It's difficult to think of an anime and manga property more suited to join Omega Force's Warriors meta-series than Berserk. Franchise protagonist Guts lives and breathes hack-and-slashing, enough that he, at first glance, can be mistaken for a one-dimensional mercenary obsessed with killing. Unfortunately, Berserk and the Band of the Hawk's simplistic gameplay does little to demystify this shallow perception. It's an inadequate introduction to the Warriors games although the abundance of anime and CG cinematics makes it a fitting gateway to the Berserk even if it doesn't do its main character any favors.
For a manga series that has lasted over 27 years, spanning myriad story arcs, it was wise of Omega Force to focus on Berserk's most well known events, namely the narratives that have been adapted into various anime productions. The result is a comprehensive Story Mode that chronicles Guts' evolution from a raging teenage mercenary with no life goals to a homicidal adult seeking retribution. Band of the Hawk isn't a sufficient substitute for the anime since it glosses over many supporting characters' storylines. Furthermore, the best action scenes, from The Golden Age film trilogy in particular, have been omitted as you get to reenact those same battles instead. Unfortunately, these playable scenes fail to elevate its presentation to match the show.
Berserk is representative of Warriors games at their most simple and straightforward which, when compared to their recent achievements with Hyrule Warriors and Dragon Quest Heroes, is all the more disappointing. Assignments are limited to three types: destroy, rescue, and kill. The game of region dominance--a hallmark of Dynasty Warriors campaigns--is barely utilized and would have added depth to Berserk's 46 story chapters.
Even with Guts' propensity for killing, there's no substantial or long term incentive to slaughter everyone that crosses his sword. At its best moments, amassing a body count of over 1,000 while completing goals in a single mission feels cathartic but there's never the compulsion to wipe an entire map clean of enemies. To do so would add monotony to an already tedious campaign, when the drive to tick off objectives and reach the next cutscene becomes more appealing than staying on the battlefield.
Despite the multiple objectives, the occasional mid-mission plot twists, and all the running around, the majority of chapters can take less than 10 minutes to complete. What results are missions that are shorter than the cinematics that frame each sortie. The intermissions in the first third of the story mode wisely reprises scenes from Berserk's Golden Age film trilogy while players are spared from footage from the divisive new TV show in favor of new CG scenes. It's plot-heavy by Warriors standards but works in the context of Guts' epic road to revenge.
Guts' brutal and offensive-minded repertoire is expressed through the simple combos that make up much of his move set. It all comes down to how many quick and strong attacks you string together. After every hundred or so kills, Guts can unleash a finishing move that wipes out every nearby foe. Such carnage is fitting for him though it's easy to see how a sense of routine can set in quickly and often. Without a greater variety of objectives, Omega Force's brand of unrefined hack and slashing becomes all the more magnified as you labor through this lengthy campaign.
The novel appeal of playing someone other than Guts loses its allure quickly since Free Mode only features previously beaten story missions.
This reliance on the Warriors formula extends to the playable areas outside the story. Free Mode, a staple of the meta-series, serves as an outlet to try out Berserk's supporting cast. They all control with the same quick attack/strong attack simplicity of Guts, each with their own brutal flourishes, where two dozen troops can be vanquished with a single sword stroke. The androgynous Griffin kills with the lethal grace of a fencer while the skilled Casca moves with the agility of a ninja. The novel appeal of playing someone other than Guts loses its allure quickly since Free Mode only features previously beaten story missions.
Berserk's repetitiveness is all the more pronounced in Endless Eclipse, the game's endurance mode. Despite its seemingly intimidating 100-round design, this mode lacks character as it's neither a tower dungeon nor is it a hectic wave-based survival mode. Instead, it mimics the Story Mode's prioritization on completing objectives with no penalty for running past all the lesser enemies in each round. Endless Eclipse also underscores Berserk's lack of replay incentives, despite the character-building rewards it bestows when completing missions. In Endless Eclipse, boredom is as much an obstacle as anything this mode throws at you.
Given how well Guts' bloodlust and battle experience are well-suited to the crowd fighting and mass slaughter of Warriors games, it's a disappointing that this tie-in lacks the engagement and nuance of Omega Force's more imaginative efforts with other franchises. Its saving feature is the expansiveness of the campaign narratives, which serve as a hearty sampling of the Berserk franchise's multiple story arcs. If not for these insightful cutscenes, the developer's penchant for adequate but unengaging hack and slash combat would perpetuate the image of Guts as a one-note protagonist. And even if you're a Warriors fan who knows not to expect a Dark Souls level of gratifying melee combat, Band of the Hawk still deprives you of the juicy sights and sounds that one associates with Guts' savagery; the splashes of red that result from every kill hardly counts as "gore".
If there's one common thread that unites Tim Schafer's extensive catalogue of creations, it's charm. From Monkey Island to Broken Age, Schafer's writing never fails to imbue his games with cheeky humor and subtle humanity. It's no doubt partially responsible for the enduring (if niche) success of the original Psychonauts, an inventive platformer that lets you run around inside the minds of its characters. Naturally, that same charm permeates Schafer and Double Fine Productions' latest game, the PlayStation VR-exclusive Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin.
While fans will find a familiar cast of characters, Rhombus of Ruin actually plays more like an adventure game than a platformer. You'll spend most of the game glancing around environments from various fixed positions in search of clues and points of interaction that can help you solve puzzles. It's a natural evolution of the point-and-click pixel hunting of classic adventure games, one that embraces the uniquely immersive qualities of VR. But there are, unfortunately, a few problems: at a painfully short two hours long, the campaign ends just as it starts to hit its stride, and many of its puzzle are disappointingly simplistic.
Even the story, charming though it may be, ends up feeling insubstantial. The entire narrative revolves around a single short-lived mission: player protagonist Raz--a bright-eyed new member of the eponymous psychic spy outfit--and his fellow Psychonauts Sasha, Lili, Milla, and Coach Oleander must rescue the kidnapped head of their organization (and Lili's dad) Truman Zannotto. On your way to his location, your plane crashes into the Bermuda Triangle-esque Rhombus of Ruin and your crew is captured, leaving you to rescue them one by one.
Though more than a decade has passed since the original game released, the characters feel instantly familiar and authentic. As a longtime fan, I found it fun just interacting with them up close and hearing the original voice actors deliver new dialogue. It was like rediscovering an old favorite cartoon. That said, I don't think you necessarily have to be a fan to appreciate the tone and humor Rhombus of Ruin. It'd be tough for anyone not laugh at a self-consciously cheesy joke that puns "carrion" with "carry-on" or smile at Raz's endearing insecurity in the face of his budding romantic relationship with Lili.
Rhombus of Ruin picks up right where the original game left off and will eventually connect the original to the upcoming sequel.
Beyond these enjoyable yet superficial interactions, however, there's not much substance to the plot. Basically the game starts, your plane crashes, you swiftly rescue everyone, you confront the main villain, and then the game just kind of ends, all within the span of two hours. There's no narrative arc to speak of, and while you do learn who captured Truman, the game never really gets into how or even why he was kidnapped. At one point, you actually dive deep into the villain's mind to see what makes him tick, but it's just a brief section. I really wish there'd been more opportunities like that, but aside from the evil mastermind, all the bad guys are doofy-looking anthropomorphic fish, who, while amusingly clueless, don't have much of a psyche to explore.
The story setup also has material repercussions on the mechanics. Each comrade you rescue grants you a new psychic ability, so until you save them all, your means of interacting with the world are somewhat limited. Though you eventually end up with telekinesis, pyrokinesis, and psi blast, you'll spend most of the game simply prodding buttons with psi poke and, more importantly, hijacking the minds of the game's many minions using clairvoyance. Raz actually spends the majority of Rhombus of Ruin strapped to a chair, so he can only "move" through the world by looking at an enemy, zapping himself into that enemy's brain, then psychically interacting with whatever they (and by extension, you) see.
This ever-extending daisy chain of new perspectives is an exceptionally clever justification for keeping players seated while playing, thereby avoiding motion sickness. It also allows for some unique puzzles. In an early area, for example, you must enter a secret code into a hilariously childlike computer in order to open a window. Once you spot the code written down way across the room, you must poke a button to move a platform into the proper position, then hijack the mind of the guard on that platform in order to read the code up close. It's a short but reasonably satisfying version of a classic adventure gaming trope, and it takes advantage of Psychonauts' distinctive mechanics.
Problem is, puzzles rarely grow more sophisticated than that. Some are even simpler. In fact, you'll spend a fair amount of time just hopping from jellyfish to jellyfish as you make your way to the next imperiled Psychonaut. I enjoyed the immersive, underwater views of sunken ships and mangled airplanes, but I would have preferred a few more challenging puzzles instead (or in addition). In fairness, a couple puzzles definitely tripped me up--one tricky section in particular confronted me with a multi-step problem that took several minutes to solve. But even then, I wasn't uncontrollably delighted by how clever the solution was once I figured it out. And outside of those few occasions, I was generally able to simply poke around until a solution slapped me in the face.
The game's story naturally creates an elegant structure, but its various sections don't actually differ all that much.
Rhombus of Ruin adopts a smart approach to VR and executes it with humor and confidence. But it could have been longer and deeper, more challenging and surprising. Like the story, the gameplay is superficially enjoyable but barely has time to develop, and because you'll know all the puzzle solutions by the end, the campaign doesn't offer much replay value. If you're content with a light snack, Rhombus of Ruin may be enough to tide you over until Psychonauts 2 because indeed, its world and characters remain utterly charming. I only wish we'd had more to do in our brief time together.
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