Norse mythology is one of those rare untapped scenarios in videogaming, and after spending some time with Skarin – the lead character in Creative Assembly’s first console opus – you’ll wonder as to exactly why it hasn’t been properly plundered before. Viking’s world is one of stark contrast between the sun and the rain, between environmental beauty and pure brutality, and unfortunately also between the fluid combat and monotony in design. It doesn’t get everything right, nor does it do anything particularly wrong; but the journey from Valhalla to the final battle for Asgard is definitely worth savouring in the end – regardless of the minor stumbles that beset the path.
The forces of ‘Hel’
As Skarin, you’ll be plunged headlong into the role of a typical Viking champion. Plucked from the journey to Valhalla by the goddess Freya after being slain on the battlefield, Skarin is tasked with aiding the deity of beauty in her bid to cleanse the mortal land of Midgard from the undead forces of Hel. The gods are at war, and it’ll be your duty to take up arms and inspire the somewhat overwhelmed Viking legions to victory against Hel’s newly anointed minion ‘Drakan’, and his seemingly never-ending army of ogrish warriors. In truth though, whilst the storyline itself is credible and interesting, it’s never really fully exploited, and the focus remains on the combat throughout.
And indeed, that’s no bad thing. Brutality is very much dialled up here, with the designers concentrating on weight and contact rather than the fast and light approach of so many of its peers. With only two primary attack buttons, the initial few hours of play are a little short on variety; but in true RPG style, once some of the more advanced moves are mastered the battlefield opens up to a flurry of severed limbs and decapitated heads. Gruesome finishing moves can be triggered with a tap of the X button, sending arms and entrails flying around the screen, with the only criticism being a slight lack of variety. Indeed you’ll have seen most of the executions within a half hour of play, but it’s a testament to the design that the novelty value never really wears off.
It isn’t all about the melee however, with throwable battle axes and ‘flame-pots’ also available for long-range death-dealing and area of effect combat. Skarin can also access a number of different magic-imbued abilities via the use of Rune stones, which can also be powered up throughout the campaign. The bonus here is that the legions under your command also benefit whenever these are activated, and igniting the swords of a hundred fellow warriors as you charge into battle against a midnight-black sky is one of those rare moments in a videogame to send a chill down your spine.
Total War?
As this is a title developed by the masters of real time strategy rather than the console action game, you’d have to expect some eccentricities in the overall design, and in that respect Viking also doesn’t disappoint. Rather than funnel the player down a particular path, each of the three islands opens up from the very beginning, with missions progressing in the direction and order that you choose to take them. No single player will attack these in the same way, and it’s a refreshing change to be presented with an ostensibly action-oriented title that offers up such a large degree of freedom.
That isn’t to say it’s perfect in execution however, and although the missions themselves can be attacked in any order, you’ll soon come to realise that most of them contain the same core elements, with little differentiation throughout each section of the land.
Broadly speaking, every mission that you undertake will revolve around freeing some captured soldiers to add to your ever-increasing army, and falls into one of three approaches – straight-forward combat, an ambush, or stealth-based infiltration. The variety of locales is also lacking slightly, with many of the same buildings and layouts recycled throughout each island; and although it’s the same approach taken by the likes of GTA – given that Viking focusses on combat alone – it could have really benefited from a wider degree of content.
Into the fray…
Each island also contains one or two large-scale battles which act as a denouement for the previous questing and preparation work. These usually take the form of a siege on a fortified location of some sort, with several tiers of combat to work through and hundreds of soldiers on-screen at once (up to 800, or so we’re told). Some very basic strategic elements are also introduced into the mix at this stage, with decisions to be made about which targets to attack first, and which to save for the all-powerful dragon strike that can be called in providing you have enough runic tokens to utilise.
It’s clear that this is where Creative Assembly’s past talents are coming into play, and the spectacle of your army rushing into battle can be breathtaking in scope, even when suffering from some fairly heavy slowdown in the initial stages of each confrontation. The large-scale combat itself is a little lacking however, and although your soldiers can take care of themselves perfectly well, you’ll never truly believe that these are autonomous individuals.
Providing you can disengage your brain from the rather obvious lack of AI in the assaults however, these are the moments that serve Viking best; and the sight of a wall of flaming arrows being launched high into the air from behind a castle fortification is something that you’ll want to replay over and over again.
I think we just had a ‘moment’…
That isn’t the only time that Viking will stop you in it’s tracks either. The underlying engine continues the theme of a game somewhat at war with itself, with some thoroughly average visual design and technical performance quickly followed up by moments of sheer beauty. A chugging section of slowdown amidst a vast battle can be quickly followed up by standing atop a fantastically rendered misty mountain, peering at one of the most stunning waterfall and sea vistas ever to grace a videogame environment. Fortunately it’s these moments that outweigh the negative, but there is no doubt that the 360 is struggling to produce everything that’s needed at this stage.
Unfortunately the biggest problem for Viking comes with the underwhelming audio performance, which is both technically and creatively problematic throughout. Certain audio cues simply fail to materialise during play, and the mixing of environmental audio is far too quiet, lending the game an almost eerily empty soundscape at times. It’s a shame, because some of the rain and storm effects are pretty decent, but without any way to turn them up above the level of combat effects and music, it all gets lost in the background. Plus points have to be awarded for using Brian Blessed as a narrator though, and his suitably OTT rendition of the main storyline is entertaining for mostly the right – but also some of the wrong – reasons.
Viking is a game of some fairly large contrasts then, but the Creative Assembly touch of quality is fortunately in evidence, and serves to raise the overall experience above any of the individual issues. There is much to be learned for the inevitable sequel, but as it stands, Viking is a worthy addition to the pantheon of console action games; and a definite step above the average. Who knows, with a few tweaks and a bit more variety, we could be looking at the birth of an excellent series.
Professional enthusiast, videogame "journalist" and all-round spectacular sofa dweller. "
