S&S Review: When Vikings Attack

Title: When Vikings Attack
Format: PSN
Release Date: November 6, 2012
Publisher: SCEA
Developer: Clever Beans
Price: $9.99
ESRB Rating: E

When Vikings Attack is another quirky PSN title for the PS3 and the PS Vita that features charming visuals and encourages party play.  Its definitely a different game, but does that make it good one?

Story, Presentation, and Core Gameplay:

The game features a rather simplistic story, to say the least.  Vikings are attacking your homeland, and you must defend it with the help of every citizen you have.  Thats basically the gist of the game, even the first cinematic involves a narrator telling you how to defeat the invading Vikings.  The game could've benefited with a more drawn out narrative, but the simple tale doesn't hurt the game in any way.  The presentation of this game was the reason it caught my eye, its full of bright and vibrant colors.  Everything in the game looks like it was hand drawn, from the disgruntled townsfolk to the varied town areas.  The game's cartoony style distinguishes itself from other games, making it one of the more distinct downloadable titles around.  When Vikings Attack has a lot of fun character designs, with a lot of special characters that have unique abilities that correspond with their look.  One example being a resident sporting bright running shoes that will make your group run faster.  The environments are beautiful as well, the city is full of rural and urban areas where you'll be battling waves of Vikings.  The music in the game makes up for the lack of voice work, with a delightful soundtrack that stacks up with the game's tone and art style faultlessly.  The core gameplay can look a little confusing if you're just reading or talking about it, but once you get your hands on the game, it'll all come together pretty seamlessly.  You start off in an area as one guy, but you need to recruit other people to your group, by just walking up to them.  The Vikings are doing the exact same thing, and the bigger the group, the heavier the objects you can throw at them.  Thats basically the concept of the game, you have to continuously pick up and throw various objects at the Vikings' group to completely knock off of them out.  The amount of people in your group acts as your health, if everyone gets knocked out, you lose.  More random people will be constantly running around, and you need to keep recruiting them to keep your numbers strong.  There are a ton of items scattered throughout an area, from wooden logs to giant tractors, there's always something nearby to pick up and hurl at the enemy group.  When you get the hang of the dash mechanic, things become a bit more strategic. 
Dashing gives you the ability to catch incoming projectiles, or just dodge the incoming object.  If you get close enough to the Vikings, you can dash into them to steal whatever weapon their holding, its a risky move with a ton of payoff if you're successful.  This really makes up the game's single-player campaign, it doesn't really act like one giant tutorial though, its a fun mode on it's own.  The game is really fun online, playing with other human players is totally different from the A.I.  There are three modes to compete in, Free-for-all, Vigilantes vs Vikings, and Gold Rush.  Vigilantes vs Vikings is basically your team deathmatch, with each side given a different side to fight for.  Gold Rush is the same as your Free-for-all mode, you're just earning gold as you're completing various goals and objectives.  This is where the majority of your gameplay time will be spent, its just a lot of fun with a group of players.  You can even play locally if you have  the ability to do so.  The game, although fun, can get repetitive at times.  You're basically doing the same thing over and over again, dashing and throwing objects at large groups of people.  Over the course of the single-player and multiplayer lifespan, there really isn't much variety in your actions.  

Final Thoughts:
When Vikings Attack is a good PSN game, with a distinctive look and feel too it, its one of better downloadable titles for the PS3 and Vita.  If you have both consoles, the game supports cross save functionality, which is a great feature.  $10 bucks give you both versions of the game, making this game a steal if you're looking for something new to play.  

S&S Rating:  7.5/10

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