War of the Vikings – Review
So, here we are. Saxons versus Vikings. No room for heroism and eternal glory. Here it’s all about a bloody and brutal massacre between two opposing nations. Who will you join and more importantly: how long will you be able to stay alive?
Story
There’s not really a storyline in War of the Vikings as it’s an online multiplayer game pur sang. Saxons vs Vikings, let the strongest team win! You won’t find a good story prewritten for you, but nothing is stopping you to experience your own stories on the battlefield.
Graphics
Britannia looks great and detailed. The maps are a nice collection of small and bigger pieces of land and they all have a certain look to them. Blood is also shown realistically so the game doesn’t turn in a parody of itself and in general, the world looks grey and maybe a bit depressing but take this as a positive comment as this is exactly what you might expect in times of war.
Sound
War of the Vikings has a nice menu song but other than that, there’s not much music in the game. What you’ll be hearing mostly are the battle cries and screaming when a poor fellow gets struck. It’s convincing enough and above that, the sounds of your swords, axes and bows give you the feeling that you really did some damage. The lack of noticeable background music brings a tension to the battlefield which really captures the anxiety to lose your life at any moment.
Gameplay
If you’re familiar with War of the Roses (the predecessor of War of the Vikings) then there’s not that much new on the horizon. While fighting other players, your mouse will be your most important weapon as striking a blow or blocking one in a certain direction all depends on how you move your mouse. This takes a lot of getting used to if you’re a newcomer to games which use this sort of gameplay mechanics. Prepare to get massacred a lot, and yes I mean a loooot, as it’ll take quite some time before you actually understand when the best time comes along to perform an action.
The tutorial of War of the Vikings doesn’t do much to prepare the new players for what’s coming later on. A sturdy voice tells you how to block and attack and after the theory, you get the chance to test your abilities in the field. Unfortunately, your opponent doesn’t do much to make things interesting and as even the biggest newbie of a player won’t just stand there as you charge at him, the tutorial fails at learning you anything useful besides which button to push. The same problem pops up at the ranged portion of the training as you only have to shoot at stationary targets which is terribly easy and not very comparable to the online situations you’ll encounter.
However, if you’re a persistent one and you keep testing your skills, eventually enemies will be slain by your hand and when that happens, it feels good, really really good even. When a perfect blow or well aimed arrow causes an opponent to fall before your feet, the satisfaction is huge and that’s exactly what makes this game quite addicting.
At rank 4 the Loadout Editor unlocks and here players will be able to customize their fighters. Keep in mind that you won’t just be able to put some fancy axe in your weapons slot. Players will have to buy equipment by playing matches and as money isn’t really flowing in War of the Vikings, you better choose wisely what you buy.
Four game modes and twelve different maps are available at this point and it feels like a decent amount of content has been put in the game. The game modes are: Conquest, Arena, Team Deathmatch and Pitched Battle. The last two modes are quite straightforward (Pitched Battle is basically Team Deathmatch but players only have one life) so let’s talk a bit more about the others. In Conquest, your team will have to capture up to 5 pieces of land and defend them the best they can. It’s nice to have a real objective instead of just fighting each other over and over again. Arena is perfectly suited for those who want even more of a challenge. A small amount of players, one tiny map and one life, the last team standing wins. This is not for a mode for feeble humans, only real Vikings will last longer than two seconds here. You have been warned.
Connection issues are still a problem in War of the Vikings and I even noticed an enemy walking through a wall at a certain point. These technical issues plus multiple crashes bring about some frustration and of course, no one seeks out frustration when playing a game.
Conclusion
It’s a shame that a lot of technical problems make it very hard to praise this game although it has enough potential to become the new War of the Roses. The Loadout Editor is a great tool for all who wish to make their ultimate warrior, the maps are cleverly designed and the feeling you get when you succeed in decapitating an opponent is just fantastic but against every good thing stands a less enjoyable one. The tutorial is far from what it should be, the game regularly crashes while playing a match and buying things for your warrior isn’t the easiest thing to do as you’ll have to play a lot before you bring in some decent amount of cash. All in all, War of the Vikings could’ve been better if a little more attention was brought to these hiccups.
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