The Lost Vikings 2

The Lost Vikings 2: Norse by Norsewest

What has gone before...

It's not every day that three Viking warriors find themselves imprisoned aboard an alien spaceship...and it's certainly not every day that three Viking warriors trounce their alien kidnapper and come swaggering home in triumph. It was some time before Olaf, Baleog, and Erik's egos deflated, but eventually life returned to normal in their small northern village. Or nearly so - for after their wild extraterrestrial adventures, the three brothers found themselves discontented with their former calm Viking lives... Dissatisfied with his job as senior polar bear wrangler, Baleog the Fierce auditioned for the Nordic Gladiators but stomped out in disgust when he was barred from bringing his own weaponry. It was then that Baleog realized his responsibility to pass on his skills to the next generation of Vikings. He formed Baleog's School of Plunder, with a popular curriculum focusing on Pillaging, Plundering, and Setting Things On Fire. He became famous throughout Scandinavia for a brilliant lecture course entitled Geat-Crushing In Three Easy Steps. ("Step One: Select a Geat. Step Two: Aim high. Step Three: Crush.") He then went on a tour promoting his book Stalking The Wild Geat and its wildly successful sequel Just What IS A Geat, Anyway? Olaf the Stout decided to pursue his dream of becoming a sumo wrestler and set off in search of the Land of the Rising Sun. He made it as far as the Land of the Noonish Sun before he turned back - not because the journey was too tough but because he couldn't find lasagna anywhere beyond the Mediterranean. Instead, he returned sheepishly home to his family and devoted himself to instructing his children in the arts of swordsmanship, looting, thundering, and making decent goat cheese. Both of his daughters now attend the Baleog School of Plunder- Olaf is especially proud of his eldest, Gerda, who has achieved the rank of Honorary Valkyrie AND can out eat her dad any day of the week. Olaf has appeared on "Lifestyles Of The Large & Bearded" and is busy working on a Combat Frisbee, although the neighbors insist that the idea will never fly. Erik the Swift's experiences in outer space left him bored with village life. He ended up with the mystic Order of the Leaping Mountain Goat,where he finally learned peace, enlightenment, and how to eat a tin can whole. In fact, Erik emptied his mind so thoroughly that he then spent months wandering around dazed and confused, sculpting fjords out of mashed potatoes and believing he was an iguana. He regained his memory after several knocks on the head, all self-inflicted whilst attempting to ram open a can to tuna: --KANG! KANG!-- "Wait a minute! I'm not an iguana at all!" --KANG! KANG!- "Heeey, I'm Erik the Swift!" He swiped a ship and hurried home to the village, where he was warmly greeted by his brothers...especially Olaf, who was thrilled to discover that his own journey had NOT been the most ridiculous one in the history of the village, after all. Early one fine Thor's-Day morning the three brothers set out together in their ship, the Ragnarok. Baleog wanted to do a little light plundering, Olaf felt like fishing. The argument was settled peacefully when Erik wisely sided with Olaf...that is, after Olaf threatened to pick him up by the braids and throw him overboard. After some good-natured brawling on the foredeck, the trio settled down to enjoy the cold, clear morning, and to wait for the sun to rise so that they could bait the fishing lines without sticking hooks through their fingers in the darkness. Little do our heroes know that a specter from their past is stalking them high above. No, it isn't the Master of the Order of the Leaping Mountain Goat...it's Tomator, their alien captor of years before! Though their last encounter was only a year ago for Olaf, Baleog, and Erik, to the time-travelling Tomator his stinging defeat at the brothers' hands occurred only last week...and he wants revenge. Fortunately, for an alien evil genius, Tomator is pretty sloppy. Once again, his ship malfunctions just as the three Norsemen are in his grasp...and this time, the Viking brothers are ready. They've grabbed some of Tomator's high-tech equipment and they know exactly what they have to do to get back to their homes and families: find Tomator and beat the snot out of him! Will the Vikings find their way home across time and space? Will Erik lead his brothers to safety without bonking himself back into thinking he's an iguana? Will Olaf be reunited with his wife and daughters? Will Baleog ever to get a date with Freya, that Valkyrie babe on the "Resume Game" screen? Stay tuned...

-from the booklet.

Developed by Blizzard Entertainment (formerly known as Silicone and Synapse), published by Interplay.

The Lost Vikings 2 is not really much different from the first game, in terms of graphics and gameplay. It does exactly what a sequel ought to do, that is, to pick up where what came before it left off, as if it is just a continuation, or an extension of the previous game and not a seperate game. The game does have one or two minor additions to it, however. Ignoring the slight improvent on the graphics and the new worlds the Vikings visit over their journey, new kinds of food, &c., this game has the additon of two new, yes, new 'Vikings', Fang the Werewolf and Scorch the Dragon (they're not really Vikings). In addition to extra characters, the old characters have some new abilites, too. See, when Tomator screwed up and sent the Vikings off to the 21st century, he sent a Croutonian robot to retrieve them. Something happened, it got dark, and the Vikings used the darkness to their advantage, making scrap metal of the guard and picking up his great Croutonian stuff.

Erik picked up a helmet and funky new boots. Not only did these items give him a slightly meaner look, they actually gave him cool new abilities. The helmet enables him to breathe underwater, and the jet boots give him an extra little boost so he can finally get to all those just-out-of-reach places. His helmet still smashes walls, but using his new boots and helmet together, now he can smash ceilings, as well, by jumping, boosting his jump a little and hitting a ceiling with his helmet. It is much the same as smashing walls, only this time, it's vertical.

Baleog replaced his bow and infinite arrows with a telescopic arm. This is still a long-distance weapon, though not quite as long-distance as his arrows. The improvement is in the hand. The hand can now, as well as giving him the ability to punch enemies dead now, grab hold of distant or awkwardly-placed items. He can also use it to get himself over holes in the ground by holding onto orbs in the sky and swinging from them.

Olaf replaced his shield with a new, glowing blue one. He still has the ability to float gracefully from high places and avoid becoming a mess of blood and bones when he lands, but now the gods gave him the power of flatulence. There is nothing in the shield that gives him this power, it's just something that comes with being large and bearded, something he has managed to become a master in after a year of training. With it, he can propel himself into the air slightly. If he does this as he floats over a ravine, he will, essentially, be moving horizontally through the air for a short distance, which helps him to get over ravines. Secondly, if he does this on top of some bricks, he will come back down with some force and smash them like Erik does from the side or from below. His shield also givs him the magical/physical-but-we-don't-know-about-it-yet power of shrinking, which decreases his height by half and allows him to walk through tiny passages.

Scorch the Dragon is one of the two new 'Vikings'. After Olaf frees him from bondage, he vows to repay his kindness with anything Olaf asks for. Which ends up being asking Scorch, in a roundabout way, to kill Baleog. Scorch has two abilities- he can fly (kind of) and he can breathe fire. He cannot really fly. After a while he just gets tired and uses his wings to glide back down to earth. His gliding is not too much different from what Olaf can do, and the height he can reach is only just slightly higher than Erik can, unaided. Unlike Baleog, however, he can attack while airborne, making frying flying enemies a doddle.

Fang the Werewolf is a source of great confusion for the Vikings. They can never tell what he is (it's obvious, really. He's a deer, like Olaf says he is). He can get to higher places than anybody else can, as long as there are high, vertical, flat walls around, as he can climb walls. He can also strike enemies with his claws.

As in the first game, you only get to have three characters in each level, which means sometimes the person transporting you to the next level must send the 'unneeded' Vikings to strange and faraway places.

There are no other real differences between this game and its predecessor, apart from the moving between levels. In the original game, the exits were marked as 'Exit' and you had to get the three Vikings to it, but in this game, you have to collect three items for the particular witch/witchdoctor/time machine technician who requires them to send you to the next level or world.

This game is still available to buy. Search for it on Amazon, the last time i checked it was going for 99p. I didn't know whether to feel insulted or overjoyed at this, but that's just the way it is.

Alright, it would seem I need some help. Okay, over several years of playing, I have gotten to the point where i can sail through each level with ease, and my younger brother and I have discovered how to unlock everybody's 'secret abilities'. There is one thing I am having a little difficulty with, however.

I have managed to do this several times, basically Erik becomes a flamey Baleog/saber-weilding maniac, it happens when he dashes through the water, but I have no idea how I managed it, and I can never do it again. If anybody can help me out, name your own prize.

UPDATEI've finally managed to work out how to send Erik nuts. I no longer need your help. I won't tell you how to unlock everybody's secret abilities and turn the game into the Lost Vikings on crack. That's for y'all to figure out for yourselves. Have fun.