Berserk and the band of the Hawk it was one of the announcements that most impressed me at the last E3. The title came out a bit on the sly compared to other high-sounding games of recent periods. I start from a premise: Berserk it was the first serious manga I read as a kid. I spent hours, if not years of life among the pages of comics, artbooks dedicated to the saga, on animated films (unforgettable montages with the song In The End by Linkin Park). Maybe it's really true that when they create a product on a world you love, you're more scared than usual. With a mixture of anxiety and expectation, I stepped into the shoes of our hero Gatsu: here's what emerged.
The journey to the abyss
The history of the title Koei Tecmo it develops as any fan expects: we are on a battlefield, a boy is holding a sword that is already too big for him. He shouts and screams as he storms a castle: the boy finds himself up against a big, paunchy man, known as Pazzosa. In exchange for a reward, the boy confronts him and showing a certain amount of wit and recklessness, he defeats the enemy so feared by men much older than him. The boy is called Gatsu and despite the flattery, he decides to remain a simple mercenary. His exploits become so famous that the captain of the Falcons Team, Grifis, decides to meet him and to join his team of mercenaries. After a daring annexation, the lonely Gatsu finds his family in that gang of mercenaries. I will not reveal anything else about the personal relationships of the protagonists, given that the comic is over twenty years old it seems superfluous for those who know it and a free spoiler for all the others who, instead, have the opportunity to play a title that is very faithful to the saga. From the point of view of the plot, we find ourselves in front of a work obviously well written since it comes from another media, the comic. It goes without saying that the narration, following the whole main story in detail, is almost perfect and the missions we are going to face are nothing more than the transposition into pixels of what happens between the pages of the paper work.
Hit and learn
From the point of view of gameplay, the formula chosen by the developers could only be that of the musou, given the nature of the story and its typical form, made up of infinite battles, with hundreds of enemies and liters of blood. The formula that you know well is that of the game to the massacre, made up of an infinite myriad of enemies very easy to kill and some captain slightly harder than the others. While on the one hand artificial intelligence does not shine for its ability and malice, even at very high difficulties (you can choose between easy, normal, difficult and Berserk), on the other hand, the on-screen rendering of the fight is really successful: with the combos at our disposal, we could load an energy bar that, once activated, will allow us to enhance the attacks of our hero. Once we enter this mode, called fury, we will be able to charge a second energy bar, which once filled will allow us to perform a devastating final move, capable of causing vast damage, different from time to time depending on the character we have chosen. for the mission. Unlike the usual musou, in this title the protagonists level up and get combos and new skills like in an old-style rpg: we cannot choose which skill our darling will learn but we can choose how to play it, equipping it from time to time before each battle, with rings, banners and necklaces that will increase the characteristics such as vitality, strength, defense and technique. We could also equip specific consumables that will recharge at the end of each mission and that will allow us to recharge health, fury bar, increase damage or defense temporarily. Each character has different ranged weapons, useful for sapping the toughest enemies. I talked about several characters: at the beginning of each mission it will be possible to choose one of the main protagonists of the manga Kentaro Miura, including Gatsu (of course), Grifis, Caska, Judo and Zodd. I will not reveal the other protagonists so as not to expire in the spoiler but know that you can also control several antagonists of the series. Each hero will have his specific level, his skills and his strengths: for example Gatsu will be powerful and slow compared to Grifis who, instead, will exploit his speed and technique on the battlefield.
Hits hard as steel
As mentioned earlier, the only challenges worthy of the name were the boss fights that made my hours on the title really exciting and complex. Worthy of a Dark Souls, boss battles turn out to be complex and well structured: the bosses evolve over the course of the battle, changing attack patterns at different levels of health. Even the enemies will have a fury mode, capable of making the fight really hard for the less experienced: if you face the game in Berserk mode like me, here you will find yourself facing boss fights of several minutes. From an aesthetic point of view, the game is enjoyable: Sony PlayStation 4 from the point of view of the consoles it makes its figure but it must be said that the title is also available for PlayStation 3, exclusively in the Japanese market, which makes the textures of the floor and the backdrops a bit flat and in general the title suffers in terms of fps in the most excited scenes. On the PC, however, the story changes: despite a start that must be faced in Windows 7 mode if you find yourself having a higher version of the Microsoft operating system, the textures of the floors, enemies and scenarios are well proposed and certainly very enjoyable. The sound is excellent and does its duty, maintaining the pace of the game, no doubt frenetic. There is no multiplayer mode but beyond the main story you can face different challenges: the free mode for example will allow you to hoard enemies with any character, increasing their level and replaying missions already completed in order to find all the collectibles in the game. While in the mode Infinite Eclipse, you will be able to climb a tower of one hundred floors, in a sort of survival mode where every hit you suffer will count towards your climb.
The berserker
All in all, Berserk and the Band of the Hawk really surprised me: avoiding falling into banality, the title after seventeen years of absence from the scene (some of you will remember Sword of the Berserk released for the legendary Dreamcast), manages to surprise the neophyte of the genre and entertain both him and the die-hard fan. There is really a lot for those who are fans of the comic book saga and the same for those who do not know the brand. Overall, the only flaws that can be found may be the aesthetic details at the level of the backdrops and animations of the enemies, definable cannon fodder. Furthermore, a negative point can be the difficulty of the title, too often simple even at high levels, the game offers a real challenge almost exclusively against the bosses.
Modus Operandi: The title was completed after 15 hours on PC, played at ultra graphics with Microsoft Xbox One Elite controller. The story is completed in eight hours by going straight and fast towards the end. To get all the bonuses, costumes and abilities it will take you many more hours of play.
