Viking: Battle for Asgard is a slash and hack epic that transports you into a magical, Lord of the Rings – like world. However, unlike Lord of the Rings this world is not the extraordinary product of one man’s imagination; it is, instead, grounded in the fantastical realm of Norse mythology.
Asgard is the realm of the Gods, ruled by Odin, the Lord of Valhalla. But all is not well in Asgard – damaging conflict has broken out, which has extended into Midgard, the world of mere mortals. Hel, the goddess of the underworld, has been banished to Midgard, where her army begins to wreak her furious revenge. Freya, wife of Odin and Goddess of love and war, is tasked with saving both Midgard and Asgard. In need of a super-hero she chooses Skarin, a resurrected young Viking warrior, to lead the battle.
Our super-hero free-roams the three islands of Midgard, scouring the ancient, castle-strewn landscape for the demonic enemy. The action is frenetic and bloody in the extreme: severed body appendages abound. In the course of these skirmishes you will be freeing up captive soldiers, who will join you. Successful missions will see your army grow and be ready for the epic battles which take place on each island.
This is where the game really comes in to its own. The massed troops ensure impressive battles on a Tolkeinesque scale: hundreds of combatants engage in dramatic gory action. As your troops hack and slash their way through the enemy ranks, your successes allow you to call for the aid of dragons, which attack from the air with devastating results.
This is an easy to master game, maybe too easy for some tastes. But if you like plenty of extremely violent, gory, slash and hack action, you won’t be disappointed. Although somewhat repetitive (the campaigns are similar on all three islands) this is more than made up for by the immensity of the epic battles. I can’t help feeling, though, that the developers have missed a trick: the richness of Norse mythology offered the potential for a much more intriguing, multi-layered storyline. On the upside, however, I sense that the game may well encourage some players to delve more deeply into the treasures of North European mythology and folklore.