Armed with a deadly catapult and insatiable bloodlust, you look to exact revenge on the evil undead Viking Warriors who murdered your family. Fueled by vengeance, you cut a swath of destruction through Viking boats and bones. In a style of violence befitting "Eric the Red", you eliminate your enemies and steal their precious treasure. It's kill or be killed in this action packed Viking adventure
Indie devs have always been, in my opinion, the greatest game creators. They are the minds behind some of the greatest works known to the gaming culture. So it comes as no surprise that Mehware Games newest release, "Viking Funeral" caught my attention. Being a tad partial to 3D games, I felt that this deserved a chance. So I installed it on my iPod and began playing. The game runs using the  Unity game engine, and offers 3 types of game modes. 'Battle', 'Target', and 'Versus'.

Battle mode pits you against skeletons, vikings , and cannons. The premise is simple, kill the vikings, kill the skeletons, avoid the cannons, and collect the most amount of coins possible. You tilt the device to move your catapult, and flick upwards to fire your boulders. All the enemies take 1-2 shots to kill and usually pose no threat. The added wind speed does cause a bit of trouble, as you have to adjust your shot angle and power in-order to take out the enemies. Once you die, you are taken to the 'Tavern' where you can choose to bet your accumulated coins against a game of chance. There are two chests, pick the right chest (the one with the gold coins) and you can win either 50% of your coins, for 100% of your coins (depending on whether you chose 'Bet All' or 'Bet Half'). Or if you happen to shy away from gambling, you can opt to submit your score as is. Target mode, sounds like it plays, you choose your time limit, 30, 60, or 90 seconds, and try to hit as many targets as possible and gather as many coins as possible. Then take your winnings to the tavern and pit yourself against chance. Versus mode allows you to play head to head against others via Bluetooth and local Wifi. With a $0.99 price tag you really cannot go wrong.

 There are a few issues that should be addressed in a later update. The controls can become quite frustrating, and when you fire your catapult the shots don't go where you want them to. The short period for each boulder to reload can become quite the nuisance, especially if you are low on health and cannot dodge the incoming enemy fire. However, Viking Funeral is a great 'Pick-up and play' game and the gambling portion can become quite addicting. Definitely a new take on a popular genre, Viking Funeral derives its "roots" from traditional tower defense type games, and is definitely worth a look.