E3 2009: Brutal Legend Hands On

by: Chuck - posted: 6/3/2009 12:37:00 AM

One of the games I was really looking forward to seeing at E3 was Brutal Legend.  I've made my love of the game know over the last few months so I was looking forward to seeing if my love for the game was justified or not.  As the show was wrapping up today John and I found ourselves at the back of the EA booth with an empty Brutal Legend station.  The level they are showing on the floor is from the start of the game where Eddie picks up his first weapons, a giant axe and an electricity shooting guitar.  

The first thing I noticed was the lack of a jump button in the game.  I had read about this before picking up the controller but you really don't feel it until you play the game.  The jumping axe attack is done by holding the A button down but it still feels odd not to have a jump button in the game.  The second thing I noticed was the amount of blood in the game.  I'm not talking about a little bit of blood but God of War levels of blood.  Eddie cut enemies in half, decapitates them and fries them into bits.  I'm not saying it's a bad thing (it certainly fills the heavy metal aesthetic)  but it's not something that has shown up in any of the trailers.

The controls are simple and intuitive.  The axe attack is done by tapping the A button or you can hold the A button down for a heavier attack.  The X button is used for the electric guitar attack while holding it down does a heavy attack that hits multiple targets.  The guitar heats up as you attack and requires a cool down after being used multiple times.  You can them combine the two attacks by pushing both buttons which results in a cool heavy metal jump style attack that hits multiple enemies. 

We didn't get too far into the game but the ten minutes or so we got to play the game validated my feelings about the game.  The sense of humor, art style, and everything are what I expected and the combat was a bit better than I expected.  I'm hoping to sneak over for more time with the game tomorrow but from what I've seen Brutal Legend is going to be another Schafter classic.