One of the best action games for Dreamcast
Even though Sword of the Berserk's story is not ripped straight from the manga, the story of the game is infact part of the story of Berserk that's not in manga form, but exclusive to the Dreamcast. Because of that, many people will not understand a few things here and there about the game, since most people have not read the manga. Zodd, who appears to just "pop out of no where" in this game is actually a main character of the manga. Griffith is also mentioned in this game, but many people will not even know who this person is.
But even though some points of this game might not be understood well, one of the biggest things in this game is the actual story of the game itself. Over two thirds of this game is nothing but cut scenes. While to many people, this may make the game appear like a movie and can be enjoyable to watch these extremely long cut scenes, others may be annoyed at the fact that the cut scenes take up so much time out of the game. Regardless, the story is very well written and is enjoyable.
The gameplay of Sword of the Berserk makes this game stand out amongst the other action games of Dreamcast. Many people say Dante has revolutionized hack and slash gameplay on the PS2. No way, it was Guts on the Dreamcast. There is so much action packed into this game, no way any action game fan can refuse to play this game. While Dante may face 5 to 7 enemies at most, Guts is bombarded by 10 to 15 enemies at once. Every room, hall, alleyway, street, and cave will be packed with endless amounts of monsters, ghouls, and soldiers attacking you.
When starting this game, you are facing a horde of theives with no introduction to the controls or what to do. This will get your heart to beat faster because you are highly out-numbered and the games greatly composed music will easily set you in the right mood this scene is trying to present. You will quickly learn the basic controls of this game and will slaughter these goons like no other game allows you to. Sliced limbs, impaled bodies, and people cut in half will fly all over the place once you start going after these people.
The overall gameplay is very simple. You are to unleash non-stop mindless slashing with Gut's 7 foot-long sword, the Dragonslayer. No puzzles, no exploring places, no back-tracking, you are to just kill whatever you can and try to live. At first, Sword of the Berserk will seem VERY difficult. You are ALWAYS surrounded by huge amounts of enemies, and it is very easy to get smacked by a few of them while not paying attention. Another thing is that since your sword is litterally longer then yourself, you may encounter difficulty using it while in small rooms or corridors because if too close to a wall, it will clang against it and halt. Leaving you wide open to recieve damage yourself. Any time during the game, you are able to put up your sword and fight with fists. So in these small areas, you are better off just brawling it out hand to hand.
After maybe an hour or so of gameplay, you'll probably finally pick up everything in this game and master it. Learn how to block, learn how to do every attack, when to dodge, etc. So after a while, the game will become easier. Other factors that make the game so difficult is that you are very limited on your items. You have usually have one arm cannon, a couple gernades, a few fairy dusts for health, and you have unlimited use of your crossbow gun (which is extremely weak and not very usefull at all). Finding additional fairy dusts and arm cannons are very rare to find, and are usually found within boxes, barrels, or pots. And additional to this, save states are scarce within the game. You might not be asked to save your game until after beating three or four stages, which will make you trying to keep on your feet longer.
Boss fights are a killer in this game as well. Most of them you can find a pattern and then easily beat them within time. But one boss you encounter halfway through the game, Zodd the Immortal, is probably one of the hardest bosses in you'll encounter in any action game. He has no particular pattern at all, his attacks are extremely strong, and his defence is ridiculously high.
The graphics are very impressive for a Dreamcast game. The characters of the main characters are very detailed, and the scenaries are just beautiful. Although the graphics engine is really superb, not everything looks great. Every character model that is NOT a main character, looks very plain and uses little animation. None of the villagers have eyes or moving mouths when they talk, that's how bad it gets. But overall, Sword of the Berserk has some of the best graphics for an action game on Dreamcast.
The voice acting is just astonishing. Unlike many games that are translated from Japanese, the voice actors in this game use emotion in their lines, which help make the cut scenes so much and make them appear like a movie. All the sound effects register very well. Swords clanging on different surfaces and different objects. Enemies dieing. Everything related to sound is near perfect in this game.
Although this game is relatively short, the fan factor will make anyone want to play it again, which adds to the replay value. There are a few unlockables in this game, including some mini games, galleries, and such. All these are fair attempts to add the value of this game. But you'll be wanting to play this game non-the-less.
In conclusion, any fan of action games should give this game a shot. If you own a Dreamcast, try to get your hands on this copy for the fact that it is one of the best titles made exculsively for Dreamcast. It is unfortunately short because it has so many cutscenes in it, but unlike other action games for Dreamcast, such as Dynamite Cop and Zombie Revenge, Sword of the Berserk does not get as repetative as these games because the combat system is more in depth and more fun. If you want non-stop hack and slash action from begining to end, look this game up, it'll be worth it.