Viking Battle for Asgard preview Xbox 360

We've gone hands-on this month with Viking: Battle for Asgard, the forthcoming action game from the makers of the PC favourite Total War series. Taking on a character from such formidable fighting stock as the Vikings is always going to be exciting and we have high hopes of this game from what we've seen so far - there's a mix of solo missions and whole-army assaults which you'll have to gather forces for. Viking: Battle for Asgard could be one of the biggest action epics the 360 has seen - find out more in our full hands-on preview now!
Click here to read our Viking Battle for Asgard preview for Xbox 360 now!

Viking Battle for Asgard preview for Xbox 360
If there's one thing you can rely on with Sussex-based developer The Creative Assembly, it's that they know how to handle themselves in a scrap. As you'd probably expect from the team behind the sublime Total War series on PC, or the hugely underrated Spartan: Total Warrior from three years back, the battle scenes in their latest are some of the most impressive yet seen on a current-generation console.

Shifting hundreds of chunky, detailed warriors around with not even the slightest hint of a stutter, Viking feels closest in spirit to something like a Western Dynasty Warriors, but with a good deal more dismemberment. It's brutal, barbaric and bloody - just as a game featuring such vicious fighters should be. Rather than controlling a horde of Norse warriors, you play as one Viking, Skarin, who is tasked with destroying a legion of undead, conjured by the goddess Hel after her banishment by the all-powerful Odin. If the story sounds a little like a Norse remake of God of War's plot, then you won't be surprised to hear that Skarin is also a dark, conflicted protagonist, with inner demons, a mysterious past and a lust for blood. Sega is clearly positioning him as a rival to Sony's Kratos, suggesting he's "gaming's next great hero".

Click here to continue reading our Viking Battle for Asgard preview for Xbox 360 now!