Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage

"An interesting plot,executed all wrong."

Sword of the Berserk was a manga first.Im not sure if it was an Anime,too..but Im posative it was a manga.Now,you don't see a lot of manga titles made into video games,all though it would be nice.Who wouldn't love seeing a Drakuun or Gunsmith Cat's manga?Well,it just doesn't work.It's like all that flying junk in ''Crouching Tiger,Hidden Dragon''.It looks stupid because it doesnt work when you use real people,only Z Fighters are allowed to fly.This is pretty much the same thing.Manga doesn't translate to video games very well.

ACTION GAME REVIEW SYSTEM

Gameplay (2/10)

Ugh.Playing this game is more a test of your willpower than anything else.Y'see,im sure you've all played or seen FF7 in some form or another,and know what Cloud's sword looks like.Well,the main character,Gattsu,wield something from the same damn series of too-huge swords.Maybe they shop at the same place.And that's the problem.Gattsu's weapons.You see,Gattsu has his sword,and then he has some subweapons,consisting of a cross bow some daggers,etc..The thing is,that either they are insanely week and in infinate supply or actually usefull,and only come in sets of one or two.The sword itself is awkward to use all around.Your usually confined to ares where using it to it's fullest is next to impossible,and if not,then comboing with it is extremely awkward.Even Sigfried from Soul Blade could combo with his sword.It's got a pretty slow downward swing,too,for such a heavy sword.The enemies are just the same faceless monsters and knights most of the time.The bosses are pretty weak,and can be cheap at times,too.The blood is amusing at first,but is far,far to excessive to be entertaining in the longrun,and sadly,that was this game's saving grace.I imagine when they all sat down and looked at at it after making the game,the producers said ''Well...at least it's got all that blood''.Too bad.All together,though,this plays somewhat like The Bouncer.It's more of a movie than an actual game.I had a chance to replay it for a second time a while ago,and I'd seen all the movies so I tried to skip them all,but there are so many in a row,I just gave up and got a soda while I waited.Soon after,I gave up on the game all together.

Graphics/Sound/Music (8/10)

THIS is actually the game's saving grace.If It was a movie,it would be okay,but it's trying to pass itself off as a game,and that's bad.The graphics are nicely done,and you really get that sense that your in a medieval setting.Everything is pretty crisp and clean,especially Gattsu's oversized scarf,even though it has a tendancy to go through his body on some occasions.But,I didnt expect miracles out of this game.The voice acting and sound-effect's are really nice too.The clash of steel,and especially the sound of Gattsu's voice is really nicely done.The voice-acting is actually above-average.I was impressed.The musical score is nicely done,too.The intro music alone was good enough to warrant finding some way to borrow this game for free and check it out.So,in other words,I guess this game isn't uselss after all.As long as you dont play it for long.

Game time to movie time ratio: 1:4

Difficulty: Medium

Frustration: High

Sword: XL

Caffine breaks: 9

Synopsis: Play it for the voice acting and music once,then put it away.Don't take it too seriously.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 10/28/01, Updated 10/28/01