Brutal Legend: An action-adventure game

Okay, I'm going to come out and say this right now: Brutal Legend is not a Real-Time Strategy game. I repeat, Brutal Legend IS NOT AN RTS.

There are a lot of people confused right now about where BL stands genre-wise and it's really easy to explain and it's perfectly easy to see that it's an action-adventure. But because there are RTS-like elements in the game, and because the whole of the gameplay stemmed from the multiplayer, people are automatically tagging it as an RTS. It's really not, and here's why.

Real-Time Strategy games are exactly what they sound like. You're playing a game as a commander of an army or resistance and you have to use- here's the key word- strategy and planning to set up defenses and prepare for your initial attack on your enemy in order to win the battle. You can't just run out into the field and start attacking- okay, you can, but it may not be a good idea, especially since in most RTS games you would be leaving one part of your operation vulnerable as your army runs to wherever you tell them to. You can't afford to do that or the enemy will exploit that vulnerability in order to win. Whether you're playing against AI or another person it's the same.

Many people would have you believe that the majority of the BL gameplay is RTS based. These people are wrong. In fact, they are so wrong that they are the main cause of everyone crinkling their brows at BL and going, "Well if it's an RTS then I'm not playing it," causing them to miss out on a truly fun game for all the wrong reasons. I am not denying that there are parts of the game that involve RTS-like portions, but what I am saying is that it is not the entire game

So far in my progress of the game I have played two Stage Battles during the main storyline and they were not only fun but never once did I have to stop and think, "Oh no, who's going to protect this area while I ask for help in defending myself over here?" Also, do you know how else I spend my time in the vast open-world of this metal-inspired world when I'm not engaging in the main story? I will tell you.

I happily cruise around in the Deuce (aka the Druid Plow) listening to awesome music and running over random creatures mercilessly. While doing so I will also stop to do plenty of side missions to help my allies or to kill a certain number of a certain creature for Brian Posehn (self-proclaimed nerd and metal fan, also a comedien), or mount the car on a Death Rack and kill oncoming enemies, or any number of odd side quests that pop up.

There are also different kinds of relics to unearth to learn new guitar solos or unlock new music tracks to listen to, or even a giant metal skull that opens up into the Forge where I can upgrade my car in various different ways, buy new strings for my killer guitar or enhancements for my axe, and even a stone bust for the Mt Rushmore of Metal, all with the help of the Guardian of Metal (voiced by and IS Ozzy Osbourne).

The other fun thing to do when you don't feel like doing the main story missions is jumping ramps to get spark plug bugs for fire tributes, discovering the legends of metal, and trying to get some of those more unique achievements/trophies.

The Stage Battles happen like this: You set up your stage and call out the headbangers and Razor girls and the one dude in a huge chopper who can heal (for some unknown reason) and then tell them to attack wherever you want them to attack. But you're not just restricted to delegating orders, you get to get into the thick of things and chop and maim and melt faces all you want. When you can, you try to erect merch booths so the Fans will swarm to your base and give you support and more power for more headbangers.

And even if you don't tell your army what to do or where to go, they usually end up kicking ass on their own anyway. Occasionally you get to fly, which is pretty awesome I must add. And that's it! There's nothing else to it. I hardly pay attention to the Rally flag and just point and direct where I want guys to go and I call in more guys if I need to while kicking ass and taking names. It's really not that difficult and it's actually pretty fun.

To judge this game because you may have to think on your feet for less than half of the main missions is not only silly, but ignorant. And if you try to argue back that the multiplayer is practically nothing but RTS, then all I have to say to you is this: don't play the multiplayer. It's that easy! If you don't like anything remotely similar to strategy in your action-adventure game, then don't play the multiplayer, despite it not even being that difficult to play. But don't shirk the entire game for this, it's unreasonable.

Give Brutal Legend a chance! If you like metal, especially, and if you like tongue-in-cheek jokes about the ridiculousness of some of the things associated with metal music. This game makes me literally laugh-out-loud and it's vast explorable world is full of things to do and see. Where else will you see trees with branches sprouting chrome wings, or a spider queen made of exhaust pipes and a transmission? Alternately, what other game has Lemy Kilmister, Ozzy Osbourne, Tim Curry, Jack Black, Lita Ford, and Rob Halford? That's right, none.