Credit: AtariDoomed! You are the sole survivor of an expedition to an uncharted world, held prisoner by a legion of idiotic robots. Armed with a laser, you attempt to flee their labyrinthine headquarters before they reduce you to a crispy corpse.
Berzerk is a relic. It's not a project game--nothing on Atari 2600 is or ever was meant to be. It's the kind of title you pop in to get you pumped for more in-depth gaming session; a warm up, if you will... Your actions are limited to firing a laser and traversing a plane with electrified walls as your confines. Blocking your egress are mechanical morons who fire slow-moving projectiles that sound as though they're suffering from the worst bout of depression. The first few screens and contingents of sad robots shouldn't challenge you. Just aim and fire and watch the scrap pile grow, then exist stage left.
Credit: AtariThe joke is on you, though, because there is no exit. Berzerk is yet another of those melancholic titles where loss is guaranteed, but you can still rack up points and brag to your buddies about how awesome you are. After that, you can bemoan how cold and lonely the world is.
Robots and their projectiles become faster, but not smarter. They still walk into walls, shoot each other, and commit other helpful acts of stupidity. Standing still is sometimes your best weapon, unless you've selected the proper game variation. Waste too much time on higher settings and you'll stir the wrath of the robots' creator, Evil Otto. A bouncing Wal-Mart logo will appear on the screen, phasing through walls and even tearing his own minions to bits just to get to you. Certain variations will allow you to plug a bullet into this happy face from hell, but others render him invincible.
Credit: AtariTherein lies the true game, one where life is much shorter and much more precious. This leads to frantic battles where dodging and efficiency supersede patience and thorough destruction. However, the experience would have been better had Atari offered a bit more in the way of content. Different room designs wouldn't have added much, but a couple different enemies would've been nice. You know, something else to keep you on your toes...
Berzerk's mindless combat is enjoyable enough for catharsis, and those wishing for a little kick in their old school gaming can look forward to worthwhile variations that rely on your will to survive. It's an unpretentious title from simpler days, one I don't mind firing up now and then. Just don't make the mistake of thinking it's worthy of positioning next to today's titles, or even those of the last two generations. Berzerk sits in its own niche aside from modern gaming. Either you're on board and you'll appreciate it, or you've moved on and aren't going to trick yourself into believing Berzerk is worth your time just because retro junkies like myself say so.
