Rock god Ozzy Osbourne has left us at the age of 76, leaving an indelible legacy. Over his lengthy career, he touched just about every aspect of pop culture, including video games.
His music, of course, appears in games ranging from the Madden NFL series to Iron Man 2. Because of all the WWE programming that's used his music, he appeared as a playable character in Scopely's WWE Champions. His moveset referred to his hit songs with titles such as Crazy Train, Diary of a Madman, Shot in the Dark, and Hellraiser.
The Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises had us all pretending to be rock stars in the early 2000s, and Osbourne was a playable character in Guitar Hero World Tour, which featured his songs Mr. Crowley and Crazy Train.
But his piece de resistance in gaming was as the Guardian of Metal in the extremely underrated Brutal Legend. This title was a love letter to all things metal, starring Jack Black as a roadie battling his way through a wild fantasy world of fast cars, rock gods, and epic battles.
This game didn't get the love it deserved back in 2009, but it is absolutely worth your attention. It combines elements of open world, racing, RTS, and has a wonderful sense of humor as it celebrates heavy metal music and the culture surrounding it. The banter between Black and Osbourne is worth the price of admission alone. It's a crying shame we never got a sequel to this one.