Berzerk Recharged has just been announced!

[RevEng]

49 minutes ago, ledzep said:

Oh, really?  That would suck to program.  I remember in high school I was in a computer class, we had some new TRS-80 computers (not color, I think the IIIs) and the pixels weren't square on that thing, either.  Really irritating trying to program simple games on it.

Nah, its doesn't particularly suck. Basically it's double-resolution in y, compared to x. If you really want near-square pixels, you can double-stack pixels vertically, but it's a waste. The finer y resolution allows for better resolution in slanted lines, and makes dithering more effective. You could also use one of the 320 modes, which do have squarish pixels.

 

FWIW, the 2600 has the same non-square resolution for players and missiles, as do the Atari 8-bit computer Antic modes C & E.

[digdugnate]

Looks like release date is November 9th for Switch- maybe same date for Steam? It's priced at $9.99 US.

 

https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/berzerk-recharged-switch/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2623050/Berzerk_Recharged/

 

[Flojomojo]

30 minutes ago, digdugnate said:

Looks like release date is November 9th for Switch- maybe same date for Steam? It's priced at $9.99 US.

 

https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/berzerk-recharged-switch/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2623050/Berzerk_Recharged/

 

Great minds think alike. I was just looking that up, and was going to point out that the NZ store has it for 9/11/2023 which is November 9th on the other side of the globe. I kinda hate the look of it but I do like the idea of Atari owning Berserk. Maybe they can give it different skins so it looks better?

[Hawkangel]

Bought it just played it on my Steamdeck. Real disappointing. I hate the design of the androids and Evil Otto is like that boss in the first level of Mario 64 you have to throw off a cliff. 
Oh well back to AtariMania which I love. 

[+jgkspsx]

I don't understand why they made it a twin stick shooter. That's not Berzerk.

[Razzie.P]

2 hours ago, jgkspsx said:

I don't understand why they made it a twin stick shooter. That's not Berzerk.

Likely because cheap and easy.  You can quickly find thousands of premade generic twin stick shooters, pick one, modify and reskin it, add the name and an "iconic enemy" and away you go.

 

That's not a knock, as much as it probably sounds like it is.  But it makes sense (to me, at least) why they would do it.   I'm holding out for that reskinned Flappy Bird game where they reskin it with a plane and bridges for River Raid Recharged!  😁

 

 

[Zoyous]

4 hours ago, Razzie.P said:

Likely because cheap and easy.  You can quickly find thousands of premade generic twin stick shooters, pick one, modify and reskin it, add the name and an "iconic enemy" and away you go.

I don't think it's any easier to code it as a twin stick shooter than it would be to code it with shooting in the direction of movement as the original Berzerk was. It's slightly more complex if anything. Also you seem to be implying that the code was taken from some other project, which I doubt would be the case due to legal liability for the publisher first and foremost.

They redesigned it in a twin stick configuration because that style of game is currently much more popular than the original style of Berzerk, it's as simple as that. And it's not entirely inappropriate since a quirk of the controls in Berzerk was one of Eugene Jarvis's inspirations for the twin stick setup he devised for Robotron.

[RB5200]

Got this last night for switch, mainly cause I wanted to know what the voice was going to sound like, and guess what, there is no voice, what in the hell is that about. I think that alone makes it less of a berzerk than anything, very disappointed with this.

Edited November 11, 2023 by RB5200

[doug0909]

Just ugh. This is the first recharged game I've returned. If you want to see what a modern take on an old school maze game should look like, try "Wizard of Walls"... 

[Razzie.P]

6 hours ago, Zoyous said:

I don't think it's any easier to code it as a twin stick shooter than it would be to code it with shooting in the direction of movement as the original Berzerk was. It's slightly more complex if anything. 
 

Yeah, probably would be more complex to code from scratch, but my line of thinking was that, as is common with development today, they may have started with a prebuilt template/engine and just modified it as needed.  So from my experience, using things like Game Maker, Unity, etc -- it's very much easier to find a generic Twin Stick shooter and tweak it than to try to make something unique that fits an original vision. I just checked for kicks and see several that be bought with commercial license very, very cheaply.

 

 

6 hours ago, Zoyous said:

 Also you seem to be implying that the code was taken from some other project, which I doubt would be the case due to legal liability for the publisher first and foremost.
 

Nah, I didn't mean to imply they did anything shady like that.  Just that they likely bought and used something already built.  With appropriate licenses of course, I'd imagine.

 

And again, my comments aren't intended to be a knock on that type of development.  I use the "build on what's already there" method as a hobbyist as well as in a professional environment at work.  

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, RB5200 said:

Got this last night for switch, mainly cause I wanted to know what the voice was going to sound like, and guess what, there is no voice, what in the hell is that about. I think that alone makes it less of a berzerk than anything, very disappointed with this.

This may sound stupid and may not help at all, but I saw this in a review, so sharing in case it helps --

 

"So, I asked the PR person representing Sneakybox and Atari about it. They told me that it was a problem with the sound levels. In order to hear the voices, you had to turn down the music completely. They had a patch for it out well before launch."

 

So maybe turn down the music and/or make sure you have the patch?  Stinks if neither of those steps works.

 

[RB5200]

29 minutes ago, Razzie.P said:

So, I asked the PR person representing Sneakybox and Atari about it. They told me that it was a problem with the sound levels. In order to hear the voices, you had to turn down the music completely. They had a patch for it out well before launch."

Will check this out , sure hope there's something.

[RB5200]

Update, ok there is voice , turn the music all the way down and you can kinda hear it, it's tied in with SFX volume, which includes the gun, and the gun overpowers the voice badly, so to hear it you kinda have to stop shooting. So still not that great, unfortunately. I sure hope they don't give up on this, and come out with a update that remedies this. I think they need to reverse the gun sound and voice sound, would much rather hear the voice taunting, than the stupid pew,pew of the gun.

[Flojomojo]

22 hours ago, jgkspsx said:

I don't understand why they made it a twin stick shooter. That's not Berzerk.

I don’t mind that aspect of it but I do wish there were an autofire mode. I haven’t played it that much yet but I haven’t been in a situation where it makes sense to stop shooting. Having to keep a finger on the right trigger is unnecessarily tiring and adds nothing to the game. 

8 hours ago, RB5200 said:

Update, ok there is voice , turn the music all the way down and you can kinda hear it, it's tied in with SFX volume, which includes the gun, and the gun overpowers the voice badly, so to hear it you kinda have to stop shooting. So still not that great, unfortunately. I sure hope they don't give up on this, and come out with an update that remedies this. I think they need to reverse the gun sound and voice sound, would much rather hear the voice taunting, than the stupid pew,pew of the gun.

Perhaps there should be separate software controls for the different sounds. I had no idea there were voices either. 

 

I also experienced a game freeze on the Switch version. That shouldn’t happen. 
 

feature requests:

1. Autofire option 

2. Turn up the voices so they can be heard

3. Option to swap out the main character sprite (we are given half a dozen colorblind options but not this?)

4. Fix the crashes 

 

and maybe 

5. Bring back the developer who did all the other Recharged games with style and grace 

[roots.genoa]

8 hours ago, RB5200 said:

turn the music all the way down

@ledzep will be devastated. 🙂

[jerseystyle]

After seeing more footage and watching reviews (and how they botched the voice), this looks like a big misstep. It looks so mediocre I’m half expecting TT to talk about how revolutionary it is. I hope this developer isn’t involved in the Recharged series moving forward.

[+MrZarniwoop]

4 hours ago, Flojomojo said:

feature requests:

1. Autofire option 

2. Turn up the voices so they can be heard

3. Option to swap out the main character sprite (we are given half a dozen colorblind options but not this?)

4. Fix the crashes 

 

and maybe 

5. Bring back the developer who did all the other Recharged games with style and grace 

+1

 

#chickenfightlikearobot

[Giles N]

Bought it and played it yesterday evening.

 

First-impression mini review:

 

Not well-aquainted with the original, so I have no strong retro-feelings attached to this title. Never played it in the Arcades.

 

Yet, even though I have complained too many Recharged-titles just goes with a unified modernized TRON/Vector-look, seemingly careless to whether or not that fits the setting and story, I could hardly think of title fitting precisely a TRON/vector-look than Berzerk. It’s in the future. You shoot at Robots. You a laser-gun. The walls looks in the original like laser-walls. 
What I complained about (elsewhere) wasn’t TRON/vector-styling in itself, but using it anywhere and everywhere, whether you’re elf shooting at giant centipede in a mushroom-forest, or missile-base on a planet-surface. That is: just using a generic retro-vector-styling all over the shop.

Here, such aesthetics could have looked really nice.

 

As it is, they use more simplistic cardboard-figures on a generic looking futuristic-base-something with metal-walls and laser-gates.

 

It’s ok. Nothing remarkable, but not very bad either. The stuff you by the 1000s used on smart-device games.

 

Graphics: 7/10

 

 

Sound:

 

As mentioned - really clueless to what the original ‘felt like’ back when it hit the Arcades.

I really liked the music, and sounds where good.

If there should have been more robotic voices and futuristic sound-effects, I can buy that point. 
It escaped my notice.

 

Sound: 9/10

 

 

Gameplay:

 

The hero-figure is easy and intuitive to control.

As said, since I have no strong strings attached to it having to be as similar to the original as possible just for the sake of it, I really enjoyed it being twin-stick shooter, and more firepower than firing one laser at a time. 
There are weapon power-ups, and they are cool - and in my view definitly increases the overall gameplay-quality. My complaint is that they are just too few for a 2023 release, and lasts way too short. More power ups please. What’s there is very good.
[Just make it much more and more overkill next time please.

I’m not really satiefied until you can find the anti-matter gun to annihilate Evil Otto and nuke the Maze from a space-station. And of course everything in-between… next time]
 

Problems in gameplay consists of lack of variation: too few types of enemies, too few traps, too little to find, too little new things to open or unlock.

The frenting action that is there is good. Very oldschool in that it’s same over and over, just faster and more intense.

 

Gameplay: 8/10

 

 

Lastability/depth: 

 

Here is the real problem I think.

By 2023, most people expect more than just one tile-set in a maze.

Even in low-price-games, they expect several types of environments or settings with a variation of hazards/tasks to overcome.

By 2023, people can download for free or for $3, smart-device games more deep than than the latest SNES, Genesis and Amiga/Atari ST-games from the 90ies.

 

This costs $10 and is giving players the same type of game-progress that was typical in the early 80ies: either same core-basics, infinitly, just faster and more intense, and more screens reshuffling the tile-set of the backdrops. This falls way short of what you should get for $10 in 2023.

 

Lastability/depth: 4/10

 

 

Verdict:

 

If you’re into mindless, fast, frentic blasting-fun, all about reactions, not caring overmuch about depth, novelty or getting to grips with more and more things to do, - to some neat music and decent sound-effects, this is probably something for you.

 

If you want a game to feel like you proceed from a definitive point A through many varied settings and new tasks, this may be something to buy when you’re like ‘man, I just need a new game to try, and 10 bucks are no big deal in my financial everyday reality’.

 

For Atari, I think they need to pay more attention to the particulars of the recharged titles. They must remember that much of the simplistic looks where things done back then due to hardware restrictions. Games should look and feel in tune with their story/plot-setting. In this game a TRON-styling in graphics could’ve fitted the atmosphere, and given it a retro-throwback feeling that didn’t feel akwardly contrived. Please, pay attention to the setting, atmosphere and game-history. 
And please, remember, for many people ‘out there’ - the sheer number of typical arcade-like games on smart-devices or consoles are staggering. And they are often cheap, to the point where top-quality titles are free.

As it is now, - the production quality is more that of a $3 smartphone-game. If Atari had found clever ways to make them play well on touch-screen, that could be more ‘right place’ for this level of production.

 

As it is now, PC and Console gamers would need additional motivations to go and buy and try every recharged game.

[That could be opening a Arcade Hall Tycoon or other over-arching game type, assembling all recharged-titles in a special manner to make them a unified modern-retro experience.]
 

Overall Score:    7/10

 

 

Edited November 11, 2023 by Giles N

[Giles N]

I forgot I had the 5200 version - think that may be the thing for Berzerk fans. Fantastic samples. You can shoot at least 2 bullets on-screen a a time.

 

 

[donjn]

On 11/11/2023 at 1:20 PM, Giles N said:

I forgot I had the 5200 version - think that may be the thing for Berzerk fans. Fantastic samples. You can shoot at least 2 bullets on-screen a a time.

 

 

Atari 5200 is low-key the most underrated console ever.

[Giles N]

On 11/14/2023 at 6:35 PM, donjn said:

Atari 5200 is low-key the most underrated console ever.

Atari themselves, both back in 1982-1986…7(?), and also later - as a retro-platform -, could’ve done much more to promote it.

 

But, of course, it seems very much like the hardware gaps between that stand-alone console, and the multiple variations of Atari-8bits, made game production less unified, of course to the result that numbers of compatible games for their respective systems would dwindle.

 

The 5200 is a cool console, but very much of its exotic retro-coolness is thanks to hardworking homebrewers and coders and manufacturers of extra hardware things like Multicarts and better controllers.

 

But, upon diving into the collecting for Atari-retro systems, I actually started with a 5200.

Found out it wasn’t at all the easiest of the consoles to hook up here in Norway. Needed a downscaler box from 240-110 power-converter, needed to import a NTSC CRT-tv.

But I was lucky on my first ebay buy: someone just sold me like 30-40 carts for quite low price. Got excellent consoles (shiny 4 port, an ok 2 port, and later an A/V modded console)

 

The games I bought it for played well, and had tons of retro-charm for me.

 

Later things like Advrnture II and AtariBlast (made playable from an AtariMax Ultimate), have increased my fondness for it.

 

Should only wish more of the best Atari 8-bit homebrews would be ported to it.

 

The system is so particular its difficult to say underrated-period. Most gamers like stuff to work easily out-of-the-box. I can understand that for some, collecting for it and setting it up, may seem overmuch work for a limited number of games.

 

But I think for particular retro-enthusiasts, it can be ‘hidden gem’.

[zzip]

10 hours ago, Giles N said:

Atari themselves, both back in 1982-1986…7(?), and also later - as a retro-platform -, could’ve done much more to promote it.

They officially killed the 5200 early in 1984, that's why the lack of promotion.    Atari pushed it quite heavily before that.

[Flyindrew]

34 minutes ago, zzip said:

They officially killed the 5200 early in 1984, that's why the lack of promotion.    Atari pushed it quite heavily before that.

Around the time of the 5200 release was also the time home versions of Pac Man were released. Colecovision at this time had the killer pack in cart in Donkey Kong, and was known as the exclusive system to play Donkey Kong on. If the 5200 did the same with Pac Man, history would have turned out radically different for Atari.

[zzip]

3 minutes ago, Flyindrew said:

Around the time of the 5200 release was also the time home versions of Pac Man were released. Colecovision at this time had the killer pack in cart in Donkey Kong, and was known as the exclusive system to play Donkey Kong on. If the 5200 did the same with Pac Man, history would have turned out radically different for Atari.

Colecovision died out too by 85.   Problem was both systems released into the crash, and they weren't prepared to weather that storm.

 

I also question if people make console buying decisions based solely on the pack-in game.  By late 1982,  Donkey Kong's popularity had surpassed Pac-man.   I remember seeing 5200 kiosks with Pac-man running next to Colecovision kiosks running Donkey Kong in stores.  There was so much more excitement around that Donkey Kong port,  it was what everyone was talking about.  The attitude towards 5200 Pac-man seemed more like "been there, done that".  I suspect the 2600 Pac-man port earlier that year killed off a lot of the Pac-man hype.

 

If Coleco had made Carnival the pack-in and DK was an extra purchase,  I have a hard time believing the 5200 would have sold better, even if it had gone with Pac-man rather than Breakout.   People really wanted that Donkey Kong port!    Plus buying a Colecovision and Donkey Kong would have still been cheaper than buying a 5200!   The 5200 price probably hurt it more than the choice of pack-in.

[Flyindrew]

6 minutes ago, zzip said:

  I suspect the 2600 Pac-man port earlier that year killed off a lot of the Pac-man hype.

 

 

I agree that the 2600 Pac Man release had something to do with this. I do believe that Atari could have somehow tied in Pac Man as the killer 5200 app with its release and maybe delayed the inferior 2600 release.

 

Owning both a 5200 and Colecovision (and many similar ports of games), I always argue very strongly that in retrospect the 5200 was a far superior system of the two. Its just that Coleco ran circles around Atari as far as marketing is concerned.

[zzip]

30 minutes ago, Flyindrew said:

I agree that the 2600 Pac Man release had something to do with this. I do believe that Atari could have somehow tied in Pac Man as the killer 5200 app with its release and maybe delayed the inferior 2600 release.

I agree, if they had tied 5200 hype to Pac-man hype, that would have been something!   Maybe an ad campaign - you can buy the 2600 version now or preorder the upcoming 5200 version!   Sure that might have cut into 2600 Pac-man sales, but would have built hype around the 5200 and possibly moved more units.

 

They way it happened, I don't think they revealed the 5200 until after 2600 Pacman came out, which of course was going fuel cynical conspiracy theories that they made it bad on purpose to sell us the game twice

30 minutes ago, Flyindrew said:

Owning both a 5200 and Colecovision (and many similar ports of games), I always argue very strongly that in retrospect the 5200 was a far superior system of the two. Its just that Coleco ran circles around Atari as far as marketing is concerned.

Yeah Coleco really seemed to know exactly where to hit Atari.   Overall, I'd say Atari had a much stronger portfolo of well-known arcade games, but Coleco kept relying on the handful of heavy hitters they got, which happened to be hot "right now"  (DK, DKjr, Zaxxon).  And then embarrassing Atari by releasing the 2600 module.   

 

The other problem for the 5200 was most of it's library was games that had already been on the 2600.   It needed some new must-play game to make people want the console now, and not "oh, I'll get around to upgrading eventually"

Edited November 16, 2023 by zzip