Rune

Reviews / previews

Preview: Rune

If strapping on a horned helmet, wielding a mighty battleaxe, and sacking villages sounds like your idea of fun, then get ready for Rune, a 3D action game set in a world where Vikings rule. As a fledgling Viking warrior, you will battle your way through 25 single-player levels, armed with a variety of weapons, including a warhammer, throwing axes, and a two-handed sword. You will also be able to deal some damage to your friends in Deathmatch multiplay. Built using the Unreal engine, Rune will display some impressive eye candy in its many environments, from dark caverns to sprawling mountains, as you fight off hordes of creatures from Norse mythology. The axes will start swinging when Rune thunders into stores in October.-- Brian Wright / GamePro

Review: Rune

With its Viking storyline, striking visuals, and excellent level design, Rune should have been the greatest game of the year, but some unoriginal gameplay prevents it from crushing its enemies.

Rune starts off in a Viking village with a young warrior named Ragnar being initiated in a ceremony to become a man. After a bout with the local combat trainer, Ragnar joins his Viking buddies on a ship, which is summarily sunk by an evil villain, killing everyone on board.

But wait! Odin has decided that Ragnar's time has not yet come and after being revived, the young warrior soon finds himself in an underwater cavern where he proceeds to kill a menagerie of snakes and rock crabs, while leaping from ledge to ledge like a testosterone-fueled Nordic Lara Croft.

In fact, Rune plays much like a fast-paced Tomb Raider with levers to pull, chains to climb, and spinning blades to avoid. This isn't necessarily bad; it's just not what you would expect from a game involving Vikings. Despite having the entire history of Norse mythology as a backdrop, Rune is surprisingly lacking in character and story. Vikings ought to be tromping across the tundra, not spelunking through a grotto in Hell, fighting endless hordes of zombies.

The well-designed levels are very long, which means that the game will keep you occupied for quite a while, but it also means that you may grow tired of looking at the same scenery and killing the same monsters after a while. To its credit, Rune provides some clever puzzles, mostly involving the find-the-lever-that-opens-the-door variety, and they keep the game moving along at a steady pace.

Ragnar sports a variety of moves, from running, climbing, and swimming to swinging axes, swords, and other weapons, and all are accomplished easily with the mouse/keyboard setup that first person shooter fans are accustomed to. Switching weapons in the heat of combat can be cumbersome, but not to the point of being frustrating.

The Unreal engine continues to impress and Rune doesn't disappoint graphically. The Hell levels, in particular, show off beautiful gothic-style architecture and excellent use of colors and lighting. The sparse sound effects consist mostly of Ragnar's grunts and the clang of metal weapons striking rocks. A little more music would have given the game more atmosphere and character.

Finding a multiplayer game is easy with the in-game matching service provided by GameSpy, but while a multiplayer melee free-for-all sounds like a good idea on paper, in reality the up-close and personal combat lacks the run-and-gun excitement of shooters like Quake and Unreal.

What Rune does offer is a fun, albeit not too original, action/platform-style game with hours and hours of gameplay. Rune will satisfy your axe-swinging, lever-pulling, zombie beheading urges, just don't expect anything too deep.-- Brian Wright / GamePro