Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
another controversial game, 4 April 2008
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
Lots of differing voices of opinion here! It's like Assassins Creed all over again! Now I wasn't keen on Assassins Creed... I bought it and I play it, but I couldn't get past the concept of a Assassin as openly clumsy and careless as the one portrayed by the game. No such trouble here though! You're a Viking! Vikings hack people to pieces and do little else!
Levels are map based and revolve around ticking all the boxes to unlock the main battle. These boxes are generally Build an army (by rescuing captured Vikings) and Summon a dragon (by obtaining a magical stone and charging it) Rescuing Vikings is a straight forward affair. Go to the markers on the map and slice and dice til everythings dead. It's not always that straight forward though... lots of enemy camps are heavily populated and require a stealthy 'pick them off' approach to release the captives who will then run around decapitating anyone left with you to take control of the camp.
Dragon summoning is similar. First you have to obtain the magical stone, again by hacking/slicing a pre marked area on the map... once you have the stone you need to charge it.... and the charging of the stone is probably the most challenging aspect of the game. Charging requires you to infiltrate the enemy camp - the big one - where the final battle will take place! Now, if you make too much noise then there is no way to fight off the ensuing mass of demon spawn that come after you. So a stealthy apporch is the only way to go. This is also the most frustrating part of the game while you try and figure out the correct approach path to lead you to the magical charging circle. But once done you really do feel the sense of achievement because they really are challenging moments.
Combat is pretty simple. Although not the hack and slash affair that a lot of people seem to think! You can buy training to learn new combos at set point on the map which unlock more powerful attacks. These new attacks are crucial! Even at a lower levels of the game its pretty hard to beat the shield carrying baddies without learning your shield busting combo attack! So, if you don't want to die too frequently then using the correct attack against the correct enemy is crucial.
Combat is also fancied up by the use of empowering your weapons with elemental powers - fire, ice and lightneing - which basically makes them more powerful and the going a little easier. However this isn't something you can use willy nilly as orbs left behind by dead enemies are required to be collected to charge the attacks.
There are also a few side quest require to get some groups of vikings to aid you in battle but these are also in the 'go to marked location and hack enemys for token item' approach - but it does seem to add some sense of variety to the proceedings.
Once unlocked the final battles are also a challenge. There is a little strategy in when and where to unleash your dragon attacks, other than that its a case of stopping the summoners from creating more demons that will take out your poor overworked vikings. It's all very intense and bloody!
So to conclude... I've found it great fun to play! It's repetative... but so was Assassins Creed... its good looking ... its bloody ...and it's challenging... I've found no problems with anything (people complaining about the darkness/daylight thing is a bit unfounded I feel) ... it is what it is! It's not pretending to be a deep and complex game... although its actually slightly more complex than I was expecting! If I was marking out of ten - I'd give it an 8 ... it's obviously not to everyones taste, but for everyone who hates it another will love it.... it's very well worth a try :)
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This game has everything, 28 Mar 2008
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally I have got my hands on Viking - and I'm not disapointed. Brutal combat, traversable scenery, exploration, stealth, HUGE battles, this has everything.
The combat is so blunt and brutal, you can really feel the sword hitting the bad guys.
And I love the free-roaming approach. Excellent.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Too limited., 30 April 2008
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
THE STORY:
You play as Skarrin, a Viking warrior blessed by the goddess Feyja as her champion. Freyja's nemesis Hel has unleashed the monstrous Legion on Midgard (the human realm) in the hopes of overthrowing Asgard (the realm of the gods). So, the goddess asks one thing of you... kill the lot of them! But to do that you'll have to free the other Vikings to fight at your side.
WHAT'S GOOD:
This game looks great, with nice (albeit not terriby diverse) scenery and good character sprites. In fact, it's biggest selling point is how impressive the gory and graphic killing moves look (I'm a particular fan of hamstringing giants and then sawing their throats out!). I also very much enjoyed the bits where you have to stealthily sneak around a Legion camp, picking off the unsuspecting guards one by one. So, if you're looking for a bit of sword and axe based violence, then you'll probably like this game.
WHAT'S BAD:
Sadly, this game fails to make the most of it's more promising aspects. The supposed RPG element is little more than a series of go-and-fetch missions. The strategy element is almost nonexistant, except that you can make a (usually) 50/50 choice of which shaman to call in your dragons against. The ability to buy new combos seemed great at first, but you'll soon find that in the heat of battle, trying to use those combos will just give some irritating grunt the opportunity to bosh you from behind. Which brings me to the game's most irritating element; the fact that in the thick of battle Skarrin will gleefully slash at empty air whilst surrounded by enemies, because his target-aquisition is god awful. Speaking of gods, the biggest disappointment for me was the fact that the promised Norse mythology never really shows up. There's Hel and Freyja, but that's about it unless you count the dragons, which are all but superfluous anyway.
OVERALL:
This game fails to live up to both expectations and it's own aspirations. The gameplay basically adds up to 'go there, hack, slash and repeat'. As for the story, it completely fails to make the most of Norse mythology, which is one of the world's most interesting, and ultimately the game could've been called 'Generic Sword-Bearing Warrior: The Battle For Psuedo-Fantastical Realm'.
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Suitable for 18 years and over. Not for sale to persons under age 18. By placing an order for this product, you declare that you are 18 years of age or over.
