On Screen / Aimee Green

'Viking' is shallow fun

By Aimee Green | Tuesday, May 13, 2008 | () comments

(Contributed photo)

I didn't expect to like ''Viking: Battle for Asgard.'' It seemed to be just another in a long line of sub-par, violent action games.

However, after spending time with it, I found I enjoyed it. It's nothing spectacular, but it's done well enough that it makes for a nice filler game until other, bigger games get released.

''Viking'' is pretty straightforward; there's not a lot of depth to it. You're a viking named Skarin, and you've been entrusted by the goddess Freya with taking back the land of Midgard from another goddess, Hel, who has raised a massive demon army.

Gameplay consists mostly of running up to enemies and whacking away at them with your huge sword. The A button does quick attacks while the X button does slower, more powerful attacks. As the game progresses, you can learn combos that inflict heavy damage or stun enemies.

There's also a slight magic aspect. By holding the right trigger and selecting either fire, ice or thunder, you can imbue the weapons of any nearby vikings with the element.

That's really about it. Bringing up the map shows areas where quests can be completed, such as taking back a farm from Hel's legions or rescuing other vikings. You just move around Midgard clearing out the demons until you finally reach the final city in that area, where you get a big boss fight. Simple and surprisingly satisfying.

''Viking'' gets its mature rating for a reason - it's possibly more gory than ''God of War.'' When enemies are near death, you can trigger ''fatalities'' to finish them off. These fatalities slow down the action and show Skarin dramatically dismembering the enemy. I got a kick out of it, but it's definitely not for kids.

I did find it interesting that, unlike other games of this type, there were no topless women to rescue. In fact, there nearly no women at all except for the two goddesses and a village shaman or two. It's kind of nice to have a violent game that doesn't feel the need to throw in the extra nudity, just 'cause.

While fun, ''Viking'' is still a rather short game, and there isn't much incentive for playing through more than once. Action fans should check it out, but it could easily be accomplished with a rental.

Reach Aimee Green at (402) 473-7326 or Aimee.Green@lee.net.

VIKING: BATTLE FOR ASGARD

Sega, for Xbox 360 (also for PlayStation 3)

Rated: Mature

Cost: $59.99

Score: 7.5/10

Scores based on an evaluation of gameplay (4 points), visuals (2), sound (2) and replayability/value (2).