For me it always seems that Vikings
have been overlooked when it comes to gaming. I know there have been plenty of
games featuring Vikings but the number of titles focused primarily on Vikings
exclusively just seems small. Well now we get an action game that centers upon
Norse mythology and all the bloody, brutal legends to go along with it. Viking
focuses on the story of Skarin and his battle against Hel, leader of the
underworld, and her army of undead Vikings called the Legion.
The first area we need to discuss in
Viking is the gameplay. The majority of the gameplay is a hack-and-slash game
with tons of gore and violence. You find an enemy camp and you start hacking
away at the enemies. You find another enemy camp or hideout and you keep on
hacking away. All of the combat is a breeze to unleash with most of the combat
based on pressing the A or X button. The A button is labeled the fast rage moves
while the X button is the slow rage moves. The longer you hold down either
button the more potent of an attack or combo you will unleash. When you’ve
stunned an enemy an X icon will appear which allows you to perform a deadly
finishing move, usually where you chop the enemy into several pieces.
The game does offer a few training
areas you will find in the game to learn additional combos. Honestly, I never
felt that these additional combos really did much during the regular combat in
the game. Timing your moves just right or hacking away seemed to be just as
successful either way. Certain enemy encounters, usually mid-level boss
characters, allow you to perform a bloody-and-brutal finishing combo by
following on-screen button presses at precise times. If you mess up the combo
you will have to repeat the button sequences again in order to defeat these
characters to progress in the game. If you’ve played God of War then you should
already know what to expect with these huge combos.
For me the biggest difference maker
in the combat was the rune magic: Fire, Lightning and Ice. During combat red
orbs will appear from fallen enemies. These red orbs charge your Power Bar,
which determines how long you can use the rune magic. Pressing the right trigger
brings up a menu to select which run magic you want to use. Once you’ve selected
a particular magic you will have a significantly higher attack until your Power
Bar runs out. I found the ice magic to work the best since it froze the enemies,
which came in very useful when fighting several monsters at a time. Another way
to use your Power Bar was by pressing the A and X button together to perform
Focused Power move. These attacks are extremely powerful and will hit all nearby
enemies but will deplete your Power Bar.
Part of the game has a light
strategy element to it since you have to rescues captured Vikings on the map in
order to build up your army. Each map or area you’re battling in usually has a
boss location that you have to take out as the end goal. But there are several
tasks you must complete before you can attack the enemy’s headquarters. One of
them is always rescuing enough Vikings to amass a large enough army ready for
battle. You will discover enemy hideouts, camps, bases, cave, et cetera where
the other Vikings are being held captive. Once you’ve destroyed all of the
enemies within the camp you can then free the Vikings, which itself is another
button-mashing segment of the game. Repeatedly pressing the B button allows you
to use various items in the game, such as freeing captured Vikings from their
prisons and opening treasure chests.
The rest of the gameplay is a rather
run-of-the-mill example of adventure gaming. You have to search for different
items in the game, usually scattered across various locations on the map. Once
you’ve located an item you then have to bring it back to a certain person in the
game to unlock the next event. After you’ve cleared all of the mini quests and
conquered all of the enemy hideouts you are then ready to attack the enemy
headquarters for the stage. The only true bright spot in the rather standard
adventure gaming elements was the ability to move around the map. Each stage has
numerous portals, called Leystones, scattered about which allow you to teleport
from one to another. Once you die you always start at the beginning of the map
inside a Leystone circle. Press the B button several times and then select the
Leystone you need to travel to on your map.
Viking is one of those games that
does just enough right to make it a fun game but lacks the substance to keep you
playing over and over again. Once you’ve cleared the first map the rest of the
game feels very repetitive which can be an issue with many hack ‘n slash-type
games. The combat in the game always felt nice and responsive since the majority
of the combat is handled by pressing two buttons. There was always the sick
sense of satisfaction from chopping enemies into several pieces. The special
super combos were always spectacular looking and were usually easy enough to
pull off after one or two attempts.
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Gameplay: 8.0
The combat is a piece of cake since you don’t have to worry about a pressing
some elaborate button combination to pull off your moves. The controls were
always tight and easy to perform during most of the game. After a while you will
probably get bored performing the same moves over and over again, even after
you’ve learned new moves.
Graphics: 7.4
At first I really thought Viking was going to be visual treat but after a couple
of hours I started to notice some issues. The majority of the game looks
fantastic with a huge open world full of lush details such as grassy meadows,
beaches and huge buildings such as castles, ruins, etc. Yet once you get up
close all of the characters look too dark, especially your character. Skarin
seemed to always have a bad case of shadows; no matter the camera angle he
seemed to be drowning in shadows. There were some pop-up issues, especially in
the grass, which would occasionally cause the frame rate to slightly sputter.
The graphics at the beginning of the game and during the cut scenes between maps
had a comic-book style look to them that was impressive.
Sound: 7.5
All of the voice acting in the game was top notch. All of the voice actors
sounded excellent when speaking their lines with emotion. The music in the game
was almost non-existent except for certain portions of the game such as the last
battle at the enemy headquarters.
Concept: 7.6
It really is hard for a hack-and-slash game to really excel and break out of its
confined box. There are parts of Viking where the game tries to break out, such
as the adventure elements and special combo moves, but in the end it still falls
back within its description. Hack and slash is the name and that is the core
parts of Viking’s game.
Difficulty: Medium
Nothing too challenging but do expect to restart several times.
Overall: 7.6
Viking is a good game that will provide its mandatory entertainment factor to
almost anyone that plays it. The problem comes up in how long will the
entertainment value will last? For some it could be several hours while others
it could be several days. If you understand the repetitive nature of the game
then you shouldn’t be disappointed with Viking. Setting our expectations at just
the right level can definitely help in appreciating certain games.
