Previous Next

Have you ever fancied yourself as Hagar the horrible? If you have then this simulation of running a Viking holding around the year seven hundred will be just the ticket. You'll have all you've ever wanted: power, glory, fishing boats... even one of those funny Nordic helmets. It's amazing what micros can do. Within minutes of loading I had become... Steve of Oslo! Proud owner of two ferrets and a fishing boat! My reign of terror was about to commence...

Up to four players can enter the simulation and there are nine levels of difficulty. The computer will ask you a series of questions and your answers dictate how the holding survives. The questions follow a logical sequence through the course of the year. You are told how the weather affected your crops, how much grain is necessary to feed your people and so on... There are options to train slaves as guards, build market places (should your treasury allow) and buy ferrets. The later are not luxury items as you might imagine, but required purchases to quell the rat population. I found this out to my cost with an outbreak of plague before the paint had even dried on my hut.

Still, you soon get into the swing of things. I upped the taxes at the earliest opportunity and starved the peasants so as to buy that new temple I'd always wanted. The roar of the fjords was in my blood! Provided you can temper revolts and avoid natural disasters there's nothing to stop you rising from humble Holder to Duke, or even King. The game has been carefully designed and is easy to follow. I found it all exceptionally appealing. Now, if you don't mind, I must dash - the peasants are revolting (again).