Viking: Battle for Asgard

by Sega Of America, Inc.

Product Features

• High-impact, brutal combat. Dismember enemies and experience high-impact melee combat unlike any game you've played.
• Mythical powers. Tame dragons and command them to rain fire upon your enemies. Power up your weapons with elemental abilities and lay waste to your adversaries.
• Three open-world environments. Explore, uncover and fight your way across huge Norse worlds full of combat and exploration.
• Climactic, epic battles. Lay the foundations for huge battles featuring hundreds of warriors at once. Subtly influence the battle through targeted assassination and sabotage, or wade in to save stricken allies.

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000WCN8IW
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches ; 3.8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: March 25, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,440 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: Xbox 360

A fierce struggle is taking place within the realm of the Norse Gods, as the goddess Hel has been banished for defying Odin, Lord of Asgard. Angry at her fate, Hel has raised an army of resurrected Viking warriors to wipe out all of humanity in the mortal realm of Midgard, as she seeks to bring about Ragnarok -- the apocalyptic battle that that will destroy Asgard and the Gods themselves. The task of stopping Hel and defending the future of mankind falls to Skarin, a promising but deeply flawed young warrior, ignorant of the true reason for his favor with the Gods...

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Hack and Slash/Fantasy Action Adventure Gem, March 31, 2008

By 

J. Kellner - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Viking: Battle for Asgard (Video Game)

J. Hornbuckle's review compelled me to write my own take here (i.e. he didn't even get to the first dragon summon before he wrote it, which means he didn't even get to the first major battle).

And before I get to my review, I have to highlight this line from his:

"Plenty of gore and brutality for the teenagers to enjoy"

I read that and I just had to write this counter-review. How is that kind of viewpoint helpful in deciding to buy a game like Viking? So here's a review from a 32 yr old metalhead who is into bloody, slow motion limb chopping in video games:

Gameplay: There are 20 or so different moves, and there is a strategy for each enemy type- so you aren't just rushing in and mashing buttons. If a Legion soldier has a wooden shield, for example, you use the shield crusher (hold LB + tap X twice) to splinter his shield first. The highlight of the gameplay for me is the counterattack- hold LT and hit Y to dash backwards- then hit A right when the enemy strike goes by. The timing for this move is excuisite- enemies will time their strikes differently in anticipation of your counter, so you have to watch to time it correctly (sometimes enemies will delay their attack til the last possible moment, making it impossible to counter!).

There are QTEs to kill Legion Giants and Champions. I think they are implemented fairly well (QTEs normally bother me).

This is an open world game, so you're able to pretty much go where you want and complete objectives in almost any order.

Visuals: A feast. There is a wide variety of landscapes and weather/atmosphere. Honestly this game has my jaw dropping as much as any game on the 360. There are some truly epic vistas that will have you stopping to admire the ridiculous draw distance and amazing environments. The artistry and design is top notch.

Sound: A mixed bag. Most sounds are fine, but the voice acting is weak and there are a few really bad sound effects (the rope ladder sound is possibly the worst sound effect ever). The music is typical and used sporadically, but I turned it off and streamed viking metal from my PC (Theudho, Valkyria, Moonsorrow etc make a perfect soundtrack).

Length and replayability: I think I'm close to the end, and I've been playing for around 20 or so hours. I'm going to play through it again on hard difficulty as soon as I beat it- the gameplay is fun and varied enough to keep you coming back.

Large scale battles: When you build up your Viking army enough and complete certain objectives, you can launch an assault on Legion controlled settlements- the battles are huge, with hundreds of participants (sometimes you can't see the ground anywhere into the distance, there are so many guys onscreen- you can even lose sight of which one is you). This aspect of the game is intense and epic, and a hell of a lot of fun. And there are dragons.

The graphics are phenomenal but I would say the strongpoint is the gameplay, it's really well done and a lot of fun to play. I would probably only recommend Viking as a definite purchase if you're into fantasy hack and slash games- it's not a genre crossover hit. But if you like this kind of game, you're going to remember this one for a long time.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A little underrated.., April 9, 2008

By 

Shelia Leverett - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Viking: Battle for Asgard (Video Game)

This is not an oblivion type game dont go into this game with that approach.Its very different and takes much less time to master. A lot of people said this game was a little difficult. To me after you kill about 50 guys you have about played as hard as the game is going to get. The game is easy but not too easy but does present challenges at some points though. Enemies in groups of about 2-6 are really easy but if you go into a area with around 20 or so it will be a lot more challenging. The games quest ideas are good and a break from the ordinary. With that said this is a good game to buy if you like hack and slash type games are just beautiful amounts of gore. The game runs around 10-15 hours which is a little long for this game i think it would have been better if they would have kicked about 3 hours of useless gameplay out.
overalls:
gameplay 7.5
graphics 8.5
sound 10.0
ai 7.0
overall 8.0-9.0

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Viking: Great graphics and good gameplay, but nothing else to offer, October 25, 2009

By 

Shaun L. Stoffer - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Viking: Battle for Asgard (Video Game)

MY PERSONAL OPINION: Despite outstanding graphics, decent gameplay, and easy achievements, this game falls very short as far as story, variety, customization, and originality.


PROS:

-Graphics are truthfully on the level of Assassin's Creed. Need I say more?

-Gameplay was one of the better features, but it was still a pretty simple and dumbed down hack n slash game. True you can dismember enemies, but that offers little more than graphic pleasure. It would have been much more entertaining if maybe you could disarm enemies or even cut an arm off and have them keep fighting. I thought the bosses were pretty easy as well; all you have to do really is dodge and wait for a certain button to pop up and press it.

In truth, all you have to do to defeat the majority of enemies is mash one or two buttons again and again till they go down. Also, whenever your attacks land you gain energy for your charge attacks, which reminded me of the musou attacks from Dynasty Warriors.

-Looting is fine but nothing out of the ordinary. All you have to do is run over items that your enemies drop, like health potions, to obtain the. Except for chests, then you have to either hold or tap a button.



CONS:
- The story is about a resurrected Viking who goes on a campaign to seek vengeance and reclaim his homeland from an evil Greek Goddess. Sound a little like God of War? Also, the main character doesn't say one word and so you get no character development. There are also no plot twists, notable supporting characters, factions. Nada.

-One of the things that I was super disappointed with is that you can never upgrade nor change your weapons. Your three main weapons are your sword, axe, and throwing axes. Also, there is no armor or repairing in the game.

-The only thing you can really do with the money you earn is buy health items or new combos (which don't really change the game all that much).

-You can't customize your character at all. No clothes, haircuts, or tattoos - nothing.

-You're always on foot. It would have been nice if you could have had the option to buy a horse or have been able to ride your dragons so you don't have to walk everywhere all the time.

-The missions themselves are very repetitive and lack variety. You rescue other Vikings, kill some traitor, or kill a group of enemies to clear a location.

-The enemies themselves aren't anything special either, there are about eight different types of enemies and each class of unit all look exactly the same as the next. The enemies you typically encounter don't have much to distinguish themselves as far as difficulty other than the fact that they have a shield or you have to hit them more times before they finally go down.

-What most critics are saying that is so great about this game is the huge battles. In reality, there are only 3 or 4 of them and if you try to fight the whole army you'll die over and over again. The point is to take out the groups of sorcerers to stop the spawning of new troops. So, it's really a trick to make you think it's going to be awesome when really it's like Dynasty Warriors in the sense that all you have is take out the leaders and you win automatically.

Specifically, all you have to do is rush towards and kill the sorcerers manually or use your tokens to get your dragon to kill them for you. You get these tokens for doing things like killing all the archers or killing a giant.

Also, the objectives for these big battles never change; the only thing that separates each battle from the next is the scenario and landscape.


LAST NOTE: Viking is worth the cheap price it is now on Amazon of less than ten dollars, but it became a real bore, almost a chore, to finish after few hours of playing.

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