Viking: Battle For Asgard

By Lucy O'Brien

Creative Assembly, the team behind Rome: Total War, have departed from real-time strategy to give us Viking: Battle For Asgard, an epic action game due to make its debut on the PS3 and Xbox 360. This is only Creative Assembly’s second console outing - their first being the relatively successful Spartan: Total Warrior – but it looks like they’ve embraced good old console hack n slash with open arms.

Norse Mythology is our topic for today, and the Goddess Hel is pissed. It seems Odin has banished her for misbehavior and naturally this has infuriated her into raising an army of the undead. You play as Odin’s go-to boy Skarin, a young warrior with the responsibility of ensuring mankind’s survival on his shoulders. Those who enjoyed the broodiness of Kratos in God of War will probably fall in love with Skarin, who has the sexy mix of angst and reluctant power befitting of any decent video game protagonist.

This is, however, no man-alone outing, as Viking concentrates its efforts into massive battles with hundreds of characters fighting alongside you. These battles roll around at the end of every mission you complete, and really your missions are one giant lead up as you recruit your army and source bad-ass weaponry to ensure your victory. When the battle begins, its beauty lies in the freedom of choice you have while fighting. You fight as Skarin alone, but there is an emphasis on leading the pack as you pick your own targets and power up your allies with special abilities. You also have legions of beasties at your disposal, and I ask you - what could be more satisfying then seeing hordes of baddies decapitated by a giant dragon you choose to summon in the heat of the moment? It is here Creative Assembly shows its strategic PC roots but instead of merely observing a carefully plotted assault you are fighting in real-time, trying to keep the battle plan in your head as legions of the undead try to cut out your liver.

And mark my words, livers will fly – alongside brains and kidneys and possibly some guy’s pancreas. The gore has been turned up in this game to an almost comical degree, and much of your enjoyment lies in just how creatively you can slice and dice. Gore-hounds will revel in the amount of blood spilled on-screen, but it never gets offensive as the emphasis lies on exaggeration. I’m sure in the final game there’ll be some grape-feeding topless women thrown in for good measure, too.

Just how free roaming the missions are has yet to be seen, but hopefully we’ll get a nice sprawling playground because Viking: Battle for Asgard is shaping up to be a hell of an ambitious game. The sheer scale of the battles will certainly push the boundaries of the action genre and this is most definitely a good thing. Those looking for a subtle character driven game should look elsewhere, because if Creative Assembly nails this they’ll give us the most ballsy testosterone fuelled blockbuster we’ve seen in a long time.

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