If you’ve ever wanted to be in charge of a viking ship, here’s your chance.
Ragnarock puts you in the role of a drummer on a Viking ship, and the better you perform, the faster your ship goes. It makes sense really, as there’s nothing as morale-breaking as a constant, horrible noise, is there? But being a great drummer isn’t always easy.
Jump into solo mode and you’ll find there’s a huge number of songs to play through. They’re licensed, too, so if you’re into Viking or pirate-inspired metal and rock by bands such as Alestorm or Jinjer, there might be some you’re familiar with. Select one, and you’ll play through its entirety whether you drum like a pro or not. What matters here is how far you travel during the song. If you don’t manage to get at least a bronze medal by covering a set distance during its running time, and you can consider yourself a failure.
You have four drums to beat, and your aim is to hit them just as runes coming from the top of the screen cross them. Consistently hit the drums in time with the beat and you’ll charge the hammers that you beat them with, with perfect hits providing more of a boost. When your hammers are charged up, you can then hit the shields on either side of you to use your power up and propel your ship forward at speed. The higher the charge in your hammers, the faster the boost. But be careful, as one missed or incorrectly hit note will eradicate your charge. It’s a nice bit of risk versus reward.
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It’ll take you a fair while to play though all of the songs available, and even longer to master them. Multiple difficulties are available, with a number ranging from 1-10 signifying how tricky a song will be. Select a 10-rated song and notes will fly at you in great numbers and at an insane speed, making you wish you either had better coordination or more arms. It’s something to aim for though, eh?
Aside from solo, there’s a multiplayer mode available that allows you to take on players to see who can get the best score and travel the most distance. Ultimately though, this is a game that’s likely going to be best enjoyed alone, trying to master songs and place highly on the global leaderboards. As you play, you’ll also unlock cosmetics which can be used to customise your Viking drummer.
Racgnarock is a nice looking game, with a charming art style and bold use of colours. Image quality is a bit soft on PSVR 2, though, making some information hard to read in menus. But that’s about the only thing to complain about, as tracking is great, and so is the use of haptic feedback to make it feel like you really are hitting something. You’ll find plenty of comfort options too.
Ultimately, how much fun you’ll get out of Ragnarock depends on how much you like the type of music it’s centred around. If you don’t like loud, crunchy riffs and the occasional bit of screaming, then you might not be able to stomach it for too long unless your love for drumming is greater. For those fully invested in the ridiculous antics that Ragnarock offers though, a jolly good time can be had time and time again.
Ragnarock PSVR 2 Review – GameSpew’s Score
