My review of Brütal Legend hits The Mercury later today, and since I only had 330 words to explore Tim Schafer's latest adventure game/ode to heavy metal I had to cut out a lot of the extraneous information I accrued in my notes about the game.

In theory, at least one of you will find this sort of thing interesting, so I'm compiling it all here, with no editing, no proof-reading, and an absolute minimum of extra effort.

Hit the jump for a convenient list of Brütal Legend trivia that will never, ever help you impress any member of the opposite sex.

Brütal Legend's biggest achievement is its totally badass soundtrack.

With Skate, EA's creative folk proved they could put together an esoteric indie/hiphop/punk/soul soundscape. Need for Speed SHIFT proved they could do club and electronic, and Brütal Legend proves the company can do classic and contemporary metal (and its many subgenres).

Here's the full, official tracklist straight from EA's PR folk:


ARTIST - SONG
3 Inches of Blood - Deadly Sinners
3 Inches of Blood - Destroy The Orcs
Accept - Fast As A Shark
Angel Witch - Angel Witch
Anthrax - Metal Thrashing Mad
Anvil - March of the Crabs
Anvil - Tag Team
Apostasy - Sulphur Injection
Bishop of Hexen - A Serpentine Grave
Bishop of Hexen - The Somber Grounds of Truth
Black Sabbath - Children of the Grave
Black Sabbath - Symptom of the Universe
Black Sabbath - Never Say Die
Brocas Helm - Cry of the Banshee
Brocas Helm - Drink the Blood of the Priest
Budgie - Breadfan
Budgie - Zoom Club
Candlemass - Witches
Carcass - No Love Lost
Cloven Hoof - Nightstalker
Children of Bodom - Angels Don’t Kill
Coroner - Skeleton on your Shoulder
Cradle of Filth - Her Ghost in the Fog
Crimson Glory - Queen of the Masquerade
Dark Fortress - Insomnia
Dark Tranquility - Cathode Ray Sunshine
Deathstars - Blitzkrieg
Def Leppard - Rock of Ages
Dethklok - Mermaider
Diamond Head - Am I Evil?
Dimmu Borgir - Progenies of the Great Apocalypse
Dokken - Mr. Scary
Dragonforce - Through the Fire and Flames
Emperor - Thus Spake The Nightspirit
Enslaved - Frost
Enslaved - Loke
Firehouse - Overnight Sensation
Girlschool - Bomber
Iced Earth - When the Night Falls
Iced Earth - Pure Evil
In Flames - Goliaths Disarm Their Davids
Judas Priest - Battle Hymn
Judas Priest - The Hellion/Electric Eye
Judas Priest - Leather Rebel
Judas Priest - One Shot At Glory
Judas Priest - Painkiller
Kabbage Boy - Girlfriend
KMFDM - Free Your Hate
KMFDM - Rip The System
King Diamond - Cremation
King Diamond - Welcome Home
KISS - God of Thunder
Lita Ford - Betrayal
Marilyn Manson - Beautiful People
Manowar - Die For Metal
Manowar - The Dawn Of Battle
Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Mastodon - Oblivion Instrumental
Megadeth - High Speed Dirt
Megadeth - Tornado of Souls
Metal Church - Metal Church
Michael Schenker Group - Assault Attack
Ministry - Stigmata
Ministry - Thieves
Mirrorthrone - So Frail
Motley Crue - Dr. Feelgood
Motley Crue - Kickstart My Heart
Motley Crue - Live Wire
Motorhead - Back at the Funny Farm
Motorhead - In the Black
Motorhead - Marching Off to War
Motorhead - We Are the Road Crew
Nitro - Machine Gun Eddie
Omen - The Axeman
Ostrogoth - Queen of Desire
Overkill - World of Hurt
Ozzy Osbourne - Believer
Ozzy Osbourne - Mr. Crowley
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
Prong - Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck
Quiet Riot - The Wild and the Young
Racer X - Technical Difficulties
Racer X - Y.R.O.
Ratt - Lay It Down
Riot - Road Racin
Riot - Narita
Riot - Swords and Tequila
Rob Zombie - Superbeast
Rotting Christ - Ad Notics
Running Wild - Riding the Storm
Sanctuary - Battle Angels
Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King
Saxon - Wheels of Steel
Scorpions - Blackout
Scorpions - Holiday
Skeletonwitch - Soul Thrashing Black Sorcery
Skid Row - Youth Gone Wild
Slayer - Metal Storm/Face The Slayer
Slough Feg - Warriors Dawn
Static-X - Love Dump
Tenacious D - Master Exploder
Tenacious D - The Metal
Testament - For The Glory Of
Testament - More Than Meets The Eye
Tvangeste - Birth of the Hero
UFO - Rock Bottom
Whitesnake - Still of the Night
Wrath of Killenstein - Ignisis Dance

If you've already played Brütal Legend you know how well these tracks fit the on-screen action. If not, read that list and imagine those tunes blaring while you navigate the lovechild of Super Mario Bros. and Grand Theft Auto IV as reimagined by Boris Vallejo, Riki Rachtman and a high-out-of-his-gourd Ivan Reitman.

No one has any damn idea how to advertise this game.

If you're the kind of person who might want to buy Brütal Legend, you're also probably the sort of person who watches Adult Swim. Thus, you've probably seen this ad:

Pretty typical stuff, except the key motivation for Brütal Legend's protagonist is his hatred of the sort of generic, weak ass, nu-metal heard throughout that clip.

You almost want to think the spot is a clever meta-commentary on the game's anachronistic values versus those of its target demographic, but Tim Schafer has never had a good grasp on comedic subtlety, and I doubt EA's marketing folk would be so intentionally misleading if there were possible sales involved.

Game Crazy had an awesome/bizarrely specific pre-order bonus for Brütal Legend.

Instead of your standard XXXL T-shirt, gimmicky guitar pick or soundtrack disc, the game came with a Brütal Legend vinyl sleeve.

EA sent me one along with my review copy of Brütal Legend, and after staring at for 5 minutes I finally realized what the hell it was. Yes, it probably won't fit on your game shelf, and it offers less protection than the standard DVD case the game shipped with, but pulling Brütal Legend out of a vinyl sleeve every time you want to play it just feels right.

Oh, and if you've already played Brütal Legend, you should know that the sleeve is a replica of the sleeve seen in the game's menu screen.