Zadzooks: Brutal Legend review

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By Joseph Szadkowski

Superhero and cartoon characters are integral parts of the electronic entertainment industry. With this in mind, I salute the meld of pop-culture character and video game with a look at Brutal Legend(from Electronic Arts, reviewed for Xbox 360, rated M for mature, $59.99).

Tim Schafer and his developing band of Psychonauts bring the fantasies of heavy-metal music to life in a third-person adventure game loaded with bloody combat, a pinch of vehicular slaughter and real-time strategy battles.

Entering a postapocalyptic world ripped from a Meatloaf or Iron Maiden album, a player commands a cocky hero within testosterone-drenched action; the fate of humanity is at stake.

What's the story? From the game's manual: Somewhere in time, the Titans prophesied the arrival of a legendary warrior destined to tame a land beset by demonic evil. Or maybe destroy it. Not real big into details, those guys.

Eddie Riggs, however, was a details man and unquestionably the best roadie in rock history. He lived on tour, always staying out of the spotlight, until the fire beast Ormagoden transported him to a nightmarish - but kind of awesome - land plagued by evil. Now Eddie finally takes center stage to set the people free through the power of rock.

Play the role: The player manages the cigarette-smoking, overconfident Eddie as he roams a wasteland and challenges General Lionwhyte, Doviculus and the goth forces of black metal with help from Lars Halford, his sister, Lita, and the mysterious Ophelia.

Between freeing the lands from evil; entering the bowels of hell; and fighting a bunch of Skull Rakers, reapers and occasionally an enormous serpent and leech, Eddie's primary objective is completing missions such as defending a tour bus from a band of ticks on motorcycles or hunting razor-fire boars to supply female warriors with weapons.

He also seeks side missions, such as ambushing Lionwhyte's soldiers, and will unlock relics to add to his arsenal. He even can spend a few minutes looking over the landscape with a special viewer.

Get to the action: Eddie's main weapons include a heavy-duty ax and an electric-bolt-spitting guitar nicknamed Clementine.