Are you ready to search for Odin’s eye, taken by the trickster Loki? Then it’s time to rise out of your shallow grave as your help is needed to recover it.
From the creators of indie smash hit Stick It to The Man! comes a new one to four-player co-op stab-you-in-the-gut-a-thon. Embark on a dead funny adventure with the Zombie Vikings. A putrid posse sent on a mission through the most epic of worlds to retrieve Odin’s lost eye.
Play as the most fearsome Vikings ever raised from Norse soil – Gunborg, Seagurd, Hedgy and Caw-kaa. Hack through the gingerbread swamps of Molgaga! Cruise through the intestines of the Midgaard Serpent! Fight giant poultry!
Key Features
– Co-op story brawler for 1-4 players
– Single-player and online/offline multiplayer
– Written by Zach Weinersmith (SMBC Comics)
– +25 levels in 8 different worlds. Plus 5 Versus Arenas!
– Choose among four different Zombie Vikings, each with unique power moves
– Over 40 unlockable weapons. Try out Stinknir or Blunt Fish Trauma!
– Collect Viking Runes to gain new cool abilities. Mix up your style of play!
– Stitch all your friends together into a giant mega Zombie. Working together is fun!
Zombie Vikings is brought to you by Zoink Studios, who gave us the excellent Stick it to the Man. For their next project, they took the same art engine and applied it to the brawler beat’em up genre.
Zombie Vikings is a 4-player beat’em up sidescrolling game. It actually reminds me of Castle Crashers, but Zombie Vikings finds a way to tell a good story, and the unique talent that Zoink brings to the table to differentiate itself from others in the genre is definitely a big plus. Loki, son of Odin, is responsible for stealing his father’s only working eye. Seeking help to get his eye back from the God of Tricks, Odin resurrects the most fearsome Vikings ever. You can play as Gunborg, Seagurd, Hedgy and Caw-kaa. Each has its own unique style that gives them different game mechanics, ensuring that you use different strategies on different enemies.
If this was just a beat’em up alone, I don’t know if it would be enough to keep you engaged. Thankfully that is not the case since the game is very customizable, so my Gunborg could be different than your Gunborg. The game uses weapons and runes to give you different powers. As you play through Zombie Vikings, you unlock them using the in-game currency system. You then get the opportunity to pick what weapons you want to buy and what runes you would like. There are over 40 unlockable weapons in the game, and you do need to be careful about what you chose as there are trade-offs. For example, you may get a weapon that poisons enemies but reduces your overall attack strength.
The game is really fun to play with a friend. I found myself enjoying the game while playing on my own, but I had a friend come over, and we started to kick ass together. This is a situation where the game is more fun with other people. The multiplayer is especially great when you get four people together. So while Couch Co-op is an option, the developer built in online multiplayer so people can jump into your game and help you succeed.
One issue with the game is some lower framerates and some graphical glitches, but thankfully the most recent patch seems to have fixed a considerable amount of those. The team is still working on correcting other minor issues, so you can have full confidence that the game will work for you without a problem.
While the combat and flexibility in the game are great and exciting, I think the real show stealer is the story and the art direction. The tale is really funny and is full of great and unique characters. This reminded me a lot of Stick it to the Man (well, duh!), and I’m glad that, even though they choose a genre that typically doesn’t rely much on the story component, every character has a unique voice and personality. I loved the art direction that basically uses 2-D cutouts on a semi 3-D sidescrolling battlefield.
The game has 34 trophies in total, including 5 Gold, 12 Silver and a mighty Platinum. Getting all of the trophies will take you over 20 hours and some good skills. However, thanks to the game’s high replay value and how fun it is, I’m sure you’ll greatly enjoy aiming for the Platinum trophy.
Pro Tip: Ray from Stick it to the Man is actually a character that you can buy as DLC. This is a Zombified version of him available from the PlayStation store, making it a great purchase for only $3, especially for Stick it to the Man fans.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Zombie Vikings is a great brawler, with an excellent story that oozes wit and charm, unlike other titles in the genre. The art style and music choices match the game as well. This is a great couch co-op or online multiplayer game, but it does feel even better when playing with friends. Aside from some graphical hiccups and small frame rate issues – all of which are being patched as we speak – this is a great game and a worthy addition to anyone’s collection.
This review is based on a copy of Zombie Vikings provided by Zoink AB.
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