Brütal Legend: A review with many images

Prepare yourself for a world of heavy metal

I have many reasons to love Double Fine Entertainment: They made Psychonauts, one of the best and most unique 3D platformers I've ever played. They're a Bay Area company, so they're local boys. They are run by the immensely likable Tim Schafer, and they used to (but no longer) employ Scott Campbell (and Scott C did a large chunk of the concept art for Brütal Legend). I recently added one more reason to like them: they made Brütal Legend, a game that allowed me to spend more than 20 hours exploring, fighting in, and ultimately saving a heavy metal world.

Brütal Legend is famous for a very mixed reception at its launch. Commercially, the game was a failure, and it led to Double Fine shifting their focus from AAA titles to smaller, less expensive projects. Gamers didn't know what to make of the hybrid tactical/action game, which combined elements of Real-Time Strategy, open-world exploration, and hack-and-slash fighting.

I had the (somewhat dubious) advantage of waiting several years before playing the game because it took that long for a PC port to come out, but that meant that I had a good idea of what I was getting myself into. I played Brütal Legend on its own terms, and I found myself loving almost everything about it. It's not a perfect game, but it's so relevant to my interests that I don't even care.

(Brütal Legend has such a cool-looking world that this review called for a lot of images, some of which are a little spoilery but presented without context.)

There's no paper in Star Wars, and 4 other things I am glad Star Wars lacks

Image from the datapad entry on Wookieepedia

Star Wars fans know that one of the rules of the setting is that there is no paper in Star Wars. Star Wars may take place "a long time ago," but it's full of spaceships and blasters, so it makes sense that people wouldn't still rely on chopping down trees, mashing them up, pressing the paste flat, and smearing ink over it to convey messages. Instead, characters in Star Wars use datapads to record and transmit information. If characters absolutely have to jot something down, they use flimsiplast, which is basically "space paper."

Though the lack of paper in Star Wars is hardly vital to the setting, it got me thinking about the other things that I am glad Star Wars doesn't have. As it turns out, most of the things on my list exist in Star Trek but not in Star Wars. I love Star Trek, too, but these differences help the two great franchises "feel" different, with Star Trek being more science fiction and Star Wars being more space fantasy.

Thoughts on the upcoming Superman and Batman movie

Apparently a new movie featuring both Superman and Batman is in the works, according to an announcement made at Comic-Con. When I first heard the news, I had a brief moment of excitement, and then boredom set in almost immediately. I thought the recent Dark Knight trilogy was okay but seriously overrated, Superman Returns was just bad, and I haven't bothered to see Man of Steel yet. But I've had some time to think about it, and I think that a crossover movie might actually be pretty cool, depending on what direction they take it.

This post contains spoilers for the Dark Knight trilogy. Coming right up, in fact.

I saw Pacific Rim and it was amazing (spoiler free)

I was totally looking forward to seeing Pacific Rim. Pacific Rim promised giant robots fighting giant monsters, with the budget and the creative direction that such an awesome premise deserves. I watched it with my wife, who was at least as excited to see it as I was, which is really saying something. But since we had built up the movie to such a ridiculous degree, could it possibly live up to our expectations?

The answer is a 25-story-tall "YES."

Pacific Rim looks amazing and I can't wait to see it

I have been geeking out about the upcoming movie Pacific Rim ever since I first heard of it If you haven't yet, you owe it to yourself (and your inner 12-year-old) to watch some of the Pacific Rim trailers on Apple's iTunes Movie Trailers site. Pacific Rim features giant robots fighting to save the world from giant monsters, and it is directed by Guillermo del Toro, so you know those giant robots and monsters will look great. Best of all, Pacific Rim comes out this week!

With the movie so close to release, my geek-out level is approaching dangerous levels, so I thought it might help stabilize my inner fanboy to talk about my expectations. To keep things simple, I will use an approach that my 12-year-old self would have approved of, and split my thoughts into things that are awesome and things that are dumb.

1000 is a badass series of animations you can help fund on Kickstarter

Imagine a vibrant, urban fantasy world featuring magic, demons, vampires, dragons, and more. It sounds like the premise to a great pen-and-paper roleplaying game, comic book, or video game, and maybe some day it will be! But first, 1000 will be a series of 90-second animations... if it succeeds in its Kickstarter. This project looks like the start of a creative and exciting new setting, and the fact that it's on Kickstarter means that anyone can help it become a reality. You can learn more about the project by visiting their page on Kickstarter.

Things that make me frustrated with video games (and why I shouldn't let them)

Nobody wants to be this guy
(If you don't know who this is, look up "angry german kid" on Youtube, but turn down your speakers first)

Normally I love playing video games, but there are times when they make me very frustrated. The scary thing about frustration is, you're often not aware of how frustrated you are or how you're displaying that level of frustration. Recently I was playing a stage in Double Fine's Brütal Legend and, though I didn't feel like I was exceptionally frustrated (I certainly wasn't swearing, shouting, or pounding the keyboard like the angry German kid), it was unpleasant and frightening to my wife. That got me thinking about the reasons I get frustrated, and the ways in which I can get over them and enjoy the game without losing my cool.