Brutal Legend - Tim Schafer's new project

I just finished Brutal Legend's main story arc last night and thought I'd leave a few impressions for anyone on the fence about possibly purchasing this game.

First, the setting, story, art, voice acting, humor, and reverence to heavy metal lore are all fantastic. There are many, many in-jokes referencing classic metal songs, albums or artists. I won't spoil any of them here, but it's accurate to say that current or lapsed metalheads will enjoy Brutal Legend more than those with no familiarity with the genre.

Now let's get to some of the popular complaints. I've seen plenty of internet denizens and professional reviewers alike express this particular sentiment: "Wait, now it's an RTS game? That's not what I expected, therefore I must RAGE!"

That behavior is unnecessary. You're still in the thick of the battle, using your melee and guitar-based attacks. You just happen to be building an army and making some strategic decisions during the battle, as well as hackin' and slashin' everything in sight.

Honestly, the RTS battles aren't that difficult anyway. The only RTS's I've played were the first few Warcraft games (at which I sucked mightily). If you can handle those, Brutal Legend's RTS battles will be a piece of cake.

DO NOT avoid this game because you have some vendetta against real-time strategy games.

Another complaint I've seen is that the sidequests are too repetitive. That's valid, but it's still not a reason to avoid the game. There are several templates (ambush, race, kill X number of Y, two types of tower defense quests) along with a few truly creative sidequests which I won't spoil.

I didn't mind the developer using the same template several times because the dialogue wasn't always recycled, and the locations of the quests were often very different, which lessened the feeling of familiarity (as opposed to, say, Mass Effect's identical prefab bunkers).

Take the time to explore the world they've created. You'll find loads of cool stuff that you'll miss if you just blow through the main missions. Plus it will make the game last longer, which you will probably want. For better or worse, Brutal Legend's main campaign is not a 40-hour epic.

Lastly, talk to everybody -- especially the members of your army when they're just hanging around camp. Honestly, those little conversations had some of the funniest lines in the game, so don't miss them!

That's my two cents. Two cents? More like a buck and a half!