Berserk, for those not in the know, is a fairly popular manga, still going strong at 27 volumes, that is just starting to make waves here in the States. It’s an action-packed story of betrayal and revenge with ridiculously well-developed main characters, and I highly recommend it to anyone. The PS2 Berserk focuses on the most recent chapters of the story (volumes 22-27, specifically), basically assuming that the player is already familiar with all the characters. There are some flashbacks to fill in the gaps, but anyone who doesn’t already know the story will likely be confused, or at the very least, not understand the significance of past events. This is a game for the fans, though, and they’re probably the only ones who will end up playing it – even though it’s a surprisingly competent hack-and-slasher in its own right.

Combat is the most important part of any action game, and Berserk has a great combat system. As Guts, the Black Swordsman, players will mostly be using a single weapon: the Dragon Slayer. It’s a massive blade, the size of a man, and it’s your primary weapon for the whole game. After most combos, Guts becomes unbalanced and needs to take a moment to recover. It takes some practice, but planning for those quick recovery times eventually becomes second nature. The developers did a great job of simulating how it might feel to wield a sword of that size. Also at your disposal are throwing knives, a repeating crossbow, bombs, and the cannon built into Guts’ arm. These secondary weapons regenerate ammo on their own, encouraging players to make frequent use of them. Guts can also go into Berserker mode, which sends him into a sword-swinging frenzy.

Just as in the manga, the average foe only takes one strike from the Dragon Slayer to go down. Tougher enemies generally take more, but they’ll lose limbs and such before finally being sliced in two. Doing well in combat earns finishing blows, which, if activated promptly, will cause Guts to execute one of the many very cool-looking (and frequently ripped right from the pages of the manga) one-hit kills. Guts can also dash around on a limited basis, allowing him to immediately change directions, slashing at enemies behind him or to his side. Timing blocks properly allows for counters and reversals, although the timing doesn’t feel strict enough. Usually just mashing on block will produce a counter or reversal, if that’s what the player is trying to do. Despite that, the combat is loads of fun and a fair bit deeper than the average hack-and-slasher.

There are basically two types of objectives in Berserk. Either the player has to move from one spot to another on the map, fighting through a literally unlimited supply of respawning enemies, or they’re restricted to one specific area and simply fight until all the monsters are dead. The latter is preferable, simply because the combat is fun, but running around mazes searching for the next yellow dot on the map is not. The adventure style level designs are the biggest knock against Berserk, because it leads to some very drawn-out levels, and killing monsters that respawn forever just isn’t satisfying. There’s nothing interesting about the maps themselves; they’re basically just open paths in the forest/cave/whatever leading to another identical looking path. Much more enjoyable are the “arena” segments, where Guts is restricted to one spot and fights until there are no more enemies. The game typically throws tougher monsters at you in these cases, and surviving the battle can be a challenge, forcing you to make better use of all of Guts’ abilites. Between stages, players can spend earned experience points on leveling up. Players can improve a number of Guts’ stats, as well as improve the effectiveness of his weapons.

The boss fights are incredible, but generally over a little too quickly. They play more like a simplified one on one fighter than a hack and a slash game, and are truly a blast to play. Early on, players battle Zodd, a minotaur-like demon. During the battle, he’ll sometimes counter you, grabbing your sword in mid-swing. At this point, you can either slam on the Square button and try to recover it (it’s difficult… you can’t half-ass your button mashing here) or, provided your cannon is ready for use, give Zodd a blast in the face. These battles are typically an exchange of counters and finishing blows (which don’t finish off bosses), and they’re highly cinematic. The game will frequently go into letterbox mode, choosing random angles to view the special moves from.

The storytelling itself isn’t very strong here; players only get an abridged version of the events that take place during these volumes of the original tale. Berserk fans can fill in the blanks, though, and will take great delight in seeing these story arcs animated – prerendered, no less – for the first time. The cinematics are really nicely done, with solid voice acting and a great sense of the original art. There’s even a brief, but interesting, side story written specifically for the game.

Graphically, Berserk isn’t outstanding, but certainly adequate. The character models, especially for Guts, look great. As he fights, blood splatters on his armor and sword, as well as the floor. Enemies split realistically, depending on the angle of the sword slash. The environments are pretty bland, but the frame rate is consistent, even with a dozen enemies on the screen at once. Berserk starts out strong in the musical department, with a fantastic opening theme, but the in-game stuff might as well not even be there. It’s too bad, because when the opening theme starts to play during the final battle, it becomes immediately apparent how much solid battle music would’ve helped the rest of the game. The voice clips for the main characters, especially Guts’, are great, but the minor characters ranged from tolerable to awful.

Once the story mode is completed, which takes about nine hours, a few new modes open up and there are some unlockables to find. None of them change up the gameplay much, but Berserk fans will get a kick out of some of them. There’s also a Hard and Extreme difficulty setting, the latter of which provides a pretty tough challenge. Replay value is there, but after finishing it, few will want to immediately go back for more.



Article By: Joe Mackie