Combine slick heavy metal, real time strategy, an open world environment and some of the funniest script writing in the last decade and you’ll have some idea of what makes Brutal Legend a potential hit.

Creative director Tim Schafer (known for his work on Psychonauts and Grim Fandango) has finally been given the chance to gain public recognition due to the huge ‘Rocktober’ marketing push of EA. With a stellar cast of voice actors ranging from Jack Black to Ozzy Osbourne, there’s understandably a lot of pressure for Schafer to deliver a cult classic. Is this the game that metal heads have been longing for?

Players take on the role of Eddie Riggs, an unsung roadie who soon finds himself disembowelled on stage and sent back to a fantasy heavy metal world. There he quickly acquires an axe called ‘The Seperator”, a Flying V guitar known as “Clementine” and a hot rod car branded “The Druid Plough” to combat the demon hoards. In order to free the land of Doviculus and his glam metal minions, Eddie needs to form his own army (later titled Bladehenge) and wage an all out war.

Humour is notoriously difficult in video games, but despite fairly average visuals the cut scenes are laughably brilliant. A good mix of on screen slapstick, insider heavy metal references and snappy one liners ensures that every joke hits home with great effect. Jack Black has been involved in some fairly average films recently, but really manages to shine with his vocal delivery of Riggs. You will often remove yourself from the battlefield and switch the subtitles on just to pick up on some of the witty in game banter.

Unfortunately the numerous cameo performances and well written narrative simply aren’t enough to make this a stand out title. Schafer has obviously immersed himself in the script writing and visual design, leaving the core game play and engine to other game designers.  The absence of a jump button, mini map and any form of quick travel makes the entire package feel surprisingly last-generation.

The campaign starts as a fairly generic hack and slash adventure, allowing you to unlock some new melee combos and grapple with a few simple boss battles. Yet from underneath your nose, Brutal Legend slowly starts adding some light RTS features, such as controlling squads of head bangers or groupies. Which works reasonably well – it’s just that I actually preferred the initial adventuring. As the scale of the battles increases, the game eventually opens up into a full strategy title, with Eddie Riggs flying above the masses in order to give commands. You can still drop into the battle and join your comrades, but doing so will cripple your ability to summon and move troops. What’s left is a watered down version of two very different game genres, never really managing to succeed at either.

There are plenty of side missions that offer respectable rewards to power up The Druid Plough or Eddie’s various weapons.  They lack any sense of diversity or challenge though, consisting of three main types (racing, ambushes and protection) and never truly becoming engrossing. Gamers will find themselves rattling through them solely to update their abilities and brake up the story progression. There are also a number of collectibles to find in Shafer’s artistic heavy metal world, but without a compass or detailed marking system… finding them boils down to basic pot luck. This is a shame, because there is a surprising amount of content here; it’s just boring and repetitive to play.

The game’s menu system does a great job at reflecting the genre of music, featuring a great LP cover system on the title screen and some nice comic touches in the various page descriptions. The absence of a theatre mode is frustrating though - surely a game that prides itself on plot would remember to include re-playable cut scenes?

To its credit, Brutal Legend looks and sounds the part. Having no prior knowledge of heavy metal, I was taken aback by how enjoyable the soundtrack was and the range of artists they managed to gain rights for. The world also looks like it’s been ripped straight out of a metal head’s sketchbook, with some great architecture (often sculpted out of devil horns or thrash metal guitars) and fantastic character design.

For online fanatics there is a multiplayer mode, offering some length to the otherwise modest 10 hour campaign. Unfortunately the online tutorial is left entirely to a five minute video, explaining absolutely nothing about how to control the other playable factions. With some time and effort there’s probably some enjoyment to be had here – developer Double Fine simply hasn’t done a good job at making it accessible to newcomers.

Most games suffer from an abysmal storyline, so it’s a shame for Brutal Legend to be let down instead by its game play. For those that are a fan of Jack Black, heavy metal or just general comedy this will still etch a huge grin across your face; just don’t expect a revolutionary gaming experience. Fans of RTS’ might also want to look into this one, as it’s one of the few strategy titles existing on a home console. Unfortunately, a few bad design choices mean that Tim Shafer’s going to need to at least one more game before he becomes a household name.