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Metal is dead. What started as rocking' took a wrong turn at 'glam' and sent head-banging down the path toward modern faux edgy pop music -- the kind marketed toward the 'tween' demographic. Satan must be rolling over in his grave...

But all is not lost. The man-god/game designer Tim Schafer and his legion of carpal-tunneled programmers have come to set the universe right by unleashing Brütal Legend upon the forsaken masses. Hearkening players back to a time when a face-melting guitar riff wasn't considered a figure of speech, Brütal Legend is so metal it could quite possibly make your brain hemorrhage just looking at it.

While the game doesn't provide a preorder bonus of nose candy and a bottle of Jack, it's clear that Tim Schafer's M.O. was to 'crank up the rock to 11.' And a game which starts by killing the main character, so he may be resurrected to battle upon a mountain of dragon bones, could only work using such a philosophy. In the process, Schafer has somehow managed to slap together every possibly relevant cliché and turn it into a wholly original script.

The game opens with Eddie, the best roadie in the biz, speaking of how rock has lost its magic. As he listens to his clientel perform songs about their teen angst, Eddie yearns for the days when rock was real. That is, until his daydreaming monologue gets cut short by the stage crushing his body. After dying, he awakens to find himself in an strange land. Best described as a world of Heavy Metal, it's a place where humans mine carburetors and power chords rain fire from the sky. In other words, his paradise, or at least would be if it wasn't under siege. Glam rock, and 'black tears' have torn the world asunder. While there is a resistance, it's too small and unorganized to fight back. Thankfully, Eddie, with his skills as a roadie, is in the perfect position to help… and his crush on a female member provides the incentive to do so. Assembling a stage crew and forming the band Iron Heade (the extra 'e' is there to show they're serious), the free people of Bladehenge can now join together to challenge their oppressors with the power of Metal.

Exactly how Eddie goes about his demon demolition is a bit hard to explain. Mixing together RTS, brawler, and open world genres with a dash of rhythm game thrown in for good measure, Brütal Legend tries to harness the strengths of each. A large over world provides access to both main and side quests along with hidden upgrades. Enemies encountered in the over world and side quests are primarily vanquished through brawler mechanics. Button combos chain attacks together between Eddie's axe (melee) and guitar (magic). And if the situation proves to be a particularly tough pickle, guitar riffs, played by timed button presses, can quickly tip the scales by unleashing special attacks.

In contrast, story missions handle much like an RTS. Eddie commands his troops, upgrades his stage (fortress), and tries to build Merchandise Booths to acquire fans (points) to spend on units. However, he's still part of the fight and can join any skirmish as a brawler, as well as team up with individual units.