Conclusion, final thoughts and awards
Now don’t go thinking that Viking: Battle for Asgard is a bad game after that page of ranting because I found it to be a hugely enjoyable if slightly mindless hack and slasher. It’s a pity that more thought wasn’t put into the combat though, as you can work your way through the entire game relying on the basic ‘A’ button attack with the ‘X’ button kill move and the occasional use of the ‘block and counter’ move for the boss champions.Some variety in weapons would’ve been nice too rather than the so-called upgrading of your weapons with runes which other than the ice rune freezing opponents, don’t seem to do any more damage but do give you some nice graphical effects of flames and lightning. What I’m saying is that you will start to tire of just pounding that ‘A’ button and yes, you can introduce some variety with a the combos but why bother when the basic attack does the job?
Click for larger imageThe boss fights break this up a bit as you have to use slightly different tactics and wear them down before moving in for the kill. Here you have to hit the specific button (displayed on the screen) at the right moment to complete the kill but once you’ve figured out what to do to get to that point, you’ve kind of beaten all the bosses that follow… it’s too formulaic and sorely needing variety.
To break up the action a bit the stealth levels are really very good indeed, but by the final island you do get the impression you’re just repeating yourself only with a larger, more complex camp or city to infiltrate. And let’s not forget the whole thing can be blown in an instant if Skarin decides to hop over a fence instead of just creep alongside. But having spent an hour creeping through the city, completing my objective and getting out alive, it has to be said that it’s hugely satisfying to have completed the mission.
Click for larger imageThe massive battles are just that, massive battles. And having never been in a Nordic land battle against a hell spawned horde, I’ve no idea what fighting hand to hand would be like. But I’ve a pretty good idea it’s as confused and as crowded as portrayed here in Viking: Battle for Asgard. That said, if Skarin were ever in a real battle, the enemy should just stand back and let him get on with it as there’s often not room to swing a dormouse, let alone a bloody great broadsword and war axe…
The battles suffer from infinite respawns though, which means that you’ll find yourself not so much fighting your way to your goal as just legging ti through the crowd, attacking the goal until you’re killed and then doing it again on each respawn until you win. And the fabled dragons, controlled by the amulet which you spend most of the game hunting for the gems for, only play a minor role in the battles, dropping in on your command to obliterate a chosen target.
Click for larger imageAll in all, Viking: Battle for Asgard comes across as needing a little bit more of everything. It needs more weapons. It needs more kill-move animations. It needs to force you to use more of the moves you learn. It needs more variety in the boss fights. It needs to make more use of the dragons. And it sure as hell needs less of the auto-fence hopping into a crowd of bad guys.
Overall Viking: Battle for Asgard is an enjoyable romp that’ll keep you entertained while it lasts but as you near the end it could well be just your own bloody-mindedness that keeps you playing rather than any driving force from within the game itself. It’s a good enough hack and slasher, it just never really pushes you to do anything less than the basic stuff and gets repetitive too quickly.
Pros
Easy control system
Nice stealth sequences
Lovely graphics
Lord of the Rings-ish soundtrack
Massive army vs army battles
Cons
Fairly mindless hack and slasher
Gets repetitive about midway through
Auto-jumping annoyingly intermittent
Too much ‘B’ button bashing
Viking: Battle for Asgard comes soooo close to being great but ends up just being good instead
HEXUS Awards
Viking: Battle for Asgard – Xbox 360
