Viking looked like one bad ass game. Playing a viking and ravaging the lands. It looked like an action adventure version of Valkyrie Profile. So how could anyone really screw that up? Well, to be fair it isn't actually a bad game but it isn't as grand as it could have been or even promised to be.
Sega hasn't been on a winning streak lately since they were destroyed in a console war and then raped their mascot. I was instantly saddened when I saw they were involved with this game but I'm all about forgiveness and perhaps they are heading in the right direction.
The main focus of the game is to free captives, take over hideouts and villages and to find magical items to stop evil. Yeah, we're not exactly a real bad ass, more of a good vs evil kind of guy so we venture forth into the land of predictability and blandness. Don't expect a grand plot or even a half way decent one. If you saw the recent action flick "10,000 BC" then you may have a rough idea of the plot, but minus the love story because that just isn't manly.
To be fair though the game does look gorgeous. It's kind of hard to screw up a game that is so high in the fantasy look and thankfully they didn't screw that up. The locations are lush and the weather effects are nice as well. Character models feel a bit limited and boring but rest of the game looks great. But with great looks comes some nasty slow down in some of the more epic battles and when I see my guy chugging along like a midget on a bike going up hill then I know that this battle just shouldn't have been.
Combat is fairly simplistic, reminding me of a Dynasty Warriors game more than say God of War of Devil May Cry. You can buy new moves and all that but after five or so the game just ups the power of the moves so you have a very short supply of moves on hand for the entire game.
The world is my biggest problem with the game. It's made up of three islands. Each works as a city like in Grand Theft Auto 3. They tend too share a lot in common with their design and while some spots are interesting by the third island I couldn't help but feel a real nasty case of deja vu.
It doesn't help matters that the "missions" are so generic that a small child could have made them up. Go to a temple and fight the bad guys, save the captives in this town, ambush these troops. it never really varies from that path and to reach your main goal you have a little check list. Got the amulet? Check. Got the gem for it? Check. Have you powered it up to summon a dragon? Check. Okay then go and fight a boss and finish the island. It never goes past that so the game feels limited.
Maybe that's my biggest problem with the game. It feels like a tired retread of a genre and it fails to even try anything new or exciting. Yeah we get big massive battles but they aren't anything special. Yeah, I can summon a dragon for field combat but first I need to beat a sub-boss to gain some things to then summon it to a marked spot and then it just comes and does its job.
I could sit here and tell you this is a bad game but it isn't in the typical sense. It's just a game that's been done so many times before that it hurts itself by trying nothing new. You even get magic but again it's so limited that games like Devil may Cry from 5 or so years ago did a better job. For $60 I was expecting a lot more and instead I got something that feels like I've played it a hundred times. I recommend a rental for those interested but in no way do I feel this title is worth the price of admission.
Story - 4/10
Graphics - 9/10
Sound - 7/10
Control - 8/10
Game Play - 6/10
Replay Value - 2/10
Final Score - 6/10
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