creatively done.

The funniest thing is usually I'm not the conservative one when it comes to blood and guts in games. For some reason this particular game gave me a bad feeling.

[BigJKO]

Fair enough, I just think if you're worried about the gore and blood in a game called Brütal Legend, you're missing the point.