We’ve lost count of the number of Clash of Clans clones released on iOS lately and that happens mostly because they are nothing but poor copies that bring nothing new to the genre: same mechanics, similar graphics, same troop tiers and carbon copy buildings. In the ocean of copies, a new game stands out and amazes us with its originality, quirky sense of humor and brand new ideas: Vikings Gone Wild. Which, despite its name that makes us think of videos we wouldn’t want to be caught watching at our job, is a brilliant title. And no, I’m not overreacting. It’s brilliant!
Vikings Gone Wild is, at its core, a strategy game that has a ton of common elements with Clash of Clans. You start with a little village, you have two types of resources that will help you build up your base, there are upgrades and troops, there are heroes and clans, there are single player missions and millions of players to battle against while constantly waiting for stuff on your base to be upgraded. If you have ever played Clash of Clans or any of its clones, you will feel very familiar with the gameplay mechanics.
And still, there are many great things that make Vikings Gone Wild much more than just a CoC copy. The first thing that will strike you is the game’s visual approach. With buildings and troops had drawn by skilled people (or at least looking like some hand-crafted masterpieces), your gut starts telling you that this might be the game to challenge Clash of Clan’s seemingly unbeatable supremacy.
However, you can’t beat a top game with shiny drawings only, and this game has more Aces up its sleeve. What I loved enormously about it was the approach to troops: EVERY.SINGLE.GAME that I have played follows the same rules when it comes to troop building: you start with the poor troops that you only use during your first three levels, then the ranged units, then the resource stealers, the tank, the wall-breaker, the aerial unit, then the healer and so on. All games follow the same rule of troop building. Vikings Gone Wild? Not so much. The archers are the first troop you can train. Training time? 1 second. Then you go for some really nice warriors. Training time? 1 second. There are no healers (as they are anyway useless and rarely used by anyone in those games) and, instead of 8 troops, they come with 10.
Do you know the boring upgrade mechanics of troops in other games? This time, things are more exciting and you get to choose what to upgrade as the developers have introduced skill trees for all the troops. Therefore, you will upgrade their health or attack, or speed or critical hit rate and so on. The trees branch out into multiple choices and there is a huge possibility that at level 80, you will have a pretty unique army compared with that of the other players. Brilliant!
And things don’t stop here. Vikings Gone Wild also introduces, later on in the game, the third resource – Nectar. It can be used to craft weapons and different items for your hero which also levels up by gaining experience in battle and becomes your biggest ally during the fights. The hero also has special skills that come with a cooldown timer, similar to regular RPGs – so you’ll be doing some on-screen tapping every now and then during the battles, making the entire battling process a bit more active on your side. Check out our Vikings Gone Wild tips and tricks article to learn more!
And finally, there’s the humor of this game, which is really catchy. One of the resources that you need is, of course, beer. One of your best cannons throws sheep at enemies, while the “archer” tower shoots chicken at invaders. Pig tower? Check! Anti Air Cow? Check! Funny and fun!
Being a free to play game, Vikings Gone Wild comes with a plethora of IAPs. The premium currency comes at decent prices and you will be constantly bombarded with hot deals and promotions that will make you believe that you really have to purchase some Gems. Which is really not the case: you can completely play the game without spending a single penny and still remain competitive. You don’t need this special currency, you don’t need to spend real money in order to progress through the game. It does help with the long waiting times, but this game is not a race to the finish line and can be easily experienced free of charge forever.
Overall, Vikings Gone Wild is an extremely pleasant surprise and a top quality game for the iOS crowd. I really hope to see this one on the top spot on the App Store for a long while from now on and hopefully the developers will instantly gift me with a level 10 Town Hall and a million beers for saying that. If not, I am still not taking it back because this game is innovative, addictive, funny and brilliant. Must play!
App Store link: Vikings Gone Wild
Final rating: 9.5
Published: May 27, 2014 07:39 am