OK … out of two previews that I have done over the past couple of months for Northland, I was really impressed on how much it had changed, yet stayed the same. Changed and stayed the same from what … one to the other? Well, actually changed and stayed the same from its predecessor, Cultures 2: Gates of Asgard (one of my personal favorite RTS titles from last year). If you’ve played and enjoyed Cultures 2, you’ll be interested to know what has been done differently this time around. If not, read on to find out more.

Cultures 2 was a story of a Viking hero named Bjarni, who was also the son of the mighty Leif Erikson. He has a dream about Ragnarok (the end of the world in Norse mythology) that takes the form of a giant serpent. He realizes that his destiny is to travel out and stop this from happening, and does so with the aid of three friends that he meets along the way in his journeys. Well, Northland picks up with Bjarni and one of his fellow heroes and companions, Crya, as they return to Byzantium and are wed. Everything goes well, but soon they receive a call for help from Hatchie, the brave Saracen and a fellow traveler from his original adventure. It seems as though serpent creatures are appearing and destroying Hatchie’s country, so Bjarni and Crya take up arms once more to head out, help Hatchie, and help save the world from destruction and chaos once more.

There are four ways to play Northland, the main one and most recognizable for veterans will probably be the campaign mode, which has Bjarni and his pals working through 8 different missions to complete the plot and story of Northland. There is also a single mission play style, which of course has you completing individual single missions, a multiplayer mode to play either through a LAN or on the internet with up to five other players, and even an editor mode which allows you to create your own single or multiplayer missions from the ground up.

The overall gameplay element from Cultures 2 that still exists in Northland is in the “Godsim” style of play. You are responsible for watching over and assigning professions to your Viking civilians and building their culture up. You assign tasks such as resource gathering (wood, clay, etc), hunting, and building such as in RTS style of play. You also are responsible for telling your Vikings where to work and what to build (dwellings, farms, mills, etc) and where to build it. Lastly, you also tell them when to eat, sleep, pray, get married, where to live, and when to have children and even what sex to have. Basically, you control every aspect of the game from start to finish, and the overall success of your people lies mainly on you. It is possible to start a campaign with only 10 or so Vikings, and have well over 50 or 60 by the time that you move to complete your mission. 

Another thing that carried over are the elements of RPG style play still found in Northland, since each Viking male will level up in the professions that they are doing, which allows them to advance to the next level. For example, if you tell a citizen to be a clay extractor, after he does this and earns enough experience, he can then become a potter. You don’t have to make him quit mining clay, but leveling up is important (as is keeping an eye on this type of promoting to new assignments) since potters can make brick and tile which will allow you to build bigger and better structures which will then allow access to new professions or buildings. Each profession opens new opportunities, and each can be vital to the overall success of the group.

One of the biggest changes that shows up in Northland is the incorporation of more an action style of gameplay. The original not only had you focusing on building your village, but also in creating diplomacy among new cultures. This doesn’t always go as planed though, and fighting and hostility is just part of the game. There didn’t seem to be a big focus on it during a lot of the game though, and most of the playtime usually revolved around micromanagement and making sure that everyone was doing what they were supposed to. Most missions in Northland, whether in the campaign mode or in the single player missions, seem to revolve around combat or something a little more action oriented though which begins to put more focus on building things like defense towers and barracks versus another pottery shop since there was a possible looming threat of attack.

Another thing that I saw in Northland was that the stories and mission based characters or items seemed to revolve a little more on fantasy creatures and magic. Magic chests have been added into areas of the map that can be found and opened by a hero which contain restore potions and whatnot, and creatures like demons and large serpents have been added into the storyline and missions so humans won’t be the only enemy to fight here. There were more than humans in Cultures 2 of course, especially considering the plot, but there again just seems to be more focus being placed on it to make it more of a fantasy style of gameplay. Cultures 2 had a lot of actual Norse mythology embedded in it, which remains here in Northland as well too though, so for those of you who loved the original … it’s still in there.

Lastly, I’d like to mention that they added in lower difficulty settings so that your people will not be quite as needy. As stated above, one of your jobs is to manage every little tiny minute detail of their lives, which makes it more of a micromanagement sim than an RTS title. These lower difficulty settings help by removing a lot of the constant neediness and not making them tell you every time they are hungry or are in need of sleep, which of course in turn helps to put more focus on the fun and actual game missions rather than running back and forth feeling like you are babysitting. 

Graphically, the game retains the same colorful and cutesy look (despite the rough and gritty Viking lifestyle) that was found in Cultures 2. The characters that roam around all have bulbous noses and an “Asterix” (the comic book character) kind of look to them. In addition, there are now more environmental effects that have been included as well, from things like dust clouds kicking up as people go about what they are doing or even rain and fog effects. Lastly on the graphics note, the villagers will still stop and have very animated conversations with one another which really helps to boost the social feeling of the village and the game overall.   

The sound to Northland is also very reminiscent of the Cultures 2 title, and it still has the chiming and happy little music that plays when new buildings are built or babies have entered the world. In addition, there is an overall ambiance of conversation and work being done throughout the village as the citizens go about chopping down trees, mining stone, or building things like furniture, shoes, or weapons in their shops.

Overall, Northland is definitely an improvement over the Cultures 2 title, which makes it even better for those of us who were big Cultures 2 fans to begin with. Everything that made the original Cultures 2 game is back in, including the ease of gameplay and extreme hours of potential playtime. The addition of the creation mode also helps to prolong the enjoyment; since even long after the single player and campaign settings are gone … you can still continue to create your own single and multiplayer maps. In my initial preview, I was a little worried about what might happen to the series since it went from JoWood to another developer … but I’m happy to say that they proved me wrong and it only got better.    

Gameplay: 8.5
While the possibility of having a ton of Vikings running around that you have to be responsible for may sound complicated, it is surprisingly simple to get into and figure out. This also means that there is so much going on all of the time that you really will spend hours getting sucked into the game and having fun with it, and the mixture of RTS, Godsim, and RPG elements adds a little something in for almost any action or strategy gamer. The four different play modes add hours and hours of value for your money up front, and the option or multiplayer and also to build and create your own maps really takes it above and beyond. The addition of a lower difficulty setting to take away a lot of the villagers needs helps to eliminate a lot of the micromanagement complaints from the first one, and the higher focus on fighting and action helps to speed up the pace and excitement of the game.

Graphics: 8.1
The world has a nice, colorful and well detailed look to it overall, and the looks of the different buildings and structures varies from culture to culture to set them apart from someone else. The characters retain a cute look to them, complete with bulbous noses and heavy, full moustaches, and even some of the more dangerous creatures can look deceivingly tame. When the camera is zoomed in all the way, the graphics get very blurred out and blocky though, and there were periodic issues with one of the villagers getting behind a structure when I needed him or her which made me go to the village list to have to try and figure out which one it was that I needed. This was a minor issue, and nothing which ruined the game, but it was present a couple of times while I was playing.

Sound: 8.4
The background music that plays during the missions was done well, and while they were repeated tracks that were looped … they didn’t seem to get annoying and set the tone well for the stages that I was playing in at the time. Each villager will respond to your commands in their own unique language, and the air will get filled with the buzzing of business and conversations (especially once the village has grown to a good size) as you get immersed into the game.

Difficulty: Medium
While the game is easy to get into and play, the missions can take a long time to go through and sometimes if something isn’t done right it may cause you to have to go WAY back to try over again. Since there is now an option to take a lot of focus off of babysitting your group due to constant needs rather than focusing on what needs to happen, these do overs tend to taper off a bit which still provides for a challenge, but not for aggravation.

Concept: 8.8
While I thoroughly enjoyed Cultures 2 a lot, I thought that the direction that GMX and Funatics has taken the series is a very good one. They did a great job in keeping everything (RTS, RPG, Godsim gameplay and tons of replay for your money) that made the original game so great but added and changed the right elements that make it even better. I’m already looking forward to seeing a sequel.

Multiplayer: 8.8
The multiplayer element to Northland is also a lot of fun, and the developers added in a few different ways to play. Military (beat your opponents), Economic (build a strong village and produce more goods), and Special which includes Capture the Flag and even a Co-op mode to allow you and a buddy to team up your villages and rain havoc down on your opponents.  

Overall: 8.5
Really, the only way that I can see someone not liking Northland who enjoys a good RTS experience mixed with some other game elements like RPGs would be if you just have to have a really high action focus found in titles similar to Warcraft III. While Northland has a good focus on combat and more exciting missions than Cultures 2 had, it still has a lot of focus on the building and Godsim elements as well. This does add a ton of up front play to the game though, and it is amazing how addicting this game gets once you sit down and start getting into it. You owe it to yourself to at least check it out. If you were a fan of Cultures 2, definitely pick this one up.