Game #1280: BERSERK and the Band of the Hawk

 Berserk and his friends. 

 I don't know who came up with the title BERSERK and the Band of the Hawk but that guy deserves a raise. I've been hunting this game for a while now, since it's gotten quite expensive as of late, but I finally found it, and I'd say it was almost worth it. What you might not know is that its original name was Berserk Musou, as this is yet another Dynasty Warriors reskin.

 The game covers a huge chunk of the manga, from the Golden Age up to the moment Berserk and his friends board the ship towards the land of the elves. That translates into 46 different stages. The presentation is actually really neat, throughout the entire Golden Age saga it uses clips from the frankly quite ugly CG-but-honestly-quite-good-looking-2D movie trilogy, and there's a TON of footage here. The game claims it has over 2 hours of anime cutscenes, and I believe them. Afterwards, the rest of the plot is told through dialogue boxes and in-game cutscenes. Hilariously enough, in many ways, the in-game cutscenes look much better than the fully CG scenes from the movie, as they are much better shaded and don't move as stiffly. The overall plot, as is to be expected, glosses over a lot of details and the Lost Children Arc, but I'm sure fans like me will feel fulfilled. The one thing I'd hold against it is that much like source material... Caska's rape feels a bit... erotized, and I know, Japan loves erotizing rape, but it still feels awkward. There are way too many shots and gratuitous use of a naked Caska being held by slimy tentacles throughout the trailer and even the gallery.

 After you are done with the very lengthy campaign you are left with the Endless Eclipse, a somewhat randomized 100 floor challenge. Each of the playable characters unlock different rewards upon completing it. That said... there are only 8 playable characters, which is pathetic, and one of the characters is... Wyald. No Farnese, no Isidro, no Corkus, no Pippin, no Rickert, no Silat.... but Wyald. Characters aren't super unique either, which they usually are when these games have lower playable character counts. Plus, throughout most of the campaign you can only play as Guts, heck, there's not a single stage in which he isn't playable. There were also a few missions, for instance the ones in which you must 'survive until morning', that felt like pure filler..

 On the other hand... this is one of the most satisfying Warriors games I've ever played. It's super bloody, letting you chop enemies as you kill them, and when you enter Frenzy mode, you get this delicious rumbling as you hack enemies in half. It feels SO good.

 Silly title aside, BERSERK and the Band of the Hawk is a fantastic game for fans of Berserk AND Musou games. It covers a lot of ground, the movie cutscenes are welcome and it feels a lot of fun to play. That said, there's room here for something much better. 

 7.0