Swirls of speckled dust float through the filtered rays of afternoon sunlight as you gaze into the depths of an ancient forest. Looming shadows stalk by in the distance, and you can just make out a throaty growl and an adventurous thrum of harp, drum, and flute.
Northern Tale 2 certainly scores points for one of the more captivating title screens I've seen in awhile. I admit, I sat and stared at it for a few minutes just taking in the details and the animated play in the background.
But finally the itch to venture into the great white north was too hard to resist and I boldly clicked play, poised to do battle once more.
Northern Tale 2 has three modes for you to select from. One is a relaxed, no time mode...boring...what's the point of a time management game if you're not going to get rewarded for your quick clicks? The next mode is Normal... Pretty standard play, timed and with rewards. But then there was the fascinating Multiclick mode that caught my attention. This allows you to queue up your workers with multiple actions. Yes, please! I can't stand time management games that don't allow for chained tasks, so I was very pleased to see this option.
Northern Tale 2 then launches into a quick recap of the story from the first Northern Tale. For those of you who didn't play the first game, it plays out as follows... An evil witch, Gesta, stole The Viking king, Ragnar's daughters. In the first game, you rescued each daughter and defeated the evil witch. Now with his family restored, Ragnar, in Northern Tale 2, must repair the damage the witch did to his land.
And here's where our new story begins.
Gameplay is very similar to the first Northern Tale and standard for most resource management games. You click to collect food, gold, ore, and other various resources as well as repair and build structures and buildings to help you out.
Time is kept on the left-hand part of your screen and ticks down from the moment you make your first move. I enjoy this feature since it gives you time to evaluate your goals and formulate a winning strategy... And believe me, you'll need to really tax your skills on this game, because it is quite challenging in the later levels...okay starting at around level 7 I found myself missing three stars...
The music and sounds are quite pleasant in Northern Tale 2 and reinforce the Viking theme, although at times it occasionally drifts into a somewhat country western cadence and the Viking workers will sometimes shout yeehaw... Weird. Speaking of those Viking voices...yeah, they will get annoying really fast since they say the same things over and over again every time you tell them to do something. Lucky for us, the option to turn the voices off exists in the menu options.
The graphics of Northern Tale 2 are quite lovely, especially the level map. It had a very bright and engaging feel to it, almost like a child's storybook, with dappled water colors and shadowed edges. The gameplay graphics itself were crisp and vivid, with nicely defined details on the objects and buildings.
Boosts become available after the first level and include a variety of different options to help you tackle each level including speed bursts, extra resources, and extra Vikings. Some levels will require you to use the boosts carefully in order to get a three star rating, so learn how to use these to your advantage.
Overall, Northern Tale 2 was an addicting and extremely challenging time management game that was polished, pleasant, and pretty close to perfect in my book. If you're looking for something challenging to throw yourself into, I highly recommend sinking your teeth into this gorgeous northern viking adventure.