Review: When Vikings Attack

We’ve seen many scenarios in video games where we imagine what the world will be like if it were invaded by nasty beings.

Aliens, zombies and other unworldly creatures have come to Earth and we humans have had to stop them a number of times.

Developer Clever Beans takes a different approach as he explores the possibility if the Earth was invaded once again by the barbaric Vikings.

When Vikings Attack is a humorous yet violent video game that is unlike any other beat-em-up style of video game I’ve ever played.

This is because there is no main protagonist in the game and nor is there any real story here either. No, you just get to play as a bunch of normal citizens trying to rid the world of huge burly men from the past.

This isn’t your average game because you are not using your fists, swords or guns to kill all of the Vikings. The main weapons that you will use are any objects you can find and pick up all around the city. Whether this is a car, park bench or even a bomb, you can throw it at the Vikings in hopes of killing all of them.

The most unique aspect about When Vikings Attack is that you control a group of normal citizens that are highlighted by a coloured square. You have to make sure that at least one of the citizens in your group remains alive or else its game over.

This is easier said than done because the Vikings come in groups as well and also have the ability to throw any object at you too.

To makes things easier of the player, you are able to recruit new members on your team if you can find any normal citizens running for their lives in any area of the game.

If you are able to survive the onslaught of attacks from the Vikings, you can make your group even bigger allowing you to pick up bigger objects for you to throw.

There are also special citizens you can recruit on your team that gives your group unique abilities. One of my favourites was the person that allowed your group to sprint faster.

Although most of the time you will need to find normal citizens to join your group, there are special white bombs you can throw that allow you to recruit members of the Vikings.

This was a personal favourite moment of mine because the Vikings are stronger and a lot bigger so it made the game slightly easier when they were a member of my own team.

If you’re feeling the game is getting quite difficult, you can steal and catch flying objects from the Vikings simply by pressing the “X” button.

This was another neat aspect of the game that made it more fun to play than other beat-em-up style game. There aren’t many other games from the same genre where you are able to steal any weapons from your enemies.

The boss battles are unique too because you will have to exploit or figure out the weaknesses they have. One of the bosses had heavy shields on them and it was near impossible to damage them by chucking objects at him head on.

I had to then use a pillar that allowed me to bounce objects off walls which then ricocheted off and hit the boss from behind.

The game truly shines when you are playing through the game’s online campaign. This time around you are not only fighting against the Vikings, but other players as well.

This becomes a humorous yet chaotic experience that players with both a PS3 or PS Vita can enjoy thanks to the game’s cross play support.

If you get bored with the game’s campaign mode, you can play the game’s three versus modes that include Gold Rush, Last Man Standing and Vikings vs. Vigilantes. The “versus” modes differ in rules slightly, although they pretty much have the same goal of killing everyone in sight...

Graphically, the PS3 and PS Vita versions of When Vikings Attack are virtually identical. The character models are nicely detailed, although they obviously look a lot smaller when playing the game on the PS Vita version.

Nevertheless, the level design looks great as you will visit areas such as the mall and the museum just to name a few.

As much as I had fun playing When Vikings Attack, it gets repetitive really quick. All you have to do is practically find objects to throw upon waves upon waves of Vikings that head your way.

After a few minutes, this style of gameplay gets old pretty quick. With 15 levels in total, I’d advise people to play this game in short bursts to make the experience less repetitive.

If you play the game for more than an hour, I’m sure you’ll get sick of it very quick.

Overall, When Vikings Attack is a fun little game to play on for both the PS3 and PS Vita. The game costs $18.90 and includes both versions of the game to play and download.

Despite its repetitive style of gameplay, the multiplayer modes were diverse and enjoyable and its one of the most humorous games I’ve played in recently.

Graphics: 7.5Gameplay: 8.5Sound: 8.5Lasting appeal: 7.5

Overall: 7.5