It's very pretty... and pretty gory
Now to look at Viking: Battle for Asgard you’d be forced to admit that it’s very, very pretty. Even the most churlish of anti-Xbox 360 fanbois will have to concede that graphically, Viking: Battle for Asgard is something of a stunner. The draw distances are, frankly, bloody immense and though there’s a certain amount of fogging used to cover up detail, the fact I can sometimes see clear across the island and pick out landmarks I’ve already visited is seriously impressive.Likewise, up close, Viking: Battle for Asgard is a good looking game. The character models and textures are damn fine and highly detailed. Most importantly, everything moves properly. Sure, there’s a few instances of that dodgy ‘rotate on the spot’ stuff and a few more of the ‘invisible ledge’ where one foot hovers on nothing over the edge of a drop but for vast majority of the game the landscape and character models all interact perfectly…
Click for larger imageOf course, where you’ll notice this most is when you’re fighting as the camera always stays pretty tight on Skarin, meaning any clipping flaws will show up, especially when the action zooms in for a killing move. Oh yes, the suitably gruesome killing moves are a sight to be seen… though best not with any minors around as they are probably the most visceral and graphic displays of limb chopping outside of the movie, Saw.
Everything goes into slow motion and the camera auto pans to a side on view as you deliver a variety of killing moves most of which involve making one complete body into several smaller bits. Now whilst these wonderfully blood-spraying kill moves are fun to watch, the limited number animations means that you’ll soon become tired of watching the same double-arm-chop-spin-around-and-behead animation… And because the whole thing is done in slow motion, you’ll be wishing the bad guy would just hurry up and die so you can get on with the next guy on your hack-to-pieces-list.
Click for larger imageViking: Battle for Asgard is full of nice graphical touches such as the scenery changing from a gloomy rain filled night to sunny Autumn day as you clear each area of bad guys. There’s some nice lighting effects as the gemstone you carry glows, lighting up the area around you which helps in the darker areas of the levels. And let’s not forget those massive battles where you’ll be gobsmacked at the sheer number of soldiers, good and evil, on screen at once… and other than a touch of slow-down here and there, the Xbox 360 seems to handle it all with ease… very impressive.
Click for larger image