[phillg1981]

Got the game this morning and managed a few hours today initial thoughts below:

Pros
Very funny
Great intro
Main menu system and how you get the album sleeve is great
Lots of side missions
Introduction of key characters like Lemmy and Ozzy are good



Cons
Slight screen tearing especially when a few enemies on screen in battle
Some mission objectives are not obvious at first glance
Would be good if when music changed it told you what the songs were as to a novice with regards to heavy metal I've no idea what the songs are

[Robothamster]

Looking forward to getting this, maybe next month after I'm bored of Uncharted 2!

Will be back on this thread then but good to hear about your pros & cons.

[phillg1981]

upon start up you are hit with a 256mb patch as well.

[Satsui_Ryu]

Yet another Tim Schafer game goes unnoticed. I suppose it's his own fault for releasing it against Uncharted 2, but I at least thought that a few people would be discussing it. Is anyone else playing this? I'm getting the urge to pick it up - as a sort of pit-stop between U2 and MW2.

[Stinja]

Too many games it too small a release window; people are going to be picky, like me.

I fully intend to buy this game, but it will be in a month or so as my next game is Borderlands, and this will basically be singleplayer for me. Maybe over the crimbo break will be the ideal time to play?

[Robothamster]

I'm the same as Stinja.

I expect this thread will get a bit busier soon, after U2 has died down and MW2 has been out for a bit probably.

[Wamphyri]

I was well up for this but the after playing the demo i'm having second thoughts. The comdey is great and the music is right up my street but the as a game it was a bit pants to be honest (and the comedy tappers off after the first couple of hours if the review I read is true). I know most people are saying this Shafer geezers involvment is a seal of quality, but from the demo it's not looking great. Granted there have been poor demo's that have turned into great full games, maybe this will be one.

[phillg1981]

As a word of warning I would hold off getting this game until it drops in price a little more. Yes I know the humour in the demo is good but after about an hour or so its starts fading fast. The screen tearing seems to be getting worse the further into the game you go. They've already patched the game (256mb) and its made no difference.

[semiartificial]

Originally Posted by phillg1981

As a word of warning I would hold off getting this game until it drops in price a little more. Yes I know the humour in the demo is good but after about an hour or so its starts fading fast. The screen tearing seems to be getting worse the further into the game you go. They've already patched the game (256mb) and its made no difference.

Sound advice.
Think this will be a little like Psychonauts, which ended up on sale at Game for a fiver just 4-5 months after release ... which is when I bought it.
Wanted to buy it on release but I had plenty else to do and I knew people would not 'get' it despite the great reviews.
Yes, I know, doesn't help Tim's aim of making original games if we don't buy them till they're cheap.
I see this is already down to £18 on Amazon but I think it will be nearer to a tenner soon.

[Robothamster]

This game is now £20 in Tesco.

Played it for a few hours last night, completely mental.

[Stinja]

Bought and completed this over crimbo. Not done it on Brutal difficulty, but got 100% of the collectables in Normal.

Great fun, very silly and a refreshing change from games which are too serious.

[Robothamster]

Thought you were still Borderlanding mate

Got no internet at the mo due to house move otherwise I'd have probably noticed you were playing this.

Plus I've been a bad boy and have played and completed Mass Effect & Fable 2 on the 360 from xmas till this week so my poor PS3 has been neglected.

Did you ever try B Legend online? I can imagine it's pretty crazy.

[feaviolp]

Originally Posted by Robothamster

Did you ever try B Legend online? I can imagine it's pretty crazy.

I played Brutal Legend online a while back and TBH it was terrible. The online consists of stage battles which to me was the least enjoyable part of the story mode. Not bad, just not as good as the free roaming bits.

What killed it though was the really, really, really, really really bad network connectivity (I could've have added more reallys and still not been exagerating).

To give you an idea... I wanted the 50 online wins trophy but a glitch meant that wins were reset every time you turned off the PS3 so instead of 50 wins in total, you actually needed 50 wins in one session . I'm not one to boost normally but I decided to for this because of the difficulty (and time) in getting 50 wins in a night. So after exchanging a few messages with other like minded people I met playing we had a group of us who would take turns conceding the match each time we were matched together (and there weren't many playing - I think only two other people we were occasionally matched against). So easy to get everyone to 50 wins right? Wrong. Took over 6 hours even with this instant surrender method because it was so shoddy. Ages to get matched even though we all knew we were out there waiting to be matched, and more often than not the match would be about to start and we'd be disconnected. It was the most frustrating online PS3 experience I've had ! I seriously think it would've taken 24-48 hours solid play (without switching off the PS3) to get the 50 wins legit.

It was a while back so hopefully these issues have been fixed. I mention only to give you fair warning in case they haven't.

[Robothamster]

Cheers, sounds like I'll give online a miss then

[feaviolp]

Well the issues may have been fixed so give it a try if you like the stage battles. Just don't get your hopes up and be prepared to ditch it if it looks bad

Also - I think the DLC is more stage battle arenas so I guess they must've had to make some improvements or the DLC would never sell. I rented the game so can't check anymore. Maybe it's better now (ever the optimist, lol).

[Robothamster]

Only done one stage battle so far. It was ok but not exactly the best bit of gaming ever.

[feaviolp]

Originally Posted by Robothamster

Only done one stage battle so far. It was ok but not exactly the best bit of gaming ever.

Yeah - I felt the same. Much prefered the free roaming and side missions (althought the missions get a bit samey too). To me the stage battles were just a necessary evil to progress through the game. Unfortunately in the latter stages they become more frequent, but by then you should be more practiced so can hopefully knock them on the head relatively quickly

Still a fun game though

[Robothamster]

Well, I've done about 5 of these stage battles now and I have to say I think they are crap.

It's an odd game, I'm enjoying the story and I'm loving all the mental creatures/settings etc but the actual gameplay I don't really like at all.

Not sure how much longer I have but I'm hoping it ends soon, that's not a good sign! I've got this far so want to see the end though so will stick at it.

[Hillskill]

Originally Posted by Robothamster

Well, I've done about 5 of these stage battles now and I have to say I think they are crap.

It's an odd game, I'm enjoying the story and I'm loving all the mental creatures/settings etc but the actual gameplay I don't really like at all.

Not sure how much longer I have but I'm hoping it ends soon, that's not a good sign! I've got this far so want to see the end though so will stick at it.

The RTS stuff put me right off. Surely a sign of Schaeffer not being reigned in at the right time.

[Robothamster]

Originally Posted by Hillskill

The RTS stuff put me right off. Surely a sign of Schaeffer not being reigned in at the right time.

It really is horrible, anything like this needs to be iso locked and selectable with a mouse like old C&C.

Trying to fly about commanding troops is a nightmare. Luckily each battle has been an easy win so far, but I dread when I come up against one that after 15 mins I fail and have to start again.

That could be the breaking point that turns this game into one I can't be arsed to finish.

[feaviolp]

Originally Posted by Robothamster

It really is horrible, anything like this needs to be iso locked and selectable with a mouse like old C&C.

Trying to fly about commanding troops is a nightmare. Luckily each battle has been an easy win so far, but I dread when I come up against one that after 15 mins I fail and have to start again.

That could be the breaking point that turns this game into one I can't be arsed to finish.

Completely agree (as I suggested in my critique of the online mode which is all stage battles ).

For what it's worth, my tip for stage battles to reduce the risk of failure and painful re-starts is "keep it simple". The game allows you to select individual units and send them to different places etc. But the controls are so horrible that in the time it takes you to do this you're more than likely already being overrun. So simply start each battle creating as many units as you can, then get over to the nearest fan geyser and get cracking on that. Move all resources to the second fan geyser and then attack the enemy stage as fast as possible. I think even the biggest arenas only needed to secure 3 fan geysers before attacking the main stage so don't waste time trying to secure them all. Hardly a breakthrough in strategic intelligence I know, but IMHO the game tries to be more clever than it actually is (in stage battles) so much better to keep it simple. Build fast... attack fast... win !!!

I know you didn't ask for advice but like you I didn't enjoy the stage battles much so thought I'd share in case it helps get past them without too much hassle . Note I was playing on brutal difficulty so this "strategy" does work.

[Stinja]

Originally Posted by Robothamster

I'm enjoying the story and I'm loving all the mental creatures/settings etc but the actual gameplay I don't really like at all. ... Trying to fly about commanding troops is a nightmare.

Yeah dont do that... What i found was easiest was to summon your car (tooled up with lasers), drive to where you want to be, summon the rally flag (troops run to the flag when created), repeat. Obviously all troops are on "follow me". I hardly ever bothered trying to direct troops themselves. You can also fly about with the rally flag.

Also make sure you get some of the other songs, the flaming zepplin is pretty good as a finisher, or to clear the enemy stage.

I didnt play the stage battles at all like an RTS, and just ran about bashing stuff or driving over them in my car with fricken lasers on it Loved the style of the game itself.

[Robothamster]

Cheers Stinja, I'll give the Rally flag a go because I've not bothered with that yet.

Not equipped the Duece with lasers yet either, only just fitted heatseeker missiles and they seem pretty good.

[feaviolp]

Yeah sorry - I should've included use of the Deuce in my lightweight strategy. I used the Duece too, although I used the heatseeking rockets not lasers.

Only question I'd have is the summon rally flag though. I did pretty much the same thing but I found it only affected new units i.e. those created after you placed the flag. So what I did was drive to fan geyser, stage or whever. Place flag to ensure all new units start making their way over as soon as they're ready, then play the other solo to summon everyone to your current location (can't remember the name of that solo). So that takes care of everone existing and new. Maybe I needed to do that because I didn't have "follow me" set all of the time

[Mr Pumpkinhead]

I got this from Amazon for £17.99, it’s worth that price for the sound track alone.
I just parked up the car and left the music running in the background. It’s better than anything on the radio.

The humour is excellent, but there could have been a few drummer jokes in there.
The main game mission/story is a little short though.

[Robothamster]

Yeah I finished the story in just over 6 hours on normal.

Loved the design of characters, vehicles and landscapes, loved the humour and the ideas but absolutely hated the stage battles and normal combat wasn't much better either.