REVIEW: Viking Battle for Asgard
Developer: Creative Assembly | Publisher: SEGA | Format: PS3
Reviewer: Craig Jay Gallagher
Vikings are cool. No one can argue otherwise, be they raping, maiming and plundering or drinking themselves silly Vikings have always held a soft spot in the hearts of us all. These were men who set out into the unknown conquering new lands and fighting valiantly to the last man.
Throw in the stories of Asgard and their Gods and it’s hard to believe that there are so few games based on the Viking mythology. Viking: Battle for Asgard goes so way redeeming this.
The story, not that it really matters much follows the adventure of Skarin, a Viking whom the Goddes of Light have called upon to repel the forces of the evil Hel whose army of the undead is killing people in a bid to create a new Valhalla. The story is told through rather artistic cut scenes reminiscent of the graphic novel 300, though tbh it can be quite difficult to follow at times. And lets be honest no one is approaching a game about vikings for a meaty storyline. All anyone really wants is some hacking and slashing with gallons of the red stuff.
Which is exactly what you get. The third person action adventure relies upon one driving force and that is the truly epic battles. You have to do some obligatory questing, exploring and rescuing but once this is done and you’ve freed your men you get to storm a compound and engage in much blood shed. The combat is fantastic.
Wielding a sword and axe you get to wade through enemy soldiers cutting and decapitating as you go. Attacks are limited with upgrades available as you progress and the ability to power up attacks using Rage mode is a nifty trick. There’s also the ability to unleash elemental magic, such as thunder, fire and fire by collecting the souls of your slain enemies which handily enough appear as red crystals.
The noncombat aspects of the game are mediocre are best. The world is broken up into three levels which initially seem to offer up a lot of scope for exploration. Sadly this initial interest soon turns to boredom as you realise that there’s nothing to do an little to see. The only real alternative to aimless wandering is the are the quests to find barrels of Meade and other such novelties.
Acquisition of gold is generally done through trekking off the beaten path and offers a short reprieve from the tedium of combat less action on offer. All that said, while it does detract significantly from the game the sheer exuberance of violence and astounding battles goes a long way toward compensating for this.
Visually the game is competent with some truly breathtaking moments and many not so impressive. The camera is a major hindrance with constant manipulation of it essential to getting anywhere. Poor camera control is the downfall of many games and in Vikings it can be truly torturous. Trying to see what lies ahead of you while fighting off hordes of the undead are not ideally suited to one another.
Lets be clear, Vikings: Battle for Asgard is not a game for those seeking deep and rich narrative or Morrowwind-esque exploration. What it offers is unparallelled button bashing and enough blood to satisfy any gore hound. It’s not big, it’s not clever but it is great fun. And when it comes down to it that’s all that really matters. Worth a look and a weekend rental while remaining an essential purchase for anyone who loved 300.
Celebrate Bungie Day
Today is seems is Bungie Day, which for all intents and purposes
seems to be a holiday made up by Bungie, those nice people who gave us
Halo and it’s impressive sequels. To celebrate this rather important of
days we have been given a brand new multiplayer map.
The map is a remake of classic Halo 1 favourite Chill Out which is
ideally suited to one on one matches. The map can be downloaded from
Xbox live for free. Also of note is that the Halo 3 Legendary map pack
is now only 600 MS points which is around 7 euro.
EA apologise for Northern Ireland mix up
- Error was brought to EA’s attention in late April
Publishing giant Electronic Arts have apologised for using the wrong national anthem for Northern Ireland in the Euro 2008 computer game. The mistake was brought to the games publisher’s attention over two months ago in April. A Northern Ireland fan wrote on publisher’s online message boards of his “shock” and how he was “disgusted” by the game.
The fan pointed out that ‘Danny Boy’ is used in the game for the national anthem of Northern Ireland, rather than official anthem ‘God Save The Queen’. But his main point of controversy is due to ‘Amhran na bhFiann’ or ‘The Soldier’s Song’ – the national anthem of the Republic of Ireland – being played as victory music.
“I just bought Uefa Euro 2008. I’m from Northern Ireland and was shocked at some of the discoveries in your game. First of all Northern Ireland’s national anthem is not ‘Danny Boy’. Now for the worst part. when I was playing with NI and finished match at the end of match screen it started playing ‘the soldiers song’ which is the Republic of Ireland’s national anthem” said a user on EA’s message boards who described himself as a “very disappointed gamer” and signed off as Ian Kerr.
He continued: “Just to let you know Northern Ireland is still British and not all Ireland. The national anthem is ‘God Save the Queen’. where do u [sic] get your information on football from because whoever it is has never been to a Northern Ireland match, God Save the Queen is always played as our national anthem. As for the soldier song being played at end of match menu I was left disgusted. So, northern Ireland has no identity now I suppose”.
With many in the North having different cultural views, anger at the mix-up is unlikely to be even across political lines. An EA UK staff member followed the fan’s post with “There’s some excellent feedback here, keep it coming”, followed by a smiley face.
However, since then, EA’s Shaun White was quoted by media outlets as saying: “At EA Sports, we pride ourselves on delivering rich and authentic videogame experiences. We sincerely apologise for this error”.