The world itself is incredibly rich and worth exploring just for the hell of it. You’ll encounter bleak mines, vulcanized forges, wild demon cities and all sorts of nutty wildlife – dinosaurs and razor-backed hedgehogs dot the landscape, just waiting to be turned into road kill. It’s all set against a backdrop of rocking tunes that’ll make even the softest easy-listening fan thirsty for aural carnage and heavy down-tuned riffs after a few hours of play.

As far as gameplay goes, Brutal Legend doesn’t slack off, offering everything from Overlord-style strategy to more nuanced RTS battles to 3rd person hack’n’slash, with a wide assortment of minigames and smaller quests at your disposal. It sounds like a laundry list of conflicting ideas – and that would be fair criticism, if the different parts didn’t jive together as well as they do.

Your missions come in all shapes and sizes. You may be waging a battle, in which you’ve got to harness the energy of “fan wells” (power/resource units) and manage your units while going out and kicking butt yourself. Think of it as “RTS-lite” on steroids, with plenty more eye candy than your average armchair general sim.

Other areas have you taking a move central ass-kicking role, where you’ll control Eddie and a handful of units just like “minions” from the Overlord series (or like your little plant friends in Pikmin). Other times, you’ll go it alone with just Eddie and the ax.

Still other challenges are vehicle based, requiring you to escort your giant tour van of doom to safety, or race through the wilderness, or round up herds of wildlife to outfit your gunners with badass weaponry.