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Eddie in his new form, Ophelia, Mangus, and Lars.

Every time I see Brutal Legend demoed, and it’s three times now, Double Fine Studios reveals something far more interesting and surprising than I expected.

The assumption I am making, of course, is that Tim Schafer makes really funny, well-written, and entertaining games, but that as games, the mechanics and technology behind them aren’t always on par with the high level of hilarity, premise, or dialogue. I still haven’t played Brutal Legend yet, but not only is the concept extremely creative, and the dialogue funny, but each new demo I attend reveals new gameplay elements, like massive army battles, new gameplay elements, and surprising twists.

The Roadie from Hell

The first twist is that yes, the wild, big-fisted, square-jawed Jack Black dude turns into a bat from hell. Just look at him.

His transformation isn’t sexual or mystical or spiritual, like Raziel from Legacy of Kain’s Soul Reaver. No, during a scene that introduces the battle of the bands on a huge grassy meadow where Eddie is organizing troops, he suddenly falls in his knees in pain. “Ohhhh, my back,” he says. Ophelia looks at him and asks what’s wrong. Nonchalantly, he simply gets up and says “It’s nothing,” as if that always happens. That’s a little foreshadowing, of course.

Quite quickly, we learn it’s not just a backache. Deeper into the battle of the bands scene, Eddie falls down again, but this time he won’t just brush off the pain. Instead, he transforms. Dark purple-black bat-like wings sprout from his back, his skin deepens in color, and his eyes turn yellow. Eddie responds as if he’d always kinda wanted wings. “Cool! I’ve got wings! But don’t worry about it darling,” he says again to Ophelia. “I’m still the same me!”

And they say looks are deceiving.

My guess is that Eddie is the reincarnation of one of the Metal Gods brought back to life to save the Land of Metal, and he just doesn’t know it. Just a wild speculation, of course; but after having seen a jillion movies and played a more jillion games, I’m guessing this isn’t his last transformation.

Eddie wields the Separator to cleave his enemies.

Staging the Battle of the Bands

Following my earlier preview (on GameDaily), in which I detailed Eddie Riggs’ fighting techniques and the game’s combat moves, this preview explores how Schafer’s latest demo opens up into massive real-time strategy battles.

Once Eddie has freed the head bangers from the mines, and Ophelia has freed all the chicks (you were wondering where, in the Era of Metal, all the chicks were, right?) from the evil Pleasure Tower, he, rebel leader Lars, Ophelia, and Lars’ sister form a big enough resistance to confront Emperor Doviculous in the first of several massive land battles.

They recruit all sorts of strangers, such as Mangus, a stoner stage technician who helps build a heavy metal-themed stage, and form a battle plan. In the giant meadow Eddie sizes up his army of Head Bangers (short-range fighters) and Runaways (long-distance fighter “chicks”), and creates an assortment or weapons to further explore the “metal as power” metaphor. Remember Eddie’s hot rod, the Deuce? Eddie builds a massive hot rod–a tour bus–to help wage his war.

Behold--it's a fan geyser.

Then he looks out across the meadow and notices it’s peppered with dried up geysers. I believe that in order to activate these geysers, Eddie must play a guitar solo, which plays like the simplified Guitar Hero mechanic on screen, to summon the power of “the fans.”

The fans, in this case, are a tappable raw power, sort of like ore, wood, or coal in an RTS game. Once summoned, the lifeless meadow’s geysers burst with the ghostly white flow of “the fans.” Without missing a cue, Schafer then points out how building “merch” (merchandizing) booths will keep the fans happy and flowing.

Battle for BladeHenge and the Blowjob Leeches

Once you’ve organized your Headbangers, Runaways, and built your Thunderhogs and Tour Buses, and outrageous stage, summoned “the fans,” sprouted wings and learned to fly, you are ready to fight General LionWhyte and his army of equally bad-ass dudes.

General LionWhyte is the evil...super lame '80s hairband guy. Wait 'til you hear his voice.

Eddie and the headbangers cause a ruckus.

Like it or not in our society, the color black usually represents evil and white stands for good. But that’s not the case in Brutal Legend. Black is the color of metal, after all. So when the evil General LionWhyte shows up to confront the resistance, he isn’t an evil, black, demonic looking dude at all. He’s an ’80s hair-band leader, decked out in white skin-tight leotards with black dots, and has the biggest most heinous hair you’ve ever seen. His hair isn’t just a prop, mind you. His hair is his means of flight. I cannot convey how utterly silly and likable this scene is, but let me just say, his voice and manner equally match the ridiculousness of his hair. His followers, you’ll also notice, are equally flamboyant, a not-so-subtle jab at ’80s hair bands.

When the fight begins, you realize why Eddie’s wings are important. With the ability to fly, he can quickly transport across the battlefield to counter attacks, wipe out losing fights, or take on Doviculous. In conjunction with flight, the first three Dpad commands (left to follow, down to hold, up to attack a specific object) are followed by the fourth one, right, which sets a beacon, calling all forces to swarm to it.

How else can one stop the fans? Fan Leeches, of course.

You’ll command your forces to various areas on the map, fight enemies with your axe and guitar, fly around and be a bad-ass, and finally, counter Lionwhyte’s overtly, hilariously, hard-to-ignore sex, erm… fan leeches. Yes, it’s hard to turn away from the male-female mechanics here, so let’s just call it what it is: a Blowjob Leech. Remember the flowing fans gushing forth from the geysers? Well, Lionwhyte has a counter enemy, giant flying leeches which look, yes, like giant leeches. These creatures have a massive mouth, wings, and fly vertically. Their only purpose, it seems, is to suck the white flowing fan fluid out of the geysers. And, just like black is not evil in Brutal Legend, it’s your job to prevent these leeches from doing their “jobs.” Otherwise, the fans will dry up!  Dear lord, how much fun is Schafer having with this game?

During the fight, when you’re not busy looking for the flood of metal and sexual metaphors, you’re fighting the good resistance battle. Being your first big battle, you’ll have the ability to direct your army types, or all of them together, call upon Mangus to fuel more merch power or whatever, and use your guitar to pull off crazy magic attacks. Eddie’s solos summon the Face Melter attack, the Make the Sun Rise attack, and the Chains Come Off attack. Each one is summoned with little Guitar Hero-like mini-games (which appear on screen horizontally like a little musical chart). Additionally, you can use your troops to fight in various ways, such as forming a “mosh pit” around you for protection.

This all appears in what looks to be the first hour or two of the game!

I still haven’t played this game yet, so I cannot describe the exact mechanics, but I will say that from what I have seen, my early assumption could be off base. If the game is as much fun to play as it is to watch, Brutal Legend surely will be a fantastic new game in Schafer’s growing repertoire.