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Berserk and the Band of the Hawk | |
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Developer(s) | Omega Force |
Publisher(s) | Koei Tecmo |
Director(s) | Dai Kawai Jun Kawahara |
Producer(s) | Hisashi Koinuma |
Designer(s) | Genki Fujimori |
Programmer(s) | Yoshinao Yamagishi |
Writer(s) | Masahiro Kato Keisuke Okabayashi |
Composer(s) | Masako Otsuka Kosuke Mizukami Ippo Igarashi |
Series | Berserk Dynasty Warriors |
Platform(s) | PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 PlayStation Vita Microsoft Windows |
Release | PlayStation 3PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita
|
Genre(s) | Action role-playing, hack and slash |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Berserk and the Band of the Hawk, known in Japan as Berserk Musou (Japanese: ベルセルク無双, Hepburn: Beruseruku Musō),[1] is a musou game developed by Omega Force and published by Koei Tecmo for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and Microsoft Windows. It is a collaboration between Koei Tecmo's Dynasty Warriors video game series and Kentaro Miura's Berserk manga series. Berserk and the Band of the Hawk was released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, as well as PlayStation 3 in Japan on October 27, 2016, and was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, & PlayStation Vita internationally in February 2017.[1]
Gameplay[edit]
Berserk and the Band of the Hawk Review -PS4 Neil Bolt / February 21, 2017 Berserk and the Band of the Hawk could be the greatest representation of the Warriors games yet. Berserk takes place in quite an unconventional world to say the least yet this interpretation of the franchise captures it beautifully. Creepy stuff but shirtless Guts isn't scared! Unfortunately, Berserk and the Band of the Hawk feels like your average.
Berserk and the Band of the Hawk mixes the hack-and-slash gameplay of Koei Tecmo's Dynasty Warriors series of video games, with the setting and characters from the Berserk manga series by Kentaro Miura.
Plot[edit]
![Berserk And The Band Of The Hawk Review Berserk And The Band Of The Hawk Review](http://assets1.ignimgs.com/2017/02/21/beserkbandofthehawk-1280-1487654177150_1280w.jpg)
The game follows the story of the manga series, starting in the Golden Age Arc and ending in the Hawk of the Millennium Empire Arc.
Development[edit]
Berserk and the Band of the Hawk was first revealed in a short promotion video by Koei Tecmo on June 12, 2016, prior to Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016. A release for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, as well as PlayStation 3 in Japan and Microsoft Windows in western territories, were confirmed. A week later, on June 20, a flyer was sent out in Japan, which confirmed a September 21 release in the country.[2] In an interview, producer Hisashi Koinuma ensured fans that the team aims for a CERO D rating for the game in Japan and will do anything to avoid a CERO Z rating.[3] The Z rating is the equivalent of the 'Adults Only' rating by the North American board ESRB. On July 15, 2016, Koei Tecmo revealed that the western version of the game was planned to release in Fall 2016.[4] However, when the game's official localized name was revealed, Koei Tecmo announced new release dates, being February 21, 2017 for North America and February 24, 2017 for Europe.[5]
In Japan, first-print copies of the game included a bathing outfit for Casca for in the game.[6]
In North America, pre-ordered copies of the game would include codes for DLC costumes.[7] The game supports PS4 Pro which targets 60fps in 1080p[8][9]
Reception[edit]
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Berserk and the Band of the Hawk received 'mixed or average' reviews, according to video game review aggregatorMetacritic.[10]
Destructoid awarded it a score of 8 out of 10, saying 'Seeing the story continue past the Golden Age is enough for an enthusiast to buy in. Otherwise, wait for the price to match what's being offered.'[11]
Famitsu's four reviewers gave it scores of 9, 9, 9 and 8 out of ten, equalling a total of 35/40.[12]
GameSpot awarded it a score of 5 out of 10, praising its story mode but criticising its secondary modes.[13]
IGN awarded a score of 6.3 out of 10, saying 'Berserk fits the Dynasty Warriors mold well in Band of the Hawk, but the too-easy combat still gets very repetitive.'[14]
Sales[edit]
![Berserk Berserk](/uploads/1/2/3/7/123774761/700804161.jpg)
The PlayStation 4 version has sold 32,751 copies in Japan, while PC version has sold 24,904 copies.[15]
References[edit]
- ^ abSal Romano (2016-06-12). 'Koei Tecmo announces Berserk for PS4, PS3, PS Vita, and PC'. Gematsu. Retrieved 2016-06-26.
- ^Sal Romano (2016-06-20). 'Koei Tecmo's Berserk launches September 21 in Japan'. Gematsu. Retrieved 2016-06-26.
- ^'【E3 2016】史上最凶の無双が登場!謎に満ちた「ベルセルク無双」について鯉沼久史プロデューサーにインタビュー'. Gamer. 2016-06-20. Retrieved 2016-06-26.
- ^'The Berserk Warriors game will launch this year in the west'. Destructoid. 2016-07-15. Retrieved 2016-07-15.
- ^'Berserk and the Band of the Hawk launches February 21 in North America, February 24 in Europe'. Gematsu. 2016-09-15. Retrieved 2016-10-03.
- ^Giuseppe Nelva (2016-06-23). 'Berserk for PS4/PS Vita/PS3/PC Gets First Bloody 1080p Screenshots and Full Trailer; Looks Awesome'. DualShockers. Retrieved 2016-06-26.
- ^'Western Pre-Order Bonuses, Combat Styles, New Gameplay Revealed for Berserk Musou - Niche Gamer'. 27 October 2016.
- ^'Sony Reveals PS4 Pro Enhanced Japanese Games: Yakuza 6, Valkyria, Berserk, Nights of Azure 2 and More'. DualShockers. 2016-11-10. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
- ^'PlayStation® Games'.
- ^ ab'For Honor for PlayStation 4 Reviews'. Metacritic. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
- ^ abCarter, Chris (February 21, 2017). 'Review: Berserk and the Band of the Hawk'. Destructoid. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
- ^ abRomano, Sal (October 18, 2016). 'Famitsu Review Scores: Issue 1455''. Gematsu. Retrieved October 18, 2016.
- ^ abMiguel, Concepcion (February 21, 2017). 'Berserk and the Band of the Hawk Review'. GameSpot. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
- ^ abDefreitas, Casey (February 21, 2017). 'Berserk and the Band of the Hawk Review'. IGN. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
- ^Sato (November 9, 2016). 'This Week In Sales: Kamehamehas, 360 No Scopes, And A Side Of Alchemy'. Siliconera. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Berserk_and_the_Band_of_the_Hawk&oldid=945518268'
Demons have had a bit of a rough time in fiction over the years. I mean, just because you’ve been offered up as a sacrifice to them and they want to eat you doesn’t mean you should chop them into pieces, right? They’re entitled to their free speech and should be heard.
Not that the oddly named Guts cares. Dude’s on a mission to eliminate them all after they killed all his comrades.The story of Berserk is a bit different from the regular fantasy tale of slaying monsters, fans of Kentaru Miura’s series love it for its glorious hyper-violence and the way it showcases humanity’s dark side in the most horrifying of ways. It’s a story of monsters (both literal and hypothetical), rape, sodomy, and violence – much of which is lost in this videogame adaption. And while you can understand this on the rape side of things due to issues of taste and decency, it’s harder to understand why the violence has been watered down so much.Omega Force is known for producing musou titles – such as – where you control a single person on the battlefield and are tasked with cutting down hundreds and thousands of foes to win the battle. In Guts this type of game has the perfect protagonist as he’s a one man wrecking machine cutting a swathe through the throng of enemies in his path.
It’s this sheer number of units on screen that’s solely responsible for the toned-down violence, as the game seems to struggle with the volume of enemies on screen as it is (if the pop in is anything to go by at least), having them all being dismembered and butchered would probably push the engine to breaking point. The thing is, with violence being Berserk’s primary hook the idea of reducing the number of enemies and upping the gore would have probably been the better idea.Despite the Berserk theme this is a musou title through and through. Once you’re through the rather boring tutorial level you’ll be thrown into a series of battlegrounds with oodles of identical looking enemy units you’ll need to dispatch on your way to the main objectives of capturing points on the map and the eradication of stronger enemies – which look just like the regular ones, just a little bigger and with a name above their heads. Aside from the occasional boss battle this formula doesn’t change and can grow rather repetitive, especially before the Eclipse where you find yourself killing armies of men over and over. Once he’s got his hands on the Dragonslayer, Guts becomes much more fun to control, but the formula unfortunately remains unchanged.Through the course of Berserk you’ll watch anime cut-scenes that set the stage for upcoming events, but these are jarring compared to the in-game scenes that are rendered in a style more like the manga. These in-game scenes are nice because they give you a chance to appreciate the detail, but the animation work in them is incredibly wooden and laughable, considering the range of movement in the combat it feels bizarre.
This lack of attention to detail carries through to other elements of the game as well; certain sections of the translation job are poorly spelt or grammatically incorrect, and later on in the game Guts loses his left hand (there’s no way I’m considering that a spoiler, nerds), but his attack animations don’t change, so he’s still using a sword two-handed without a second hand, it looks really odd. And then there’s the camera. In open areas it’s fine, but in locations with scene dressing like the cities, mountains or woods any time it gets near an object it can become impossible to see your character, and when you’re dealing with a two-storey tall beast that hits like a truck you can end up backing yourself into a corner and struggling to get back out.Free mode at least goes some way to changing things up a touch with you able to take any of the unlocked characters into whatever scenario you like, although this doesn’t change the basic structure of the mission at hand. What is different, though, is Endless Eclipse – which is a kind of rogue-like mode. You select a character and then have to pick a mission from a set of ‘desires’ put to you. What follows is a battle through five floors to achieve the goal the requester made, after which you’re taken back and you can fulfill another request.
The further you descend the harder the requests get and the better the rewards, but death or leaving the mode resets progress back to square one meaning you need to start again. It’s an interesting little diversion and any XP or rewards gained are carried over to the other modes, so if you find yourself struggling in the story you can use this to buff yourself up a bit.What Berserk and the Band of the Hawk amounts to is like ordering a pint of your favourite beer and finding it’s been watered down to within an inch of its life. Fans will like the fact that many of the characters and scenarios that they know are included (albeit with some rather bizarre omissions and some terribly dull filler segments), while they won’t appreciate the fact it’s been neutered to the point where the violence amounts to little more than a splashing of claret. The main hook of the source material is gone and what’s left is a musou game that happens to be Berserk themed rather than a Berserk game in its own right.
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