Review: The Horrible Vikings - Hit the App Store Today
by Staff Writer
January 12, 2010
Overview
The Horrible Vikings is a brand new game from Low Five Games who developed Earth vs. Moon which was included in our Top 100 list. The game has a basic connection to games like Crazy Penguin Catapult or Kitten Canon. You play as the Vikings coming to plunder the east, and you try to pound ninjas into submission.
That's right this is Vikings vs. Ninjas, and you catapult Vikings into the air landing and bouncing across ninjas to the treasure or to kidnap their princesses. A storyline is included that is an enjoyable read with some nice comedic one-liners.
Features
A huge map is included featuring numerous levels, each presenting the same type of challenge. You need to catapult a Viking through numerous ninjas to reach the treasure/princess at the end. Catapulting is easy, you just simply touch and drag to position the one Viking for the tilt, and then the other for the power of the catapult. Release, and send your Viking flying into the air.
To make it to the end of levels you need to land on ninjas, treasures, and meats to maintain your gliding. While in the air you tilt the device to change the speed, and pitch of your Viking. If you hit the ground you begin to bounce, and you still use tilt and the items to advance forward. At any time you can swipe to do a butt smash to land right where you are, and there are upgrades like archer and ax thrower that propel you forward by tapping on the Viking.
You have certain health which is depleted when hitting ninjas, but bolstered when collecting meat, so you need to be conscious of what you're bouncing on. A shop is included where you can buy upgrades to your ship, special abilities, and power-ups. Each level is scored based on items hit, coins collected, and number of shots to reach the end. OpenFeint 2.4 is included for online high scores for richest and most efficient plus there are almost 30 achievements.
The Good
The Horrible Vikings is a fun game with a simple mechanic to be played anytime anywhere in short bursts, or long sits. Just simply fire the Viking into the sky, and try to tilt to control its decent, bouncing off all kinds of objects to make it to the end. It's great to tilt to alter the Viking's decent, and provide a little control to maintain gliding. Some levels require making it long distances while others require height, and some require butt smash precision. As you progress through the map new lands and enemies are introduced to change some of the mechanics like ice levels, as well as ninjas fighting back with all kinds of things.
The vikings vs. ninjas theme is great, and then enhanced by the funny storyline that is a great read throughout. It's great to smash on ninjas over and over with Vikings who then do some rock dancing on completion of a level. Even entering the shop gives some laughs. The shop itself is a nice upgrade system to boost your abilities to be able to beat the ever increasing difficulty. Many little things add to the overall experience.
The entire game is designed nicely, highlighted by the character design of the vikings and ninjas. Each one is packed with detail, and they're all surrounded by beautiful backdrops and background items. An action adventurous theme is included that plays throughout, and there are nice sound effects of the bouncing, and the surprise of the ninjas as they're hit.
Playing through the entire game of all the levels on the map will take you plenty of time, and make it easily worth $1.99. The game is also quite addicting to replay levels to better your score. OpenFeint 2.4 is also included with two types of leaderboards, and fun and attainable achievements.
