WAR HAS COME to Midghard. The ancient, petty rivalries of the Nordic Pantheon have spilled over from the land of Asgard into the world of mortal men. Hoards of Trolls and Goblinkind have flooded the world with fire and death at the bequeath of Hel, she who rules over the underworld. And with each death her army swells ever more, rapidly recouping its losses and moving on to the next village. Only to repeat the process again.
Unfortunately, whilst that all sounds like a very Viking way to go, death in glorious battle is the quickest, most surefire way of earning a place in Valhalla. So all those lost souls would actually go against Hel’s designs and bolster the forces of her opposition, the chief of the Swan Maidens (or Valkyrie if you prefer) and Goddess of love, Frejya (spelled Freya in the game). It’s actually a shame that they left such a blatant hole in the mythology, because otherwise it could have been a cast iron premise. Perhaps Hel could have found some way to prevent the souls from reaching Valhalla through the use of powerful magik or something.
This is the first of the rather odd reinterpretations of the mythology of my ancestors. And sadly, is not the last. Like Frejya being Odin’s daughter for example. If that were true then it would certainly add a very Freudian element to their marriage, and the familial ties of their son Thorn (Thor if you really must). Then again, it would be no surprise he’s such a beast in battle if he knew he was the child of his own sister. But enough of that because it’s just plain creepy.
Aside from these screaming errors in the Norse mythology, the game is actually a very solid and well constructed piece of digital death and dismemberment. The lead chappy, Skarin child of the wolf, is a shining example of Norse endurance. The strong silent type. Inspiring his troops to glorious battle by the simplest, and most effective method known to man. Charging forward with his axe and sword and slicing his opponents to pieces by the dozen. Though why they made him blonde I don’t know. Vikings were red headed people, not blonde.
The game itself is easy to play, with a simple control system that leaves you more time to focus on surviving those before mentioned dozens of Tolls and Goblins that are sure to mob you at every opportunity. But there are also a number of more advanced combat techniques that become available as the game progresses in the shape of magikal runes (which are again somewhat inaccurate) and powerful combo attacks that you learn by coughing up some gold (Viking preferred silver because it was shiny) to the souls of previous dead warriors who had already made their way to Valhalla.
The basic flow of the game consists of liberating a series of settlements and other institutions such as farms and quarry mines to bolster your forces until they are large and well armed enough to assault the main Legion encampments and ultimately free the world of Midghard as a whole via the final showdown with Hel herself. Not many mortals that can beat the snot out of a Goddess, so that should give you some idea how nails our boy Skarin really is.
The pitched battles themselves are a bewildering thing to see. I don’t know exactly how many, but I would guess that there were times when you could see as many as three to five hundred sprites on screen at one time, all fighting and killing each other in a mass of death. So many, in fact, that at times my Playstation 3 couldn’t keep up and the frame rate dropped significantly. Which was more than a little irritating considering how powerful we’ve been told the system is supposed to be. Thankfully it was easy to rectify simply by moving the camera to a less busy area.
Even the flow of the battles was impressive and immersive. You have a series of objectives such as killing all the enemy Summoners or commanders. This can either be done by a direct, physical assault on their position, or by the use of Dragon Runes from such assaults to send your dragon allies to take them out for you. Of course, the first has to be done via the direct approach as you can only gain Dragon Runes by defeating the main opponents like Giants and Summoners and they cannot be carried over from one assault to the next. Still, the satisfaction of taking out one enemy and then launching your pet dragoon (or later dragons) to fire bomb the next is quite something. And very pretty to behold. In a violent, flaming death kind of way.
Aside from all of this, there are a couple of things that did cause some disappointment for me. The raging inconsistencies between the in game mythology and the actual mythology aside, because most of that is easy to left slide simply because of how good the game is. However, for a supposedly “next gen†title to not even attempt to have lip synchronisation is tantamount to treason where I come from. Also the lack of extras (something which really should be an industry standard by now) hinders the replay value. Even if it were only in game music and artwork it would be something.
However, overall, the game is a lot of fun to play. And once you have built your Army up and make the move to assault the Legion strongholds, the pitched battles themselves are truly epic even from the very first, and smallest skirmish. And the voice of Frejya whispering in your ear each time you come across a new location adds a real sense of grandeur to it all. It really serves to heighten the feeling of desperation that the land of Midghard is currently afflicted by. As well as offering some insights into the true nature of the conflict. Though I think the particulars of that would be better left for you to discover for yourself.
Besides, how can any game with the voice of BRIAN BLESSED be bad?
Graphics 8.5/10
Gameplay 9/10
Audio/music 9/10
Plot/Scripting 8.5/10
Overall 8.5/10
