A great game with an interesting universe, provided you don't mind things being easy at times.
Eddie Riggs is a roadie for a metal meets Jonas Brothers meets Emo band that is diluting the great name of metal. After saving one of the band members from death, Eddie is himself crushed by a piece of the stage, and as his blood trickles into a magical amulet that transpoRTS him to a world of metal. In this world demons rule the world and oppress human kind, but there is a select few people fighting to liberate humanity. It's up to Eddie to rally the troops and prepare them for war.
And rallying the troops he does well. There are essentially three factions in the game, two of which you spend the most time seeing/fighting. There's Eddies ragtag group of metal loving souls, known as Ironheade. They comprise most things punk metal, including head-banger infantry and siege weapon roadies that that use feedback to blow the enemy away. Then there is the drowning doom, which is most associated with Goth and undead like units that rely on debuffs and numbers to win. Finally there are the demons themselves in the tainted coil, which boast small groups of strong units and sacrificing units for benefits. The battles are in fashion of company of heroes or dawn of war, in that you get resources (fans) by capturing and maintaining points, and upgrade your units by upgrading your hq (stage). There is some rock-paper-scissors between units, but with your hero unit (you), and a diversity of units you barely notice it. Of course, commands are simplistic to accommodate the controller; generally you send all your units to conquer or hold a pint and advance.
When Eddie isn't fighting battles he can do a variety of side quests for upgrade points. Those that are fans of collectibles can rest easy, as there are dragon statues to free for health bonuses, lore booths to find to get the story of the rock universe, new solos (spells) to discover and many upgrades to purchase from the guardian of metal (Ozzy Osbourne). The side quests can be repetitive at times, but in retrospect there is rarely a game where this isn't the case. Most of the side quests are ambushing the enemy, fending of the enemy, racing a demon, or using a cannon to blast attacking enemies. They're fun, just repetitive after a while
Upgrade-wise you get a wide variety of weapon and vehicle upgrades for Eddie and his druid plow. His ax and guitar can be made to do a variety of things, from a wider radius on his stun to a few fancy new moves. Your vehicle can get weapons like minelayers, heat seeking missiles, and of course a front bumper for running things over.
The universe of Brutal Legend looks great, and metallish. It does essentially have the main worlds of an adventure game (plains, jungles, temperate, graveyard and beach) with metal-based components. The fauna are all spiky, dangerous and metallic, and engines, exhausts and new music opportunities all stick out of the ground. The world is vast and expansive, but always pitches a new local before the older ones tire.
Sound is one of the places where this game shines. There is a wide collection of music to listen to in your vehicle. You collect it on your journey. There are a couple nit pick problems though. For one thing every time you hop out of your car and back in, a new song plays, so you never get to finish a song you like if you have something to take care of. Also if you want new songs you have to dig for them, you can't just purchase new songs you'd like to hear on your journeys. Still, it's a nice thought.
Acting wise all the characters emote and act well. Jack Black plays his character like he plays most of his parts, so if you like his comedy you'll love Eddie Riggs. He rides with a group of famous musicians and great actors as well, all of which fit their respective parts perfectly. Most of the game play sounds great as well. Your car roars, your ax cuts into enemies boldly. The only problem is the in game cut scenes, which seemed to have volume issues. Every time Eddie's car screeched to a stop in a cut scene, it sounds like it was being recorded from a different room.
Reviewing this game brings up fond memories of playing it, and almost makes me want to go back to the store and repurchase my copy of it. I finished it with most side quests and extras in no more than 15 hours, and enjoyed every second of it. If you like adventure games or RTS games then it's worth a shot. I don't expect it to pioneer RTS games on the consoles though, but I do appreciate the effort put into the game.