Overview

Developer: Human Head
Publisher: G.O.D.
Rune official page: http://www.runegame.com
More Rune resources

Speaking In Grunt

Ever get tired of the unfortunate distances that guns put between you and your online victims? Do you play with the gauntlet in Quake just for the challenge and variety? When you take up the sniper rifle in Counter-Strike do you go "oh yay, another headshot"? It seems like every action game these days is about circle strafing, rocket jumping, gun duels, sniping and headshots.

Humanhead Studios decided to break from the norm with their new release, Rune. Here the only way you'll ever fire a ranged weapon is if you take your axe, mace or sword and throw it at someone. Then you hope you have another weapon stored somewhere on that big old Viking body of yours so you can fight in melee. Because that's what the combat in Rune is about - melee. You get in your enemy's face and then pound it in with your weapon. That's all there is to it.

Odin's Runestones

My Man!

So All I Do Is Kill Things?

For the most part, you're concerned with the wholesale massacre of your enemies. There is quite a bit of puzzle solving, however, but we'll get to that later. One of the most important things about Rune is the setting. Your main character is a Viking called Ragnar. As you start the game you're just about to take the test of manhood - it serves well as an introduction and tutorial, but if you actually think about the plot behind the test, it has more holes than Swiss cheese. Setting that aside for the moment, the tutorial is rather good and seamlessly integrated.

You take part in a ceremony in the village, and then you're free to run about. You can go up and talk to several people in non-interactive sequences. It soon becomes clear that you have to fight the village champion to become a true man, so off you go looking for him. Life seems fairly idyllic for your character.

The screenshots don't do it justice

That's buff baby

Unfortunately, soon after becoming a "real man," Ragnar finds that fate and circumstances have decreed that he has to save the world. For those of you who are familiar with Norse mythology, the game picks up at a fairly late point in the myths. The trickster god Loki has already been imprisoned in the underworld by Odin and can only be set free by Ragnarok - the final battle which will destroy all creation. Since he has nothing to lose and only sweet revenge to gain, Loki manipulates events on the world above to bring about Ragnarok.

Here the game diverges from the myths a little. In the game, Ragnarok will occur when Odin's Runestones on Earth are destroyed. These stones are protected by the finest Viking warriors - your village happens to surround one, however, another stone is under attack and this is where you come in.

HAH! Bring it on!

Use the terrain to your advantage