We're going to go out on a limb here and say Beowulf is the first video game ever to be based on a poem.
To be more specific, it's a 1000-year old English poem which tells the story of a legendary Norse warrior who travelled to Denmark to destroy the fearsome monster Grendel.
Once he dispatches the beast he takes on Grendel's mother (Angelina Jolie in the movie) before claiming the Danish throne. In what is a bit of an anti-climax, he gets mortally wounded by a dragon and dies.
While the movie pretty much follows the timeline of the poem, the game veers off course, showing how Beowulf turns from an arrogant, head strong youth into a manipulating, power-mad king.
It puts you in the position of deciding whether to bring Beowulf's kingdom out of darkness or live for glory and carnal pleasures. The decision, as they say, is yours.
At its core, the game is a typical hack n slash that immediately brings to mind PS2 classic God of War.
It's super violent, with blood constantly spraying the screen, limbs flying into the air and bones crunching with sickeningly meaty sound effects.
"It is during carnal mode that Beowulf gets most violent - grabbing an enemy leads on to all sorts of nasty, bone-crunching moves."
Beowulf is the main harbinger of destruction, using swords, pole arms and often times his bare fists to crush enemies ranging from skeletons, baddie human warriors and giant trolls.
Like Kratos, Beowulf is somewhat of an anti-hero. And like God of War you'll be spending much of your time stringing combos together to down wave upon wave of nasties until there's nothing left.
Holding the right trigger brings out your Carnal Fury, which turns you invincible and the screen a chaotic red. This is great for when things become overwhelming.
But Carnal Fury comes with a price - you can't distinguish your enemies from your fellow thanes (Norse warriors who you lead into battle) and other friendly NPCs, like naked virgins (yes there's full-frontal nudity in the game).
It is during carnal mode that Beowulf gets most violent - grabbing an enemy leads on to all sorts of nasty, bone-crunching moves.
In one level you go head to head with a giant troll, a fight which pretty much demands carnal mode to win. You grab it, mash B, climb up on its shoulders then snap its jaw into oblivion. Delicious.
Carnal Fury is at the heart of what Ubisoft hope will help Beowulf raise its head above the typical hack n slash fare.
Whenever you use Carnal powers you succumb more and more to Grendel's mother, and endear yourself less and less to your thanes.
There is an alternative. You can forget about the Carnal side of things and go Heroic if you want, using X+Y combos to defeat enemies and inspire your men with special morale boosting moves. But you'll move through the game much slower and have a lot less fun too.
We reckon most gamers won't be affected too much by this morality test. Those who want to play the game heroically will probably only do so to earn more achievement points once they've finished the game.
Tied in with the heroic aspect of Beowulf is the curious rhythm action mini-game, called Thanes Booster, which is used to inspire your thanes into rowing boats better or moving great boulders to reveal hidden pathways. It's fiddly at first, but once you suss out the timing it's decent fun, although we can't imagine it will hold interest throughout the entire game.
Overall, while Beowulf's graphics are indeed impressive (we particularly like the character models), and the game has this overall next-gen sheen about it, it looks like being a bit too generic to stand out this Christmas. Excitement level? Warm at the moment. Would we have seen a Beowulf game if there hadn't been a movie to tie in with? Probably not. But here it is, and we have to consider it on its own merits. Odin's balls will tell all soon enough.
