Reviews

I wasn't expecting anything of this game, since I never owned an Atari not only I don't have nostalgia for games of that console but I also have something of a repelling sentiment since the graphics even when I was a child stroke me as "rudimentary", the truth is that I found a positive experience filled with depth.

The premise of Berzerk is pretty simple but it is mandatory to have a better grasp of what is going on, in summary: you're stranded in an unknown planet and your team is captured by an evil man "Evil Otto", after that you're prompted to escape from his maze-lair filled with laser-shooting robots and electrified walls. Which brings us to the core of the gameplay, as its premise, it is really simple but also effective, you start in a randomly generated room with some robots on it, the objective of the game is to eliminate as many robots as you can and stack points to get the best score possible before you die, as you may notice this is an arcade game on which the better you play the better your score, the robots start with slow movement and slow shots but as you progress they become more and more aggressive.

This game have several optional game modes, twelve to be precise, on which everyone has a different set of rules, ranking from the normal mode on which you only shoot robots or a harder mode on which after some time has passed Evil Otto will appear and start to hunt you down ala Nemesis from Resident Evil 3, this gaves an extra layer of challange an although it seemed that you can master this difficulty, for the most part Evil Otto seemed op and faster than your character, so in my case playing in this mode was more like 'dispatch every enemy as fast as I can before the evil head appears', the other modes are variations with increased or decreased difficulty, harder to get extra lifes and even an easy mode, although I believe the best way to play the game might be the said no.2 mode with the appearing Nemesis head, since it is challenging as is rewarding, the controls have great response and hit boxes are on point, my only issue is that shooting requieres some awkeard plsitioning like if you're in a higher position in the room than an enemy it's difficult to hit it before they hit you're legs, it's difficult to describe this situation but it will make sense once you're playing, luckly you can shoot diagonaly unlike your enemies so you can take advantage of that.

A thing that I liked a lot is that every room, especially when you're high on points and enemies are aggressive is that they feel like a little puzzle, in a similar but simpler way as in the more modern Hotline Miami, you'll find yourself in situations on which you'll need to choose in a matter of a split second if taking care of enemy A will be better than B or D like I said it's simple but it is also effective. Although my favorite aspect might be a very personal one, this game reminded me of the time when I was little and when I played with my toys I created narratives with them, in Berzerk (and I imagine a lot of games of that era) since the visuals are practically a canvas for your imagination to fill the holes I was constantly feeding the game's narrative with my own one, claiming that enemies with an specific color were a type of robot with their own story and even when the AI moved and died in erratic and self-destructed ways I gave them the trait that is because they're old robots from and old war of some sorts so a lot of them have malfunctions, of course this is made up but it wasn't as if I was looking to make this narratives, the came rather naturally, on a more "philisophical" note, the fact that you're forever traped in this maze with the only thing that keeps you going further is the your will to live, this thinking, on purpuse or not gave me the chills and along with the other stuff made my playtrough a more purpose and fulfilling experience, even if it was brief.

Berzerk might not be an amazing game by today's standards, but it certainly has aged well, more if you're willing to do some lifting yourself, the fact that basic colors, points, and lines gave me this much, it is a testament of how creativity can endure time, even when the experience can be short (or even longer depending on your arcade-mode tastes) and flawed, if you by any chance can get Berzerk my recommendation is that you add it to your collection if only to play it to test it.

Fight Crab, the latest title by Nussoft, will definitively be the hidden gem of 2020. However, it has the potential to become the next great competitive game, on the level of other titles such as League of Legends and C.O.D.

The game embraces the unconventional, the bizarre, and the imaginative—pitting you against other fellow crustaceans in epic battles. Think Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier, but Ali is a coconut crab and Frazier is a mud crab. Now give Ali two nunchucks and Frazier a broadsword, and you have Fight Crab.

Fight Crab demands creativity. Fight Crab demands experimentation. It's up to the player to determine their playstyle—the game merely gives you the tools and the platform. 

That being said, Fight Crab serves as a lesson in Darwinism—survival of the fittest. Only those with the capacity to rise above, become more skilled, discover new tactics and master them, will succeed in the race of crustacean evolution. Fight Crab is evolutionary theory in motion, being tested in ways mankind has never been able to observe before. Who is to say that Fight Crab is even a game? What if Fight Crab is something much more complex? What if Fight Crab is purely scientific? What knowledge would mankind gain from Fight Crab? The key to our survival? The next step in our own evolution? 

There has not been a single living species on Earth that has risen to pure consciousness except we human beings. We possess the intellect, emotions, and memories that separate us from beast. According to evolutionary theory, our ancestors slowly (but surely) outgrew themselves, learning how to use basic tools for hunting purposes. That was the beginning of our evolutionary journey. However, our primitive ancestors did not know what would come of their doing so—they had absolutely no idea what they were really doing, or why. They simply saw a rock one day, picked it up, threw it, perhaps hurt one of their own, and then the very first idea was born—a genesis of our own.

Now, what if a fully conscious, cognizant, thinking species such as ourselves were able to fully understand evolution? We would become unstoppable. Nothing would deter the survival of mankind: pestilence, drought, the inevitable supernova explosion of our star. Nothing. We would outgrow our own dimensional perspective and rise beyond the small confines of our own minds. Time and space would bend at our will. We would become divine beings.

All this, coming from a singular source. An examination of sorts—a 'game'—that led to the supernatural end of our evolutionary line: 

Fight Crab.

Even when Real Bout 2 The Newcomers felt mighty familiar or some choices seemed backward, I was always playing with a smile on my face.

You know that old say about if something isn't broken don't repair it, and that is what the developers did with RB2. At first glance, you'll notice some tweaks here and there, especially from the characters you used in the past entry and at moments it might seem as some of them are clunkier but instead, they added complexity to some of them, you still have all-around fighters like Terry or Mai but already difficult characters to use like Mary have been tweaked if only a little to add more complexity to avoid button-mashing combos, or at least that I believe anyways.

The roster is bigger than the last game (by 2 characters) and felt a little like those All-star games where the plot is not that relevant and are more focused in fighting, which is great or the better experience if you play with friends but from a single-player perspective, it felt a little backward, since a lot of the fun playing that way is to unlock stuff and get the endings for your favorite characters but the little sequences you obtain by beating the game are for the most part silly and stakes-free, is not a bad thing per se but they aren't as rewarding as a "story" ending.

Another thing that at times bothered me a bit was the discrepancy between the damage of some special moves, for the most part, they were balanced but in a few instances, they felt too op in terms of speed and damage. The artwork and the sprite work are still great although it doesn't seem that they were trying to push the envelope to higher places, instead the maintained the quality in a safe spot.

RB2 is so much fun if you play with friends, from a single-player experience it might be a little unrewarding or plain at times but even when it plays it safe in almost every aspect of its mechanics or artwork, it is still a pretty good game.