Viking: Battle for Asgard
7.3
10
22
22
Its Actually Really Good!
Bloody, visceral goodness! This is the best way to describe Viking: Battle for Asgard. Viking is a third-person, arm cutting, head flying romp through the legends of Norse Mythology. You start off as the should-be-dead hero Skarin who is saved from the halls of Valhalla by the Norse goddess of love. She commissions you to build an army that will compete against Hel’s Legion Army. The games starts a bit slow as you find your self wandering around to find the right person to talk to, but once the gates to the rest of the world are opened the game takes to its true form. You are given tasked to follow which primarily consist of going to small camps of Legion militias and proceeding to dismember the enemy like a holiday turkey. For example, you sneak into a camp where ten of your Viking allies are held captive in a rib bone cage. You can either sneak around to find the best angle to open the cage so you buddies can assist you or you can go in, sword and axe swing and paint your steel with undead blood. I personally prefer the latter. Anyways, once you have beaten a foe into a state of unconscious wavering, you can use the context combat moves to finish them. Yes the battle aspect of Viking is where the game really shines. Combat is very simple and the context sensitive finishing moves are exhilarating. At the end of one battle, I finished off a difficult enemy by first throwing him to the ground, and them Skarin proceeded to repeatedly slice into the skull of my hapless victim until death was sufficient. This was definitely and “oh snap” moment for me. The game proceeds on in this manner with the camps getting large and the enemies better equipped. The graphics in this Viking are not a ground breaking affair, but the style is very fitting. The Vikings are given a larger then life feel that puts then in the same physical prowess as the Incredible Hulk, only not quite as big. This fits though, considering the usual large, male characterization usually given to the Viking kind. Objects have a smooth feel to them and the character detail is also very nice. Even the support cast of hundreds of Viking comrades has a nice finished feel just like the hero. The frame rate holds up fell as the number of on screen combatants increases. It feel’s complete visually. The audio in the game can feel a bit lacking at time though. The music doesn’t kick up during battle to give you the tense, heart racing, butt kicking feel that you’ve come to expect from games like God of War or Heavenly sword. There also isn’t a whole lot going on in the background either. The realm in Viking is pretty quite when there aren’t body parts being thrown about. The voice acting in the game is pretty good. None if it makes the game feel like its competing with a AAA movie, but it is sufficient to make the characters have some life and to make you feel like these characters are worth fight for (As if the rolling of head and torsos wasn’t enough to get the weapons swing). The only problem with the voice acting is that the facial animations are something from the last generations of games. The lips flap up and down like a ventriloquist doll on speed, which can be a little distracting. It would have been better to not have the mouths move at all, which is the way the characters are animated for the non cut scene dialogue. This is more acceptable, but not quite to the standards of game being released now. In the end, Viking: Battle for Asgard is a very fun game. There a few snafus that may bother some, but these are items that should be over looked, because there is fun to have. The action is great. Every time your sword or acts lops off another limb in glorious slow motion, you’ll get the pumped up visceral feeling. It’s also quite enjoyable to drop down from above and slice your sword right through your foe. Your army will grow and the battle become large while your remain at the heart of the action. The sound can be lacking, but not in a manner that really detracts fr
3/30/08
what a nice surprise
I am stunned by how great this game is. I bought it simply because it was $4.49(member price). Thinking I'm about to have a $5 game experience I start it up and wow what a shock. If I can compare it to any game I would say it feels very familiar if your a Darksiders fan. Do yourself a favor and BUY this game as it will top your list of "best $5 games I ever bought". I would not have been disappointed if I had bought it for $60 on release day. I have played total failures for full price new games so I feel like I won a prize with this hidden gem. Graphics are nice, not groundbreaking but not bad either. Sound and music are nice while combat is fun and bloody as you hack off limbs and heads. Easy to follow quests with a nice map & the ability to track a quest location/ direction on the mini map. The only reason it is a 9/10 for me is it has no multi player...this however is not a deal breaker by any means. Easy to learn as well.
1/21/13
EH
Lots of walking/running..... Hack and kill..... Thought is was going to be better. Was pretty easy. At first you wont be able to stop playing but that wears off after you realize that 70% of the game is you running..... up a hill down a hill down a path across the forest..... run run run...... Same thing over and over and over....
7/5/12
Great
This game is truly great. I liked everything about. Except for the fact that it expects you to be a little to good. Its very challenging setting you up in situations where you feel it is impossible to beat. But i do recommend the game. Just don't stop trying. I am not even fully through the game because i am stuck in a situation that puts me against about 100 of the legion and i have to fight alone. The game is basically where you go around and free your army from legion control then you must persuade them ( as if rescuing them wasn't enough! ) to join the fight against the legion. There are multiple bosses and mini bosses scattered all throughout the game. But all in all this is a challenging but fun game. So many ways to kill that are unique from other sword/role playing games. Overall i give it a 8 out of 10
7/27/10
Worth The Time & Price
Sure, the game doesn't have excelent graphics. It's not extremely challenging and the hack a slash can get a bit old at times. All that said the game is entertaining. The freedom of play makes the game much more interesting, You are given direction but are not limited to any one area. This creates a feel of ownership in your progression rather then "walk down here, kill this mob, then turn right, etc. The stealth action makes it feel more versatile and real. The finishing moves are very cool looking and give the hack and slash a bit of a boost. Camera angles and control can make or break a game like this. Fortunately they got it right. The large scale battles are worth getting the game alone. A great idea and something I hope to see in other games. With all that and a price of $9,00, you can't pass this one up.
6/7/10
Great Game with Flaws
Viking Battle For Asgard is a very underrated game but it has flaws that make it less fun. Storyline. No sense your a viking who everybody thinks possessed by Satan Graphics. Ps2 Stardom quality but blood effects are nice touch Challenge. Is awesome it can get very hard at some parts especially in the big battles Best thing about this game is the controls there very easy to remember you'll pick up in about 3 minutes Flaws though pound this game in the ground such as glitches going threw people enemy AI sucks your vikings really can't fight Jumps actually hurt your viking he runs about a 2mph and no speed ups and well many more. But the good's are in this game trust me Awesome blood effects slamming your enemy with an Axe in the head throwing axes stealth kills its a lot of fun So all and all its not terrible but glitches kill this game. Thanks for reading
6/4/10
A must
You can like this game or not. It's an average viking gaining reinforcements in a game to defeat hel. The storyline is very short if you know what to do but it keeps you in the game forever. I played this game nonstop I played it so much that i didnt sleep for a couple of days. The controls arent that great because your used to shooting with R1 and all that in war games but you just use the shapes. The graphics are pretty good for a capcom game.In the game you can gain up to at least a million guys in almost each big battle. Once you start the game you think this will be a total blow game it is but into it you get pulled in and cant stop playing. But if you are into the darksiders, dantes inferno, and god of war this game is totally for you.
2/13/10
It's ok
It isn't the best game in the world. The Challenge is pretty good some parts get hard because you have to use stealth or figure out how to do something but when you fight a small amount of legions it's pretty easy. The graphics are not as good as they should be for a ps3 game but there not bad. It is really long and addictive i still have not beat it yet. The storyline is okay but they could have made it better. The controls are a little hard to get used to because the attack buttons are X and Square and to jump you hit Triangle. But overall they are not too bad. I don't know what Interface is so i just gave it a five. The sound isn't really good it seems too quiet and the back round music is a little annoying also they could have got better voices for the characters. Would i recommend buying this game why not it's cheap now so if your bored this game could be for you because it's really long and addictive.
8/21/09
Great
This game is much better than I expected. Its got a good story and good action. Your main goal is helping other viking groups and fighting off the evil legion. It doesn't get repetitive because the tasks put forth in the game are all a little different. And the bad guys aren't all the same either. I disagree with some of the critics who say the graphics aren't good. I think they're great. But then again, I think graphics are one of the least important aspects of a video game. Artistic vision, gameplay, personality, etc... all rank higher to me. And I also hate shooting games, so I'd rather play a more story driven game like this one where it's not so important if I have good aim. So that just lets you know where I'm coming from a little bit. Anyway, one of the great things about this game is that it has a very easy to use map. You always know what you're next goal should be because the story is laid out for you on the map in a very distinct way.
7/21/09
an okay waste of a few hours
Simply put, Viking is a terrible game. The graphics were good, when warcraft 3 first came out. In fact all of the graphics look like they're straight out of warcraft 3 and for a PS3 game, they're atrocious, however. I haven't seen shadows rendered that badly since the original Mechwarior for PC. The fact that there is a normal and hard mode is disturbing. Hard is so easy that I can't even imagine what normal must be like. Also, the game is fairly mindless and tedious, yet surprisingly addictive for all of it's downfalls. Don't worry, you won't be addicted long, the entire game can be completed in two to three nights of playing without too much difficulty. The storyline doesn't really follow Norse mythology or make much sense, in fact, in some places it flat out contradicts many things found in the prose and poetic eddas on which most Norse mythology is based. I suppose that if the game had anything special that stood out and made it impressive it might have some redeeming qualities, but it really doesn't. Unless you're bored and can pick this up for like *edit* there's really no point in buying or even renting it. Well, maybe renting it of you're really, really, really... really bored.
10/5/08