Review: Vikings Can Fly!- Up, Up, And Away
by Staff Writer
December 9, 2010
Overview
Take to the skies as Bjorn the Viking who has an inventive mind that is solely focused on reaching a Valkyrie. You launch yourself across the fabled Norse lands in an attempt to reach Asgard. Every flight you do allows you to learn and tweak your inventions to help propel yourself further with new types of contraptions.
Vikings Can Fly has a theme reminiscent of the movie How To Train Your Dragon. The game is universal for all iOS Devices.
Features
There is one side scrolling world that has eleven different places you try to fly to and through. You begin by simply running off a cliff, but there are 12 items to unlock giving you wings and dragons to glide as well as slingshots, and steam powered chairs to launch yourself. You can also perform tricks while gliding along and Game Center is included for online high scores and achievements.The Good
Vikings Can Fly offers a great balance of fun and challenge that is engaging throughout the journey. The game is just endless trying to travel as far as you can, but there are so many elements included to make it feel much more complex than that. The best aspect of the game is that you have to work your way through the trials and tribulations of coming to the perfect set up to be able to make the entire flight to Asgard.
You begin with a simple layout of running and jumping off a cliff with a prowler strapped to your back. Every flight you go on earns you gold to be able to unlock new items with each one improving the distance you can travel. You unlock wings, and a saddle to ride a dragon while collecting boosts to keep you in the air, and more powerful launching mechanics including a rock monster tossing you, and a stramonium powered chair.
There are also four special features to improve including max speed, hill height, and aerodynamics. Every flight begins by launching off the cliff as high as possible to be able to stay afloat for as long as you can. During your flight you can pick up gold, and boost runs, and you can perform flips to net more cash at the end to upgrade your abilities faster.
On top of that there are a number of Game Center achievements which also earn you money in game. The more you fly, and the better you do will make you that much closer to making it to Asgard. Though the game is endless you'll want to make it to Asgard as it feels like a major accomplishment, and an actual completion to a game that has a concrete goal.
Luckily the gameplay is engaging in the meantime to making it through the whole flight. As you're flying along you try to maintain special drifts for bonus points as well as keeping you upright. The game also makes you feel like you’re actually going somewhere with the different locations each having a different background.
To make it to Asgard It will take a few hours of gameplay for even the best players, and there is a lot of replayability after that first flight. Even when you finish that game, there is still the endless game to play. The game has a nice art style with well made cartoon graphics. There is also a well made relaxing soundtrack that fits the Viking theme, and when you approach Asgard the “Ride of the Valkyries” plays.
The Bad
The controls aren't the smoothest iOS device controls, but they do get the job done. When you're trying to maintain glides you need to tilt the device quite a bit away from standard position so you can't see the screen as well without straining your neck. If you try to hold the device to stationary the Viking will stall out often, and just dip up and down rather than gliding in a straight line.
To perform flips the game doesn't exactly tell you how, and it requires a sharp movement of the device in the opposite direction you’re tilting. It doesn't always work, and comes across as you seem to control it to, and can be a little frustrating. The game could still use some more complexity.
