‘Berserk Boy’ Review (Nintendo Switch)
New Switch games that are heavily influenced by the 16-bit era of gaming are something I will always get very very excited about. The 16-bit era and the Super Nintendo in particular is the time I started to really get into gaming and also my love of platformers.
Berserk Boy is a retro, but modern, action-platformer for fans of the Mega Man and Sonic the Hedgehog games, but it never feels like it is copying either. Berserk Boy is very much its own thing.
As a fan of Mario games, a good story is not something I really need to enjoy a game but Berserk Boy does have a fun one. It goes like this. “In the distant future, a mad scientist and his army of darkness seek to enslave the people of Earth. Hope for all humanity rests with The Resistance, but are they enough? Enter Kei, a rookie hero who is transformed by mysterious Orb energy into BERSERK BOY!”
What this does set up though is a stunning-looking futuristic world for players to play in. It’s a fantastic-looking game that pretty much perfects that retro-influenced pixel art graphic style. There’s always much more talk in the gaming community about how great photo-realistic graphics in games are. But I am much more wowed by colourful and beautiful graphics like the ones on Berserk Boy. Colour is a huge part of why the game looks so great and even when so much is going on on-screen, the game remains stunning, both on the big TV screen and the smaller handheld Switch screen.
Of course, this wouldn’t matter a whole lot if the game didn’t play well but thankfully that’s not the case. Taking influences in gameplay and style from the aforementioned Mega Man X and Sonic. While not quite as quick as the Sonic games you are nearly almost moving and collecting items along the way. There’s a nice variety of enemies, and you have to quickly learn how they move and how to defeat them. This is not your standard from left-to-right platformer, you’ll be moving right and left, up and down but it never feels like you’re getting lost. There are little hints on which way to go when you need to go to a specific place or see a specific person.
The difficulty level of the game was just right for me but it does have to options. The retro one where you have a set amount of lives and when you lose them you start the game again from the beginning. And the modern one where you have unlimited lives and when you die you go back to your last checkpoint. I chose the modern one!
The checkpoints are placed not too close to each other to make it a challenge but I was never getting so annoyed that the game became frustrating. I used plenty of lives don’t get me wrong, but I had fun doing it. I kept coming back for more, wanting to improve, wanting to learn how to defeat the moments I didn’t get past.
I have to talk about the music too. Coming from Tee Lopes, lead composer of Sonic Mania and TMNT: Shredders Revenge, the soundtrack is catchy and full of energy. You’ll want to continue listening to it even when you’re not playing the game!
There’s so much to enjoy about Berserk Boy and practically nothing to complain about. Solo developer BeserkBoy Games has done an amazing job of creating this future platforming classic. Berserk Boy will no doubt be in many top games of 2024 lists come the end of the year. It’s a must-buy from platform fans.
