I agree. I love the atmosphere of the world and the sly sense of humor. But actually playing the game is often painful.
You know what’s really frustrating? Most of the things wrong with it would have been pretty easy to fix. For all the money that went into making the thing, it wouldn’t have taken much more work to make a better camera, or put some more landmarks and clearer roads in the world, or come up with an easier interface for triggering solos.
If you’re micromanaging, you’re doing it wrong. Simplify, and concentrate on kicking personal ass. This is Herzog Zwei, not C&C.
Reviewhere. NSFW.
Favorite lines from the game so far:
“Hey go kill that shitty merch tower”
“Ass kickers unite!”
“I want you to stay here and defend this pile of crap with your very lives!”
“Stay around me like a rock and roll sphincter. Do you guys know what a sphincter is?”
“Everything in that general direction must die.”
After using face melter “you got a little face on your shirt.”
“Go free those fans so that they may come to love us.”
If you don’t think this is funny stuff, you probably won’t get the humor of the game. I used to play in a metal band and I spent most of the night after we rented this removing beer foam from my nose.
E-Sabbath - Hey, I tried that. Okay, not entirely by choice, but more than a few of my battles turned into Rambo-goes-berserk-and-leaves-the-Afghans-to-their-own-devices. I do this a lot in the Dynasty Warriors games (practically all I ever do in 5 Empires unless I’m going for a 4th weapon), and it works great.
The differences are that 1) in Dynasty Warriors, my guy do every task that needs to be done (take the gate, take the base, cut down that aggravating general, stand like a stone wall against the onslaught) and 2) all the important decisions are made before the battle. In Brutal Legend, I had to pick targets, gauge fan levels, call up troops, and direct my forces all on the fly, and there were more than a few critical tasks that Eddie simply coudl not do on his own (drive off fan leeches, for one; I’m pretty sure the game actually prevented you from doing this). Every time I went the lone juggernaut route, poor Eddie would get slaughtered in about ten seconds, and every time I neglected my forces, they’d either blunder into a deathtrap or twiddle their thumbs uselessly at home base.
I think a straight-up melee, with Ironheade initially at a disadvantage and the effectiveness of your forces dependent on how much butt Eddie kicked, would’ve worked out great. It should’ve been an option in multiplayer too.