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Published : February 05, 2008 |
Author : James Wallis | |||||||||
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GAMEGUIDEDOG.COM IS PROUD to be able to provide the most complete and best online walkthrough strategy game guide for VIKING: BATTLE FOR ASGARD. This precise WALKTHROUGH GAME STRATEGY GUIDE is/will be available for you right in your members area and compatable for the SONY PS3, PLAYSTATION 3, as well as Microsoft XBOX 360 Platforms. You take up the role of Skarin, a young warrior picked by the Gods to defend the mortal realm of Midgard from a rampaging hussy called Hel and her undead Viking army. Hel got booted out of Asgard by Odin, and she's none too happy about it, so she's trying to find the wolf-god Fenrir and bring about the apocalyptic battle Ragnarok to get her own back. Woman hath no fury like Hel scorned - to get that one out of the way nice and early. Shown off in remarkably pretty pre-alpha form at Games Convention, Battle for Asgard's rolling hills, craggy mountains and lolloping oceans sprawl comfortably around towns and forts, most of which are under Hel's control and need to be wrested back. To achieve this, however, you're going to need to build up an army. Doing that involves picking up missions from your home camp, where you can also buy up equipment and train to upgrade your combat abilities. Objectives are spread all over the vast terrain, which the developers tell us can be explored at any time - except, rather like Crackdown, you might not be up to dealing with the challenges lurking in certain areas until you've done some of the earlier bits. Skarin overlooks some of the things he'll be beating up later. It does look like this, with frame-rate locked at 30. "Bump" is a rather pitiful verb in this respect, however, because what actually ensues is the closer to the Disney's Tarantino vision of long-forgotten PS2 title The Mark of Kri (which isn't a useful reference point, necessarily, but is always nice to shoehorn into a preview). In short, you're cleaving people in two and then splashing around in their blood. Gratuitous, yes, and more than a bit evocative of God of War, but with good reason: Norse gods are just as fickle and perverse as their Greek counterparts, and do enjoy a bit of politicking and messing around with the lives of men and, in this instance, brutal bloody violence, which helps build up a kind of combat currency for use against more troubling enemies. The bigger units need to be drawn out to avoid hurting your friends. So, instead you try and draw out enemy champions, whose giant swords cause untold damage to your gathered horde if fought in their midst. Basic attacks (you know, mashing) are swift but less impactful than they might be, but they do help build up your pips - the combat currency we mentioned earlier. With five to fill up, you can then perform more elaborate attacks by reeling off button combinations (X-Y-Y, etc.), which result in more elaborate attacks, and killing moves that border on Quick Time Events, and call to mind some of Heavenly Sword's finishers. Creative Assembly says that the combat system's all about giving the player "blow by blow control" of a fight. Dealing with bigger enemies helps, then, but so too does targeting particular units and defences. Enemy shamans are often seen cloaked in blue light respawning your adversaries, and finding and crushing them is a good way of stemming the tide. In our demo session, Skarin clambers up the side of a tall hill, handhold by handhold, until he's on the back of a shaman, bringing down his shield and crushing the respawns - and the banks of archers that have been weakening his comrades on the fields below. This scene, from the end of our showcase, demonstrates the sheer number of units Creative Assembly's, er, assembling. Creative Assembly may not have said much about Viking up to now, but that's due more to the fact they like to get things ready before spouting off than anything, so it's no surprise to hear they're making good progress, with an early 2008 release pencilled in. There is potential for multiplayer, but I wouldn't cross your fingers - CA is serious about telling a story, and making Skarin an empathetic character, and they're not comfortable thumping in more characters unless they can be fleshed out to the same degree which, given the time remaining, seems unlikely. Irrespective of that, the team's renowned attention to detail and the sturdy state of the build we're shown, suggests the Battle for Asgard is one to get dressed up for, and we hope to bring you more on it soon. After all, we love a good fight, and Creative Assembly's no slouch when it comes to delivering them. Viking: Battle for Asgard is due out on PS3 and Xbox 360 in early 2008.
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