Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage

"quiet litterally..a BLOODY good time..."

Graphics, 9
Let's face it..for a gaame like these they did way too good on the graphics. I was actually expecting marred blurry graphics to go with a hack and slash game. These graphics are great!! But not up to par of such games like Shen Mue and Soul Calibur (and very few games are even that close..)I especially like all the small details thrown into the game..the animated fairy type thing that changes shape time to time. The guy's HUGE sword that creates spark's when it strikes a wall. The blood splat's of the poor ex-villager you just sliced in half..all add to the enviroment of the game.

Sound/Music 9
Very excellent sound effect's. Obviously most of them are the slashing of your sword, and the sound of it hitting the hoards of mutants. Sound's to become repatitve but how many differnt sound's does a sword make any how? So that's forgivable. The music isn't that bad either. It get's your heart beating, and get's you into the game..some tracks are terrible..but the remainder make up for that.

Controll's 6
Yeah okay,the worst part of the game, Often your stuck with a semi behind view of the main charector. Using the analog wasn't that great either, after playing too many games using the d-pad, I still have the urge to use the d-pad. But that's my problem, others may appreciate it more than me. Control with the analog stick is pretty good, some times it seems too fast though, And you often end up facing the wrong way when facing hoards of uglies.

GamePlay 9
Wow, this game is just damn fun. You hack up zombies left and right, and have a good challenging time doing it too. The presentation is rather movie like, lot's and lot's of in game cut scenes. It can get kind of boring and tedious, especially with out knowledge of the japanese language. Luckily it can be quickly passed up..but than you miss the chance to see some cool scenes. My favorite part has to be when your charector goes "berserk",the screen becomes a haze of red, and a excellently done red eye with trailing effect's is thrown in, you become quicker faster and meaner..anything that happens to be one with the living dead will quickly become dead yet again.

Replay and Value 8
I think there is alot of replay value in here,the best part's of the game are definatly the action sequences,they are fast and never a dull moment. Other's who like a deeper more involving story will most likely disagree. As for the value..many will not know what Berserk is, but to fan's of the manga or anime will enjoy this game. Fan's of action games much like Dynamite Cop,or Zombie Revenge will also get a kick out of this game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/07/00, Updated 01/07/00