Music, death, laser panthers. No, this is not random word association from my childhood (though I have had particular trouble in my youth with the latter two). These are just some of the things that make up Brutal Legend, the newest game from Double Fine studios. It’s a story about a roadie getting transported to a fantasy world where metal is king and glam is slightly powerful. A game with a premise so heavily awesome you won’t be able to move out of sheer satisfaction, Brutal Legend does everything in its power to remind you why metal rocks and why you should, too.

Any of you not familiar with Tim Schafer’s work in the past, now isn’t a bad time to jump in and get familiar with the man. His work in the very least ranges from unique and quality to ... uh, well actually that’s about all he ever does. Brutal Legend follows suit with his history and keeps on the mission statement of metal. The ample single-player experience will try to ease you into the rather steep learning curve that comes with the multiplayer, but you’ll be entertained thoroughly along the way.

You control main character Eddie Riggs predominantly in the Age of Metal and are treated to a huge scrawling landscape that’s just begging to be explored. There’s the main story, and an epic one it is, and side missions, ranging from sneak attacks, to races across the metal world, to hunting missions that dare you to dream the dream by killing a swath of rather harmless animals. Everything fits well, and every side mission — usually duplicated throughout the story — is incredibly entertaining.

Racing around in your car the Druid Plow as you listen to a seemingly never-ending choice of metal tracks is one of those rare moments in gaming that is fun for the sake of being fun. The soundtrack in question has more than 100 metal songs to choose from, with an impressive array of artists to boot. With some of the biggest names in metal (Ozzy, Halford, Lemmy) doing voice acting/characters for the main quest, you will realize this game is not only going to be breaking the rules, but it will then proceed to ram them down with a sufficient overkill of referential proportions.

A soundtrack so metal that you can’t listen to it near a magnet? Check. An over-the-top quest of domination with witty dialogue? Check. Awesome third-person battling heavily revolving around metal empowerment? Check. Murmaider? Check. This game pretty much has everything a metalhead could want, and for good reason. Tim Schafer knew if he was going to make an attempt at a heavy metal tribute, he would have to go super huge. He missed his mark by quite a bit and ended up landing somewhere between Gigantastic and Garganterrific.

Looking at Brutal Legend as a whole and being impressed was easy work for me, but taking the real-time strategy potions of the game and putting them under the microscope is a different matter. The single-player mode presents, in a comfortable fashion, the components of the RTS mechanics. By the end of the game, you should be ready for the multiplayer. This is where things might get weak in the knees for some gamers. The RTS potions have you controlling your troops real time, as well as taking part in the battle as one of your troops. The balance and pace seem great in the campaign, but the multi takes a hit. Between some unbalanced troops, entire factions out of the running for truly effective and repetitive strategies, the online straggles off the incredibly addictive RTS portions the singe player offers up.

This is not to say the multiplayer doesn’t reach the same levels of satisfying and repeated outings that single player does. The problem with blended genres is the steep learning curve. Most timid players will find a hard time finding a nitch in an online affair. I quickly overcame some qualms I had with balancing issues and jumped on the bandwagon, rushing strategies that seemed to work so well for so many people. The competition online can be quite exhilarating, and rightfully so. Though the battles seem awkwardly short, even when both sides know what they are doing, seeing every nine out of 10 people playing as one and only one faction repeatedly tells you there is something wrong with the appeal and balance of the other two.

Overall, I was nothing but pleased with Brutal Legend. I found the single-player experience was nothing short of a metal masterpiece and does every bit of justice that I’m sure was intended. The multiplayer battles had me returning quite a bit after I found my groove and gave myself the chance to get use to the new way of doing things. I’m not sure how engaged the average player will be in the competitive aspects, as they will probably not take the time to enjoy the finer points of how to crush your opponent. I’m hoping sometime soon they offer up a patch and fix some imbalance issues so that everyone can have a little more variety in their battles without the loss of efficiency.

I think Brutal Legend seemed mismarketed, as the RTS aspects prelaunch were underplayed or almost nonexistent in ways of advertising, which is an odd call on further inspection. Despite some sad repetition in strategies and a feeling of underwhelming rushes in multiplayer, when compared to the well-paced single-player bliss, Brutal Legend stands as a bold and brave piece of gaming that tries to move further the boundaries of good taste and quality rather than reinforce them. Anyone looking for something funny, entertaining, awesome, musical, strategic, addictive, unique, deep, challenging, brutal, look no further. Brutal Legend is self-evident.