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View Full Version : Vikings: Battle for Asgard


smokeh
04-01-2008, 07:31 AM
So this one kind of flew under my radar, but I was looking at new releases last friday and noticed this game.

The comparison i've read (and happen to agree with) is God of War meets Dynasty Warriors. Basically, you play a Kratos-like viking who has been infused with the power of the viking deity Freya to fight another viking deity Hel, who has decided to invade Midgard with the undead.

What makes this game fun is that it combines just enough RPG elements, with just enough action elements, with just enough puzzle elements. I will admit, it gets dangerously close to trying to be too much, and being light on all 3 elements, but in the end as you move through the levels you notice that things are getting more complicated.

Basically, you free travel through a map, locating captured viking brethren. After you slaughter the hell out of whatever is guarding your buddies, you free them and they join your army, or make you go kill something before you join. After freeing enough buddies, you can assault a major stronghold with your army.

There is a currency system (gold), you spend it on consumable items, weapon-rune (magic) upgrades, and combat moves. Oh, and if you gather some dragon runes, you can summon dragons to fight on your side. Which is pretty awesome.

My initial impression was that it was pretty simplistic, as the first zone you are in is very straightforward. After getting to the second zone, they have a lot more puzzles, and all of the quests/camps aren't instantly easy.

The combat is fairly easy, and you don't have to learn any special moves if you don't want, but a lot of them make your life much easier. And it's bloody as hell, lots of eviscerations, limb chopping, decapitation, and cleaving demons in twain.

So far, it's pretty recommendable!

fushkkk
04-08-2008, 07:25 PM
man, i came online just to read this review from you. I just watched the video, and ****, it looked awesome. I knew you said you were playing it, so....bam. You didn't disappoint.

Nice job, Mr. Smokeh the review bot.

Is it a buy, or a rent?

smokeh
04-09-2008, 07:39 AM
yeah, i actually finished it up. The huge epic battles for strongholds end up being really tense and dramatic, even though you can just respawn when you die. They did a good job with the music/cutscenes etc.

There is some cheesey stuff, like there are probably only about 10 different enemy units throughout the game, and you never really get the impression as you complete different lands that you are getting anymore powerful. Yeah, you can buy more health, and you randomly upgrade your sword a couple times through the plot, but there is no XP system that forces you to choose what you want to upgrade. It's kind of linear like that.

And in the end, there isn't really all that much exploration. There were a few "how do I get in here" moments, followed by 15 minutes of angry searching, and 14 seconds of google searching followed by a "ahhhh, duh".

Other than that, i actually enjoyed it, but I would definetly call this bad boy a renter. It took me about a week and a half to beat it, and I definetly wasn't playing every day. It wasn't super-short, but definetly not long either.