Media Meditation 1

Turn it up to 11


I used to be a much bigger gamer than I am now. Still, sometimes there are games coming out that I will follow closely and be very excited for. One of those games was Brutal Legend, which came out last month. The game is about a roadie for one of the modern, MTV created, "Metal" (and I use this term loosely) bands who is brought back into the past when he is crushed by a stage prop and his blood drips on his belt buckle. The buckle turns out to be a relic of the "Fire Beast Ormegodon" from the ancient past, which turns out to be pretty much a mash up of all the heavy metal album covers ever made. There he must fight the evil demon emperor Diviculous and General Lionwhyte (a Glam Metal caricature) with his magical guitar, Clementine and his axe.

One of the most interesting things about the game was way the soundtrack was integrated with the game. As it was a game glorifying Metal in all its myriad forms, the soundtrack was very important, and it really delivered, especially the parts where it synced to the ingame action. There was cutscene in particular that I thought had excellent usage of music to add to the scene.


======================SPOILERS===============================






One of your companions, Ophelia, is believed to have betrayed you, and you leave her behind. She was in love with Eddie Riggs, the main character, and so in her depression, goes and tries to drown herself in the "Sea of Black Tears" to the tune of "Mr. Crowley". I dont know what it is specifically, but limbically, the music in combination with the content of the scene just really gets me. When the synth intro ends, and she jumps in, I get goosebumps, even as I previewed before posting the video here. Whenever I think about how important music and is to make or break a scene, I think of this.

Over all, this game was an excellent demonstration of the power of music in media. Its use at critical plot points such as that, along with just the general soundtrack that played constantly was really important, for me at least in suspension of disbelief, which was so important in a game like this. Driving through the heavy metal fantasy world of the game in my hot rod would just seem weird if it were not for the heavy metal blasting from the car. It was also a great story. Almost all games have a story of some kind, but in many cases they are just there to provide you with more enemies to overcome, but in this game had a great story that really showcased the ability of the medium to be used for storytelling.