Boring, tedious combat and non-existant story add up to one game every one should skip.
Angry at her fate, she seeks to release the ancient wolf-god Fenrir, which legend tells will bring about Ragnarok - the apocalyptic battle that will destroy Asgard and the gods. With her army of resurrected Viking warriors, Hel marches on the unsuspecting mortal realm of Midgard.Freya, Goddess of war, is appointed the task of stopping Hel and defending the future of mankind. For her champion she chooses Skarin, a great but troubled young warrior, ignorant of the true reason for his favour with the Gods and thrust into the midst of their bitter war. As the player strikes down Hel she screams, "You have not freed Midgard!"
The player then sees Skarin asking for his place in Valhalla but is refused by Freya, causing Skarin to release Fenrir and begin Ragnarok. A cutscene then states that, although the gods have been destroyed and men now make their own decisions, the essence of the gods is nevertheless still present."
That description of the story is taken from Wikipedia. The storytelling of this game is so down right pathetic, that I never even knew the true story. I saw crappy still frame "cutscenes" depicting wars with dragons and monsters, and a whole lot of text accompanied with derivative nord accented speech, that said alot, but said NOTHING. This game basically has no story, so don't go into it with a cool mythology story in mind. It doesnt deliver.
On to what you'll be doing constantly throught the game. The combat. Its very standard, brings nothing new to the table, and becomes stale by hour 2, and mind numbingly, sleep inducingly repetitive by hour 3. Theres a fair amount of gore and dismemberment that could satisfy any violence craving, but you cant play it for long without wanting to lay down, pull up your sheets and teddy, and go to bed. Its that bad. You can learn a few slightly interesting to watch moves at the Arena, and attempt to improve your combat, but its like putting a band-aid on a bullet wound. Some context and timing sensitive boss fights attempt to break things up, but to no avail. The only plus to the combat is the sheer number of troops that can be on screen. It adds a bit of drama to the battles, but once you actually start fighting, it gets boring again.
All of this joy takes place on three different, free to explore islands of Midgard. Treasure and enemies are abound on these islands, but they're so small, that they wont keep you occupied long. They are fairly detailed graphically, featuring fairly lush looking foliage, decent shadowing, and nice terrain, but the complete lack of ambient life other than your drunken looking soldiers once again leads to complete boredom. Sound design is also pathetic, and often time, actions arent even accompanied by sound. I broke down countless gates, and slashed at hundreds of soldiers with no sound effects at all. One plus, the game performs pretty much flawlessly. It keeps a very stable framerate, even when the screen is covered with battling troops.
Over all, this game could have been good. It really could have. It had alot of possibility, but the devs either rushed it, gave up, or were just.... terrible. Skip this game unless you get a bad case of video game blood lust, and even at that, dont pay much to play it.