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Total War: Viking Invasion Review
Mark Simons
11/06/2003
More stunning historical battles for an already excellent game? Find out here...
The Total War series has rightly established itself as one of the finest real-time strategy games on the PC.
Fans of the series know what lies in store, the rest of you, well if you like historical battles, itâs probably worth checking out really. Whilst hard at work on their new game, Rome: Total War â“ which looks incredible, Creative Assembly aren't forgetting the owners of their last hit, Medieval: Total War as they release this Viking Invasion expansion pack.
Focusing on the Viking invasion of England that started around 793ad, with the invasion and looting of the Lindisfahrn monastery, if my memory serves me correct. However it wasnât all about raping, pillaging, pointy helmets and long boats despite what Hagar might lead you to believe! Their contribution to establishing trade routes via sea and land over the British Isles, Ireland â“ connecting them to mainland Europe and Scandinavia was vital. Technologically and culturally the Vikings had large impact on British life. Much like most of the other major invaders that went before them, such as the Romans and the Normans who followed in 1066, which is as far as this game gets to.
The Vikings were hard folk who were excellent seafarers and this is represented with some very strong attacking units and an unsurpassed navy. You can drop units off quickly and without a port, for some surprise raids, proper Viking style. The reliance on quick, effective raiding without much support results in some different approaches that you can adopt to keep those pesky natives down. Or you could try and be a bit nicer and not go a raping' and a pillaging and place emphasis on trade. But that brings its own problems, such as your Vikingâs searching for another God.
Religion is important in the game and not just an interesting thing to look at historically. In the previous games you had to make sure you didn't annoy the pope too much, however not being Catholic or anyway Christian gives the Vikings a different approach to dealing with Religion - they don't. All you have to do is try and take over the British Isles and if a few pagan shrines help you on that route, well so be it. You do have to be careful for if over half of your people become Christian then the effectiveness of your raids will go down - slightly odd as historically Christians have been quite good at raids, Viking style, just look at the crusades.
There are detailed maps of Britain, Norway and Denmark with over 60 regions and some seas for you to play with. These are filled with various tribes, the Welsh, Scots, Celts and various different English tribes. The fall of the Roman Empire â“ the America of its day, but without nukes â“ left Britain and Europe in a squabbling mess; agriculture got neglected, so youâll have to spend time collecting resources.
Combat has changed slightly as well, no firearms or crossbows for you. Brutal hand-to-hand combat is the order of the day here. The Vikings have some incredibly strong units, but the inhabitants of the British Isle's were no pussycats either. Viking Berserkers â“ gotta love that name â“ will serve you well, but the Anglo Saxons have some excellent cavalry which are far stronger than the Viking's â“ you try putting horses on a boat if you're not called Noah... The addition of boiling oil that gets poured over the edges of castle walls is a welcome one. Other tribes have some unique attributes, the Welsh are good at hiding, and the Celts are very strong in attack for example.
There are other little tweaks and changes to the Total War game which are welcome; such as new races to play as in the Medieval game like the Sicilians and Hungarians, as well as some new units for existing races. Historical battles such as Stamford Bridge and the battle of Hastings are thrown in to see if you can succeed where others failed, which is nice.
