Berserk Boy Review (Unredeemable Jank)
Beserk Boy is a fast paced 2D Megaman like that should be a game that I should adore but falls short for me in several ways that makes me unable to recommend it in its current state.
To give credit where it is due, the presentation of this game is absolutely fantastic. The character models and level artwork are 90s perfection as is the soundtrack. The moment to moment action feels great too, especially with Berserk Boy's base form charge bouncing me from enemy to enemy. The enemy layout makes sense and each enemy unit is distinct with recognizable attacks. The "metroidvania elements" referred to in the title is in reference to the different elemental forms that the protagonist can obtain while playing the game which gives you additional traversal abilities or attacks.All fantastic stuff.
What prevents me from recommending it is the confusing game design elements at play. Most levels are about 5-10 minutes long which is a fine length. However, completing these levels in its entirety is a nightmare. There are collectibles in the form of five tokens and a variable number of resistance army members that you must collect in the level as well. However, the great majority of these levels will not allow you to get all of the collectibles in one go, due to needing traversal abilities from an elemental form you will pick up later. On top of this, "completing" a level includes getting the highest rank on it (an S rank) which is some extremely unclear score given based on number of floating orbs (a la Mario coins) in the stage with an additional bonus given for your highest attack combo and time completing the course, with points being taken off with each death. This seems fair enough, but it is not clear at all how much each element (orbs, time, combo) actually impact your end score to get the S ranking. By the time I gave up on this game, I had the impression that having zero deaths mattered the most (which is fine) but collecting the orbs mattered overwhelmingly more than any particular time I got. Which makes zero sense as the game will always display your completion time before selecting any level. The result of this is that you are likely going through the same level three or more times bare minimum- once to move on to the next level, once to pick up the resistance/tokens, once for S rank. Until you realize that somehow you missed a resisence member because you did not have the next traversal ability needed for to get them or you miss a room of orbs and then miss the S rank. Then it turns into a fourth, fifth, sixth or more times which is a problem because of my other big game design bugaboo.
Berserk Boy's levels while beautifully animated, are pretty mechanically bland. In the levels of most Megaman like games there is some central mechanic that is tied to each stage- conveyor belts, water, gusts of wind, etc. However, there is none of this here. I cannot remember a single level of this game as being distinct from the others. And when I am playing through the same level for the fifth time, my initial excitement quickly dissipated.
I think there is potential there, though. Again, the fluidity of moment to moment combat is fantastic as is the overall presentation. However, the overall game design really made me wish I was playing another Megaman like such as Gravity Circuit or any of the Shovel Knight games (which is what I am going to do after I finish writing this). So, I gave up after getting the final elemental orb and just under 6 hours of total gameplay, not completing the game. I would recommend it only to diehard Megaman like fans who are looking forward to anything to fill the void Capcom has left.