Berzerk: Recharged

Nonetheless, Berzerk: Recharged is a fun experience for as long as it lasts. It doesn’t quite capture the charm of the original, and there are many better choices now in terms of twin-stick shooters. However, those games don’t have a deadly grinning ball that follows you until it witnesses your death. Its gleeful grin, looking down at your robot-ravaged body, reveling in its victory. No, you are safe from that nightmare in your pathetic human games.

Taken on its own, Berzerk: Recharged isn't a bad game. The shooting is still fine, the additions of health and power-ups are neat, as is the presence of co-op. The overall high score chase remains as compelling as ever for those with a classic arcade mindset. Aside from some notable exclusions, the problem is that this title enters a market rife with other twin-stick shooters that do more and offer more to the player, so it's difficult to get excited when picking up the controller. Unless you're filled with nostalgia for the original title and willing to forgive the misses, you can push aside Berzerk in favor of the countless other twin-stick shooters on the platform.

A reasonable improvement to the arcade classic, but it fails to push the envelope enough to make it compelling

It's a fun game, but I feel like I've played it before. I guess I'm tired of recycling the Recharged concept, where every game is basically the same. I want new ideas, fresh concepts and fun innovations that highlight good gameplay.

I've genuinely attempted to click with Berzerk: Recharged (and the Recharged series overall). But, after many weeks, it's clear I never will. This game doesn't deliver what it promises, which is a "revival of an arcade classic."

Berzerk is a timeless classic whose gameplay has aged very well, in fact it is even more popular now than it was then, thanks to advances in hardware. This Recharged edition brings back the spirit of the original in a modern way, but it doesn't manage to turn it into a more complete game than a simple casual score attack. While the desire to maintain a certain fidelity to the original concept is understandable, there has been a real misstep in the offer of additional content, with only a handful of extra challenges that are not at all challenging. So it risks not even pleasing fans of the original.

Berzerk Recharged is a great game if you have ten minutes to spare. You don't have look up the controls, search massive maps for crafting materials or remember the plot, just dive in, shoot robots and chase high scores. Great fun in short bursts.

When I reviewed Quantum: Recharged, I highlighted how much these revamped titles needed to reinvent their presentation. Berzerk: Recharged was a great response, in many ways. We still have some problems that become increasingly evident with the exhaustive replication of the same template for the entire series, but just for bringing a different proposal, this game deserves to be highlighted.

Berzerk: Recharged is fun for a limited time, and it gets it right by utilizing strong arcade game elements. However, a bolder approach would ensure an even larger audience for the Atari classic in its new version.

Berzerk Recharged is a rare misstep in the Recharged lineup. As much as I was hopeful Berzerk would make for a great entry, so much of this reimagining is bogged down by unfortunate bugs and a lack of polish.