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Gundam and the first Fist of the North Star were fun, as was One Piece. There have been plenty of great adaptations of the Musou formula of various licensed franchises. Berserk and the Band of the Hawk is the bloodiest Warriors game to ever exist, with splashes of blood from enemies drenching the battlefield as well as characters and while enemies don’t split in half with every sword swing, they do explode into bits from character’s frenzy attacks maintaining the perfect level of gore and silliness for a Berserk flavored Warriors game. While fans may worry that the series’ tone has been sacrificed for over-the-top nature of the Warriors franchise, rest assured it has been not. It’s a parsed version, and while newcomers may feel like certain pieces of the plot are missing, long-time fans are sure to appreciate the amount of effort put into telling the complete Berserk story. Factory Manager Simulatorīerserk and the Band of the Hawk does an admirable job retelling the manga almost in it’s entirety, starting at the Golden Age Arc, and ending at the Hawk of the Millennium Empire Arc through a combination of in-game events and cutscenes that blend clips from the 1997 anime, the 2016 OVA, and new cutscenes made specifically for the game. While players will spend the majority of the game as series protagonist Guts, characters such as Griffith, Judeau, Casca and even Zodd the Immortal can be unlocked and each feel distinctly different from each other with distinct attack styles and combos. I think something like Berserk lends itself perfectly to this style of gameplay, being mostly centered around large scale wars and cutting through legions of demons. I love the simple yet nuanced combat, I love the ridiculous fun of hacking hundreds upon hundreds of enemies to bits, and I love how each game manages to feel different while essentially being the same. I am an unapologetic lover of the Warriors franchise.
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It seemed as though I’d never be able to experience my favourite manga in my favourite medium, until Koei Tecmo announced Berserk and the Band of the Hawk, a perfect pairing of the brutal and bloody manga to their signature Warriors gameplay. Sword of the Berserk: Gut’s Rage released on the Dreamcast in 1999, ensuring very few actually played it, and Berserk: Millennium Falcon Hen Seima Senki no Shō or Berserk Millennium Empire Arc: Chapter of the Holy Demon War released on PS2 in 2004 but only in Japan. BERSERK and the Band of the Hawk Free Download RepacklabĪnd while my love of the franchise ran deep, I unfortunately missed out on the series foray into the video game world.
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