Even worse are the boss battles. You're pretty much on your own against these things, as your Thanes either abandon you or uselessly die at the beginning. The opening serpent battle is sweet, but the other fights fail by comparison. For instance, you beat the tar out of Grendel. You crawl all over him, hitting him where it hurts and diminishing his energy to the point that you're one move away from wiping him out. If you miss one crucial button tap – even the most minor of hits – he regains energy and you start all over again. It's irritating, and completely unfair.

Graphically, the game has its moments. The environments look fantastic, the lighting effects are well done and there's no shortage of blood and gore. Watching Beowulf squash a crab under his boot in slo-mo is a satisfying delight. However, the animations are rather weak and the character detail blows. There's not really that much music in the game, but there's no shortage of audio voice sampling. Ray Winstone does great work as Beowulf (just as he did in the film), but some of his comments wear thin. Every time you activate Carnal Fury, for instance, he just has to shout "FEAR ME!" at the top of his lungs. If that's not enough, your dumbass Thane followers can't help but provide fan boy-like comments. "Wow, Beowulf!" Yeah, like we need a reminder that he's Beowulf.

Beowulf: The Game is a waste of time, a movie-licensed game deserving to be more. The idiotic artificial intelligence, design flaws and frustration factor are simply too much to overcome – even for the almighty Beowulf.