Berserk: Millenium Falcon Review

If you took the most badass person in gaming/fiction/reality, they would pale in comparison to the visceral horror of Gutts, the lead in the Japanese tale Berserk. Some of you may remember the anime, others may remember the very slow manga or perhaps the arcade style Dreamcast game ‘Sword of the Berserk’ (the bad guy was called Ballsak, snigger). However I would bet money that many have not heard of the PS2 title ‘Berserk: Millennium Falcon’, which was only released in the land of the rising sun.

Unlike its Dreamcast brother, the PS2 game is not arcadey and follows the plot of the manga from the point of Gutts returns from the daemon world. If you don’t know the plot, don’t worry, unless you can speak Japanese you don’t need anything other than the visuals to get a rough jist of it all. The manga should be available from most stores and is well worth a read, or you can watch the anime for a shortened version that gets you up to the start of the game when the series finishes.

However enough of the back story and on with the game, unfortunately it starts badly! After a brief tutorial fighting snowmen monster things (?) you face a giant snowman boss, I kid you not. However the games controls are shown to be smooth as the ice you’re fighting during this. It’s similar to a God of War setup, but with usable recharging items thrown into the mix, including Gutts’ cannon arm. Gutts movements seem incredibly laboured swinging a sword that would make Cloud jealous, but gives you the impression that when you hit something it felt it, the game makes you believe in the combat. After you have pulled off a few solid combos your rage metre fills up, this allows you to do a quick auto move much like a throw. On the snowman boss it lops of one of his arms off or has Gutts jumping onto his head depending on your positioning. In practice this is used as a quick dispatcher for one enemy, however unlike many games should your sword hit anything else in the process, it will also take the damage.

The next hour of game play is spent laboriously fighting snowmen; no matter how cool it looks when you kill them the game is dull. I was about to walk away when a zombie dog game out of no where, after punting it into the air and slicing it in half only to rush through its airborne innards to continue the combo, all was forgiven. The snowmen patter out and zombie creatures and killer demon trees begin to appear, the blood flows and the screen takes a very unsubtle shade of red. Death animations will have you making the classic “oooohhhhh” noise as you flinch from the violence you wrought.

Not long after you find yourself facing your first true boss, Nosferatu Zodd. In this encounter your love for the game mechanics increases tenfold, this is how bosses should be. Most games would have you look for a boss’s weakness and time your attack on obvious animations, in Berserk it’s a strait out sword fight against an equally talented opponent. Clashing of swords can result in quick one press QTE’s, counters are long stunning animations and you feel like you’re actually fighting someone. During these fights the boss can grab you, should you have your cannon arm recharged you can counter the animation with dramatic effect. Later in the game bosses tend to be giant creatures of some sort, but you always get the feeling you stand a chance as you brutally hack at a point you can get your sword to.

Like many games of the genre you gain experience to spend on upgrading your health, combos, items, etc. In Berserk these changes are visual, should you upgrade your sword skill from rank 1, Gutts will no longer drag the blade but keep it aloft with both hands, at the final upgrade he holds it in one hand over the shoulder. It’s another of the small touches the developer has made that gives the game character.

Unfortunately it’s not all fun and games. Some enemies throughout the game have cheap moves which are almost impossible to avoid, draining your precious health that can only be refilled with an item use (actually a character but they work like items) or going into rage mode which is desperately needed for large crowds, not for one annoying enemy type. Again the genre style brings with it certain elements, repetitive game play is the order of the day, get bored of the hack and slash and there is very little else to keep you going. The title gets Gutts 100% right and unfortunately he is a 2D character of madness and killing, but at least he doesn’t try and explore his mental anguish…..oh, he does? Bugger.

Berserk also suffers from horrible level design, large open areas or complicated mazes are the only two variants; both really don’t do much for the games appeal. If like me you need some help with the Japanese language a guide is very much needed for what you’re meant to be doing, if not how to do it. ‘How to do it’ will save you a few hours of boredom. One level has you trudging through a woods looking for the lost children, only one spawns at a time so after finding the first, you have to explore the whole forest again. To call this design stupid is an understatement; it drags out what is already a flimsy game style, if you weren’t bored of the repetitive combat you would be at the end of this section.

With all these glaring problems that would make the most dedicated fan pull his hair out in frustration, it’s the earlier mentioned little touches that make you come back for more. These little bundles of joy help you get through the hard times. That said I don’t think the game is for everyone, fans will get a huge buzz and those interested in the series might find something, but it does nothing to pull in those that aren’t going to look twice at a manga. It’s a shame, with a few refinements in obvious places the game could have been something amazing, as it stands the game unfortunately just hits an average score.

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