Viking: Battle for Asgard (2008)

I loved Viking: Battle for Asgard. The game play, the mechanics, the battles, it was all epic. In the core this game is kind of a God of War clone in Norse mythology, but with enough originality that it stands out.

The story is a classic one, all revolving ancient rivalry between the Gods of old. The Goddess Hel is banished from heaven for defying Odin’s rule, wants to take revenge by releasing the wolf-God Fenrir, who start Ragnarok, the apocalypse that will be the end of Midgard. She resurrects the Viking warriors of old, long forgotten and marches to war. Freya, the god of War, needs a champion to stop this from happening and appoints Skarin, a tough Viking with nice hair. She speaks to him and tells him to save Midgard.

You play as Skarin, doing the bidding of Freya by completing various tasks. You must reconquer villages, cities and territories that have been confiscated by the forces of Hel, win glorious, massive open field battles and become the champion of Midgard.

Viking: Battle for Asgard plays like a Hack and Slash RPG. You kill enemies with various combo’s, collect/find gold and improve your skills and combos. You can also use the power of the elements to strengthen your attacks. These costs rage however, that you collect from killing enemies. You explore three different islands with different events, raids and glorious battles. To prepare for an open field battle, you must first free as many of your Viking buddies as possible, which are held prisoner in various camps and strongholds. When you gathered enough men, you can start raids on patrols, encampments and, in the end, the castle of Hel herself. You need to be tactful by picking off stronger enemies first like the shamans. This can really turn a battle into your favour.

You can collect various collectables in the game to unlock some nice artwork. There is a problem however with collecting them. Some of the Red Skulls for example, can only be collected in a certain mission or event. If you complete this event, without getting all the collectibles, then you are out of luck my friend. You can start the game over and do that specific mission again, and this time, make sure that you got them all.

The controls in Viking: Battle for Asgard are fluent. Movement, attacking, rolling, it all works very well. The climbing can be a little chore sometimes but overall, it works as it should.

I still think this game looks amazing. The open world, the true Norse “climate” they processed in the environment, the flora and the character models. The animations are fluent too and the kill moves Skarin performs are brutal and epic. For a game this old, it is truly a work of art. And speaking of art, the artwork you unlock by collecting the various Red Skulls on the map, is stunning. It always feels a little bit pointless in many games to look at drawings, but here it is actually nice.

When speaking of the sound, the nice, Norse-themed ambient music is relaxing to listen at while you slice undead Vikings in half. The battle music for raids and open field battles is epic and really gives you the feeling of fighting a war, were everything is at stake. The sound effects are cool too and well implemented.

There is one issue I have with this game, the camera. When fighting in areas with obstructions, like towns or dense forests, the camera shifts awkwardly and you get stabbed in the back.

Besides this, I think Viking: Battle for Asgard is a very underrated game that deserved a lot more attention and love.

Definitely recommend it.