If you're a gamer who's a fan of heavy metal, then this is the game you've been waiting for. It's a third person action game that takes place in a world of heavy metal. Everything (and I do mean everything) from the enemies, to transport, to the very world itself is metal.

You start the game as Eddie Riggs, a down-on-his-luck metal roadie who has been reduced to hauling equipment and building stages for your typical emo band. He receives something of a knock to the head and is transported magically to the world of his dreams. Once there, the game's simple controls are explained in about 15 minutes, along with the beginnings of the story.

As you progress through the game, you get to upgrade your equipment, that being your axe, your 'axe' and your car, and pretty importantly the upgrades are great. There feels like a lot of difference between your old and new stuff, and there's always a reason to go back for more - the shop, and its shopkeeper, are always full of surprises. You'll also pick up extra powers throughout the game in the form of guitar solos. With them you can do stuff like summon followers or beasts, summon your car, or fend off enemies with power moves such as the oh-so-literal facemelter.

There are a fair few cameos in Brutal Legend from the metal world from the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy Kilminster and Rob Halford. They're all very well done and are pretty humorous. However they, and indeed the rest of the game stay on the right side of parody - never veering onto the insulting - so the game's a joy to play. The cameo cast are also well used, but they never feel overdone. It doesn't feel like the game focuses on them too much, overuse them or uses them to drive the game. They just pop up every now and then and these fleeting moments will have any metalhead squealing (or should that be growling?) with delight.

The game plays out something like Overlord - a third person action game not entirely unlike God of War, with spatterings of RTS thrown in in the second half of the game. The first action half is definitely the game's stronger point. The RTS bits never really capture the same charm, although they are fun and break the game up well. It's also nice that whilst controlling the action, our hero can jump in and kick ass of his own if the need arises.

The one major downside to the game is its length. If I hadn't done every (and I do mean every) optional and non-story side quest, I think I could probably have burned through the main story in about 6 hours. That said the secondary quests are fun, reasonably varied and very rewarding to do, so there's really no reason to not do them. Also if you're that way inclined there's plenty of treasure hunting to do in the way of stumbling across the hundred or so statues, views and story segments scattered across the world. These are very non-essential, and are more than I could be bothered with, but if that's your bag there's enough here to keep you coming back after the credits roll.

Another negative is that navigating the huge world can be something of a chore. There's a map, but it can only be accessed via a button press, and it takes over the screen. There's no minimap, radar or helpful arrow to point you in the right direction when you're traversing the map. So when you're navigating the world, especially in the later stages, you'll often find yourself driving for a bit, checking the map, driving a bit more, checking the map, and it does get a bit irritating after a while. I appreciate that Tim Schafer has tried to keep the screen as uncluttered as possible - indeed there are literally no indicators onscreen when you're playing - but this is one I would have almost given my right arm for.

All in all though, one of the best games I've played this year. It's a must for metalheads, but even those who aren't will be hard pressed to hate this game. It's just a shame it's so short.