Commodore User


The Vikings
By Kele Line
Commodore 64

 
Published in Commodore User #42

The Vikings

The Vikings, a great and noble race of men (and the odd woman or two) have come to the computer age in this all-action release.

The aim of the game is to rescue your warrior queen from the thieving little natives who live on islands around the British coast. For a mere handful of Vikings this would be simple, but you are on your own! And, as if this wasn't bad enough, you know that if you return home empty handed you will die of shame anyway! So being the amazingly brave and totally mad Viking that you are, you stock up your longboat and head for the islands.

There are two islands, one north and one south. The southern island, Krag, is known is to be easier to attack than the appropriately named Death Island, which is to the north. Being a Viking with some amount of noodle, you decide to attack the easier island first. This is where you come in... You rush about the island looking for a nice friendly native to make holes in, when you notice that you have no sword. Not only are you swordless, you also notice that your spear, catapult, oar, and even your mast have all been taken and so this leaves you pretty mad. To end your swordlessness, you must run around the island and search for it. Once located you can start getting your own back.

The Vikings

A shield comes in handy too, and will decelerate the speed at which you are losing energy. Should you lose all your energy, you forfeit one of your five lives.

Collecting your weapons will require the use of several other objects which lie around the floor. For instance, to get your mast you must first get a ladder, which is found in the bushes; that you use to get a flaming torch, which is in the tower, in order to burn down the huts, to find your masts.

Once you have the torch, you can gain more points by burning down huts just for fun, but be warned, you have to stand still to do it and spears are flying everywhere.

The Vikings

When you have collected all of your belongings, and maybe an extra life if you do something else, you must head for your boat and set sail [What, no rape and pillage? - Ed].

This is where a nice but rather annoying torch comes in. Being a Viking, you haven't had the benefit of a public school education, and because of that you still believe that the earth is flat. So, should you sail in the wrong direction you may fall off!

Upon docking with the second island, you must rescue your queen from the various nasties programmed to stop you. One such villain is a nasty skeleton, which you would have seen earlier if you had watched the little cartoon at the beginning.

The Vikings

Whilst you look for your beloved queen you can't help noticing that you are limited to the amount of space in which you can move. This is due to there being a large brick wall surrounding you, well on the east and northern side anyway.

Being a Viking, it is in your nature to raid places for treasure, wine and stuff; so you can do this while looking for the royal stronghold.

Collecting treasure is easier said than done as quicksand is everywhere and you must follow a safe passage to your booty. But remember, spears are still flying about in all directions.

The Vikings

The graphics and the gameplay bear a strong resemblance to Rambo.

As for the sound, WE Music have composed a nice catchy little number which plays throughout the game. The sound effects must have been terrible because they have been taken out!

If Status had improved the graphics, added a few sound effects and made the game harder at the start, this game would have been a sure hit.

Chris Cain

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