Berserk shows off what the dreamcast was capable of.
But enough about the guys name. This game takes place durring the Black Swordsman story arc of the manga. Where our hero is accompanied his love Casca who has lost her memory due to the events that happend before the games start. And Pucks, a cute and funny flying elf who provided the games humour.
Guts is just traveling around with casca trying to find a cure for her memory loss, while he gets caught up trying to save this old man and a girl from bandits. The game nails the dark storyline from the manga very well in this regard. The story takes place in quite a few places from towns to underground tunnels to old mansions. To even a forest. Those wanting guts to slay Apostles and demons will be saddened by their absence. However he does fight ghosts and zombies at one point durring the story early on. But for the most part he is fighting these mutations.
And that brings me to the games graphics. They are drop dead amazing for its time Sure the animations arent up to par with the Berserk PS2 game. But for a game that came out in 2000 it just goes to show the hardware behind the Dreamcast. The models and lighting are fantastic. With a visual highlight being a bossfight against one of Guts foes he encountered durring the manga early on in the golden age arc.
The sound design is great, with solid voice acting. Fans of Soul reaver series will instantly reconize guts voice from that game. And while it does sound odd hearing someone else play as guts, after watching the anime. The guy does a great job. Also also get supporting characters voiced by other people from other wellknown video game series such as Metal gear solid. Overall the voicework is great.
Gameplay wise it's your typical hack and slash game. While the game isn't too hard on the default setting. After i completed it, (Takes about six or so hours) Playing it on hard does offer reasons to go back. But the game gets real hard fast. I struggled and i still cant get past one of the bosses on the setting. So for hardcore gamers wanting to complete this game. Be ready for a challange.
Combos are fun, and you can slice enemies and foes in half and into chunks of gore.You get guts bombs, arrows daggers and his arm canon. But their uses apart from the arm canon. Are limited due to the games layout with its levels. And his sword is consantly getting blocked due to the sometimes small street levels and corridors. But theres a good degree of freedom with the games combos, theres not alot. But theres enough to make you whana play out and try differemt juggles and whatnot.
Overall the game is good, very good. And if you cant get a hold of the PS2 Berserk game. Then this one is a good one to get instead. Overall 9/10