The saying goes that sometimes the trees do not let you see the forest. Maybe in the videogame sector it could be updated by the graphics let us see the game. It’s not that Vikings: Wolves of Midgar is an ugly game, but what it is is fun . That seems to have been the focus of the editor, Kalypso, and the team behind this title, which despite its similarities with other big names like Diablo , is much more direct in its formula.
This is noticeable from the very beginning of the game. Unlike what other products are used to, here the personalization options are limited
to the genre (there are no classes) and the equipment we choose will only condition us until the first mission, of tutorial, because we can re-equip our character before the missions , and switch between weapons equipped in
the middle of these. We hardly have the possibility of personalizing our character: cut and color of hair, tattoos and other minor aesthetic aspects such as facial hair, as well as the appearance of the emblem of our clan.
As a backdrop, we find the Nordic mythology, which is really used here as a way of setting the gameplay, as the story (revenge an attack on our people and make it thrive against the threats that surround it) is a simple excuse to take us from mission to mission.
In fact, our character will be associated with one of five divinities of this mythology, which will determine which weapons have “gifts” (special attacks) . This is not an obstacle for us to change from one to another according to need.
Direct and fun gameplay
Once in task, we find a more arcade gameplay than they usually do this type of titles, very direct, but without losing sight of its depth. At the beginning we will only have a simple attack, combined with the possibility of rolling on the
ground to avoid the attacks of our enemies ; but little by little, as we improve our weapons and equipment and in parallel to the increased difficulty of our enemies,
we will add more powerful magic and attacks, that we must wait for them to recharge before using again .
But if we still feel cornered and in need of acting at high speed, Vikings allows us, if we have accumulated enough anger, to unleash a kind of bullet time in which we can move in a slow motion environment and react better.
We can also accumulate several life burdens to use when we need to recover our health , which we can recharge at various points in the scenarios. Life also recharges every time we finish enemies, so while we survive each horde of enemies, we will be able to move forward.
But not only enemies will attack our life bar, so will environmental conditions in some scenarios , forcing us, for example, if it is very cold, to periodically approach bonfires if we do not want to die frozen.
Using a specific weapon at any given time will not affect our strategy for future missions, and it is useful for example to use the bow for more powerful but static enemies and heavy weapons against enemies that protect against our attacks from a distance.
Accumulate to improve
As expected, it is not only our equipment that improves, but also our own character . For this we must go to an altar that is in the village
itself from which we depart to each mission and pour into it the blood of our enemies; and choose if we want to add more points to aspects such as our vitality or resistance.
This altar, like our equipment and character, can also be improved to unlock more attacks in turn. For this, the game asks us for
materials, which we obtain by destroying elements of the stage and some enemies , which brings us to the graphic section.
This is not the most lucid aspect of the game, with scenarios that seem to use in many cases have been built repeating again and again the same elements , but with decent results, without boasting.
Beyond the missions, the game has an extra mode, the Tests of the Gods, which allow us to accumulate more materials to improve our character , equipment or the altar itself; which increase their difficulty as we overcome levels. We can also add a friend to our adventure in a cooperative way through the internet.
Like the graphics, the music, although discreet, fulfills its function, as do the careful illustrations that accompany the loading times .
The same can not be said about the Spanish translation, full of meaningless phrases that arise from an apparent automatic translation and that sometimes prevents the story from being correctly followed.
