Beserk Boy - Switch Review
"The fix of action platforming that I needed in my life"
You know that the year is going well when I can start a review by saying it again: Boy do I love Mega Man, and I love this game. Berserk Boy is a love letter to Mega Man and the classic action platformers of similar, and I’m all for it.
It’s a bright, fast-paced, form-changing rumble through stages, in a classic futuristic setting following the anime-haired protagonist Kei and his childhood friend as they fight against an evil scientist, and that is exactly the sort of classic setup I love. Here’s the rundown!
The Good: Go Berserk!
Berserk Boy plays the same way that a saturday morning cartoon feels when you’re a kid: it’s bright, engaging, and just the coolest over-the-top entertainment you could want. The gameplay and level design are great to keep the player moving, and encourages tagging enemies at high speed before crushing them in one burst - it’s very satisfying.
The level design throughout in particular deserves props because every stage has unreachable areas that become unlockable as you obtain new abilities from defeating bosses, and they’re both hidden enough that you need to look for them, and noticeable enough that stumbling upon them too early is sure to leave an impression.
And if you’re one for challenge runs, Berserk Boy lends itself extremely well for speedruns or other perfection-based challenges with its collectibles, combo meters and end of stage ranking. As someone that isn’t particularly interested in these in most games, Berserk Boy still made me want to try to get higher scores at the end of stages.
Zipping around, changing forms and crushing enemies at high speed while the great soundtrack plays is, in one word, amazing. Just like how it felt back then, but with a new twist - Berserk Boy might be a love letter to a type of retro game, but it doesn’t lose itself in references and stands as its own work, with its own merits.
TL;DR
- Fast and fun gameplay
- Great level design and music
- Satisfying to play in many ways
- Pays homage to the classic without being a ripoff
The Bad: Can I have some extra lines?
There is one aspect where I feel like Berserk Boy’s dedication to over the top speed was a bit misplaced, and that is balancing. There are five different forms that Kei can obtain and freely swap through… And oh man are some just objectively better than others.
One form gets slow as molasses double jumps with an awkward hitbox and animation, while the other gets a fully controllable flight ability. Mind you, the worst option is the last form the player gets access to. The dedicated melee form’s dash attack is much slower, and it also sends Kei flying back away from the enemies it hits, while others get to stay close to the action.
Berserk Boy is also one of the games that firmly sets itself in the hole of prioritising gameplay over story almost entirely. Usually not a negative point - but there is actually a decent amount of time dedicated to character interactions, lines and cutscenes with allies and enemies alike.
And yet, most of it is shallow and forgettable, which leaves Berserk Boy in an awkward spot where it tries the very bare minimum with its characters, and it shows. This tips characters that should be memorable like Genos and every other boss from classics to one-note cliches. Who wants a boss fight against a boring cardboard cutout?
Finally, Berserk Boy plays well most of the time, but there are plenty of mechanical aspects that feel… off. The dash function does not preserve or maintain any momentum, leading to awkward pauses during movement.
You’re incentivised to use the dash offensively, yet iframes and recoil do not match up to enemy recovery times, and that can both kill you and trivialise the game. The wind boss can be thoroughly cheesed by using the dash attack of the ice form, simply because the game will loop into the wall while the boss is still within the hitbox, making Kei dash automatically until victory.
TL;DR
- Unbalanced forms and gameplay choices
- Very forgettable and uninteresting characters & story
- Technical jank in movement and combat
Final Score: 8/10
Look, I can go on and on about problems as much as I want, but at the end of the day? This game is a blast.
Berserk Boy is exactly the fix of action platforming that I needed in my life, and it’s just the perfect mixture of fun and challenging. Yes, I wish that the characters and the story were a lot more interesting, and I genuinely believe that it could have been done, but this game is just plain fun as hell. Sometimes a game conquers all of its problems on vibes and hype alone, and boy am I glad that Berserk Boy is one of these.
Not only did this game make me happy, it gives me the feeling that if the creator decides to make more games, they will be gems. I’m excited to see more, and definitely recommend you pick up Berserk Boy.
Thank you for checking out our Berserk Boy Switch review, thank you to Berserk Boy Games (via Lost in Cult) for providing the review code and thank you to our Patreon Backers for their ongoing support:
- Andrew Caluzzi (Inca Studios / Camped Out)
- Bel Cubitt
- Bobby Jack
- Jack Caven
- NintenVania Podcast
- RedHero