For the past 7 years, at least in my opinion, SEGA has been in a massive slump. Since their last ill-fated console attempt fell apart prematurely, with the Dreamcast, they moved onto third-party game development, and the quality of their titles has taken an unfortunate plunge into the basement of mediocrity, or worse. Although they haven’t released many titles of note, in recent years, that hasn’t stopped them from trying. SEGA’s latest attempt, a brutal hack’n’slash action-er, takes place in the mythological world of Norse gods and goddesses, with Viking: Battle for Asgard. Does Viking escape from that aforementioned basement, or does it dwell in the cellar with many of the others? Let’s find out, shall we.

The game’s protagonist comes in the form of the young Viking warrior, Skarin (pronounced Scarr-Inn.) Somehow, he has an inexplicable connection with the gods, and has been called upon by the Goddess Freya to help take down her rival, the Queen of the Underworld, Hel. Beyond that, the narrative only exists to drive the game forward, from island to island, and battle to battle. Viking’s lackluster, anemic story is merely a set-piece. Even the developers put little stock in the game’s tale, as they adorn every cut-scene with a very noticeable on-screen icon, prompting you to skip it by pressing the A button.

On the positive side, Viking’s style of gameplay doesn’t really need a strong story-line to keep it going. At the game’s beginning, Skarin is teleported by way of a shaman’s portal into a small Viking stronghold built along the southern coast of the island, Niflberg. From there you take control, and, by talking to the stronghold’s inhabitants, you’ll learn how the game’s natural progression works. Various locations will be marked on the on-screen map at the start of each of the game’s three islands, and Skarin will travel from marker to marker liberating Viking allies and eliminating the presence of any enemies, in disgustingly gore-ious fashion.

There’s much distance to be covered, by foot, and, sadly, this highlights the first of the game’s long list of maddening flaws. Skarin runs at a snail’s pace, and he’ll have to cover a lot of ground, moving across the rather expansive maps. Magical Leystones, or portals, give temporary relief to the monotonous travel, but they can be far and few between, especially further into the game. As crazy as it may sound, killing yourself is usually the quickest way to get around. Whenever Skarin dies, he’s transported to a Leystone inside of the Viking forces’ current stronghold. You can then tap the B button and choose which Leystone you want to teleport back to, rather than hoof your way there. It’s certainly not a good thing when suicide can become a player’s preferred method of travel.

A slow-moving character isn’t the only problem this game has, however. The combat may seem decent, upon first glance, but the further you get into the game, the more you’ll realize how utterly broken it truly is. The fundamentals are present; auto lock-on, dedicated block button, outrageously gory finishing moves and plenty of ways to dispatch your foes, such as axes and flamepots (think Molotov cocktail) that can be thrown from a distance. Where everything falls apart, though, is when the game’s cumbersome controls get in the way. All of Skarin’s actions feel very sluggish. An enemy will launch into a flurry of attacks, and rather than opening up an opportunity to counter by only blocking the initial blow, after you release the button, Skarin will continue to defend the string of attacks. Not to mention, most of Skarin’s combos lurch along so slowly, it’s much easier to just stick to jamming on the A button.

Even worse is how muddled the controls feel when facing a large group of Hel’s legion. Unlike most other games of similar fashion, the enemies in Viking will not allow you the slightest opening. If you’re surrounded by 6 or more enemies at a time, which will happen fairly often, death is usually inevitable. As soon as you try to land a single strike, an enemy will attack you from behind, and then you’ll be bounced back and forth, while your health slowly drains away, until your block finally decides to start working again. To attempt to help equalize these situations, Skarin has different runic abilities at his disposal. Occasionally, the ice rune ability will get you out of a jam, as you’ll freeze and dispatch foes quickly, but the fire and lightning abilities are practically useless. In a game where you face off against multiple foes on a regular basis, one would hope that your character would be given some kind of area-of-effect skill. Skarin possesses no such skill, however, so when surrounded, you’re forced to slowly and methodically kill each enemy, one at a time.