{"id":1777,"date":"2017-02-22T00:11:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-22T07:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/berserk-and-the-band-of-the-hawk-review\/"},"modified":"2017-02-22T00:11:00","modified_gmt":"2017-02-22T07:11:00","slug":"berserk-and-the-band-of-the-hawk-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taterboy.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/berserk-and-the-band-of-the-hawk-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Berserk and the Band of the Hawk Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n

As a gaming journalist, visit this site<\/a> I\u2019ll eye numerous forums and message boards to see under the radar titles that are gaining traction, in order to evaluate how we\u2019ll they\u2019ll do on the site, if I should cover them, and so forth. 2017 seemed like another average year for this phenomenon, until I heard about\u00a0Berserk<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Comments were everywhere about not only this game coming over to the U.S, but the high possibilities of it\u2019s quality. An insanely violent Dynasty Warriors<\/em> like hack n slash, Berserk<\/em> is another step in Koei Tecmo\u2019s crazy lineup this year, due to its cult following and ambition. These levels of hype made me nevertheless excited to try it out, so does it ultimately deliver in bloody\u00a0stride?<\/p>\n

Gameplay:<\/h4>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n

Berserk<\/em> may have some similar systems when compared to Dynasty Warriors<\/em>, but sometimes, it lacks what make those games great, making the title fall into an awkward, uninhabited space. Berserk<\/em> makes these same mistakes when looking at what should be its titular sell, the unparalleled stages of violence.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t just because the game only settles on one play-style, but also because there\u2019s a lot of repetition present. Because of this, players are never compelled to cross the game\u2019s over-the-top-ness, which is the main contributor to making so many games entertaining, even ones outside of the hack n slash genre. It also doesn\u2019t help when these same patterns are repeated in one of the game\u2019s modes, killing some of the\u00a0value.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Story &\u00a0Design:<\/h4>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n

What players will appreciate far more than the gameplay is the narrative, which sticks to the franchise\u2019s strengths. This gives an incentive to all the carnage that\u2019s happening on screen, and sometimes the game feels more accomplished because of it. This declines as the game goes on, but I was nevertheless happy to see the\u00a0trend.<\/p>\n

There are some missteps made in the fan service area, particularly including how the series best action scenes are reenacted in gameplay, which I\u2019ve expressed isn\u2019t as striking as the source material. I still give Koei Tecmo props for including large sections of story and background, but other aspects definitely need to be cleaned\u00a0up.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Presentation\/ Visuals &\u00a0Audio:<\/h4>\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n

If you\u2019re looking for some meaty post-game content after you manage to finish Berserk<\/em>, set your expectations a bit lower. The game\u2019s modes don\u2019t take too much variety, and some are short and clearly lacking. This wouldn\u2019t have been so bad if the game contained multiplayer, but even that isn\u2019t the\u00a0case.<\/p>\n

One thing I can commend Berserk<\/em> for is how it portrays the franchise\u2019s most taboo scenes in ways that don\u2019t seem cheap or forced. This is especially impressive because of the long history surrounding how the anime\u2019s typically rated, which falls in the line of an\u00a0AO.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Conclusion:<\/h4>\n

I can recommend Berserk and the Band of the Hawk <\/em>to two very specific types of people (hardcore series fans and hardcore hack n slash fans) but that\u2019s about it. This is because how the game fails to improve itself as it continues, letting the tedium sink in. For a game that promises so much action, it\u2019s sad Berserk<\/em> can sometimes fall short of\u00a0it.<\/p>\n

Berserk and the Band of the Hawk<\/em> gets a 5\/10\u00a0(Flawed)<\/p>\n

We\u2019d like to thank Koei Tecmo for giving us a\u00a0code!<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to read more features and or reviews like this, please check out The Cube on Medium.com, or our Twitter @TheCubeMedium for more\u00a0updates.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

Berserk and the Band of the Hawk Review<\/a> was originally published in The Cube<\/a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.<\/p>\n

Powered by WPeMatico<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a gaming journalist, visit this site I\u2019ll eye numerous forums and message boards to see under the radar titles that are gaining traction, in order to evaluate how we\u2019ll they\u2019ll do on the site, if I should cover them, and so forth. 2017 seemed like another average year for this phenomenon, until I heard… Read the full article…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1778,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[174,377],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-games-media","category-gaming"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t