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Viking: Battle For Asgard is the second console
title from the highly-acclaimed development studio, The Creative
Assembly. Having begun rather humbly in 1987 handling conversion
work
 for Psygnosis and EA, before cutting-their-teeth on the
innovative Shogun: Total War, The Creative Assembly have
since signed a publishing deal with Japanese gaming legends SEGA. As
the Total War series moved from strength-to-strength on PC,
the studio turned it’s attentions to developing a console-orientated
spin-off, and
Spartan: Total Warrior was born.
As with Spartan: Total Warrior – the title’s spiritual
predecessor – Viking: Battle For Asgard is much less based in
the realm of reality than its PC brethren – the Total War
series. In fact, with its goddesses and demons storyline, Viking:
Battle For Asgard shows clearly its inspiration drawn from the
God Of War series – even more so with it being released
around the same time as the PSP’s
God Of War: Chains Of Olympus.
Battling as Skarin under the command of the goddess Freya, you must
vanquish Hel and her Legion army from the realm of Midgard. The
storyline isn’t all-too engrossing, but surely was always intended
to take a back seat to the gameplay.
As the spiritual successor to Spartan: Total Warrior, the
progression that has been made is evident in almost every aspect of
the title. Chaotic battles remain the order of the day; but with far
more structure to their inclusion. No longer are they the bulk of
the game, but now an event which the player can trigger at set
times.
Viking: Battle For Asgard most closely resembles the
recent Conan and God Of War series, and unfortunately
UBi Soft’s recent disaster BeoWulf, whilst moving the
proceedings to a much more freeform Sandbox environment. Each Level
takes place on a large Map akin to the size of the World Map in
The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past, and within this Map are
the player’s objectives – each a Sub-Level of their own. The player
is given many Objectives to tackle in whichever order they wish,
before tackling the final battle on a Level once having recruited
enough warriors from the Sub-Levels, and those hidden around each
Map. Consisting of only three Maps, many may think the title
somewhat light-weight, however, with each Map containing around
five-to-eight hours gameplay, the length of the title is to little
concern once the Maps expanse is unveiled.
Completing Objectives allows previously unavailable
areas of the Maps to be explored, and navigating across their vast
expanse is made easier by the use of your Brisingamen. This artefact
allows for a Radar System, displayed in the top right of the screen,
on which you can set destinations, and the use of Leystones.
Leystones basically allow you to instantly travel between any you
have discovered, greatly reducing the length of the trek-back after
death during an Objective. There are areas in which the detail on
the Maps
 appears to be included for the sake of it, with no real
bearing on gameplay and often resulting in lots of time running
across fields around mountains to find a clear path to your
destination. Much like the sailing element in the GameCube’s The
Legend Of Zelda: Wind Waker, this aspect will most likely divide
opinion; some will see it as part of the adventure, whereas others
will see it as a mild irritation.
The gameplay as a whole is really quite inspired. Gory
and tasteless for being so’s sake, yet both inventive and inspiring.
It’s good to see the Xbox360’s genre line-up finally expanding, and
Viking: Battle For Asgard marks a turning-point in the
Current-Generation’s history; the point at which this generation’s
exploration of advancing the Third-Person Adventure genre truly
begun.
Assassin’s Creed may have demonstrated the power of
the Current-Generation and Grand Theft Auto IV will no doubt
showcase the depth which developers can create, but Viking:
Battle For Asgard has upped-the-bar for the average Third-Person
Adventure title single-handedly, and with a considerably smaller
budget than the aforementioned titles. It seems that SEGA have made
another wise decision in associating themselves with The Creative
Assembly for their out-of-house publishing portfolio, and with
Viking: Battle For Asgard,
Football Manager 2008,
Condemned 2: Bloodshot,
House Of The Dead: 2 & 3 Return
and
SEGA Superstar Tennis all hitting the shelves within
close proximity, SEGA certainly have their bases covered over the
busy Easter period.
Viking: Battle For Asgard has a striking appearance. The
player’s avatar is pleasing chunky and brutish, and in-game has an
almost cartoon-like appearance; quite a contrast to the dim greys
and blacks or your opponents. The Maps are well detailed and the
only let down are occasional Draw-Distance issues, but a signature
 styling comes in the form of the weather conditions. Areas of the
Map controlled by the Vikings is easily identifiable to the
controlled by the Legion; bright sunshine and lush green fields or
snow-covered mountain tops line your path in Viking territory,
whilst thundering rain and dark night sky is your only companion
while on Legion controlled ground.
The sound quality is fantastic, up-tempo orchestral scores when in
the heat of battle, and calm, melancholic tunes when in the
wilderness. Plus, with British accents in abundance and narration by
non other than Brain Blessed, it truly feels like home.
Viking: Battle For Asgard is not an easy game. But then, it
was never meant to be. The Creative Assembly have created a title
with a clear-cut target audience: eighteen-to-thirty-five year-old
gamers, and this audience will love every last minute of the title.
With at least fifteen-hours of gameplay on the disc and the
possibility of new Maps being offered as Downloadable Content, an
arresting visual style and brutish combat, Viking: Battle For
Asgard should be considered one of the best First-Person Shooter
alternatives available on the Xbox360.
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