If you have ever played a game of Counter Strike and yearned to toss aside the assault rifles and cleave some heads off with a sharpened battle axe, then this is definitely the game that you have been unknowingly waiting for.
War of the Vikings is the sequel to Paradox Interactive’s hugely popular third person multiplayer Knight-‘em-up War Of The Roses, and War Of The Vikings picks up exactly where the original left off – but with a Nordic twist.
Before being hurled into the midst of Mead-fuelled battle, you get the choice of one of three shiny new Viking classes – The Warrior – a swordsman, The Scout – an archer, and the evil sounding Huscarl – who wield a pretty intimidating looking two handed axe. Each class offers their own distinct playstyles and of course, their own strengths and weaknesses.
The Warrior is probably the most beginner friendly class, possessing both a sword and a rather handy shield, meaning that players can defend themselves from incoming arrows and vicious strikes while still dealing some deadly blows of their own.
The other classes aren’t so lucky on the defensive front however, and basically rely almost solely on acting offensively and you sticking them with the pointy end – and after choosing the Huscarl class on my first round, I learned that the hard way.
Combat in War of The Vikings is more of a refined art than you might initially expect it to be – instead of running up to an opponent and merely clicking the left mouse button, to attack, you also have to use the mouse to aim precisely which angle you want your blows to land from. This leads to some intense battles and adds a layer of depth and precision to each confrontation, with players swinging frantically at different heights and angles, as they try to second guess their opponents swing for either the perfect block with their shield, or to land that well timed fatal blow.
This control scheme seemed to work surprisingly well, and the controls in War Of The Vikings soon became second nature as I hacked and slashed my away around the map at an (almost) respectable level.
As well as your bog standard primary weapon,each class comes with its own secondary weapon and a unique ‘skill’ – which is basically a unique cool little special attack that each class possess.
The secondary weapons in War of The Vikings range from a short axe for the archer to… well, axes of a throwing variety for the other classes.
The throwing axes really made the game for me. When another player charges at you with their sword there is nothing more satisfying than slowly lining up your cursor and at the last possible second landing that life affirming head shot with your trusty throwing axe.
The aforementioned skills however, I wasn’t quite so enamored with, and found myself using scarcely. These skills are special attacks that can do devastating amounts of damage if used correctly, but also leave you highly vulnerable to attack if you miss. I found myself trying to finish my foe with a flashy looking skill and often missing him completely and getting skewered mid way through the animation – woops. The skills seem like they could be a game changer in the right hands, just clearly not for a throwing axe loving n00b like me.
Playing War of The Vikings is a great experience, but sadly what I saw was on a much smaller scale than the matches will be in the full game – as I was only battling against one other opponent. Although I didn’t quite get to witness the full extent of the multiplayer mayhem, the final game promises ‘large scale multiplayer action’ and boasts multiple game modes. War Of The Vikings is shaping up to be a fun and unique multiplayer experience. If you are curious, the Alpha is currently in full swing, so grab your nearest battle axe and dive in.
You must be logged in to post a comment.