Berserkers
Berserkers
Berserkers
In The Lord of the Rings, they have cave trolls. In Troy, its that guy with the
sledgehammer. The Chaos Legions in 40K unleash Khorne bloodthirsters. The berserker
enemy can be found in many war films, games and stories, but I want to focus specifically
on berserkers in video games. I have keyed into three main berserkers which are found in
some of my favourite hacknslash games, so here we go.
BERSERKER
PYRAMID HEAD
Second in this list is Pyramid Head from Silent Hill 2,
who also makes appearances in both of the films, and is
Large helmet
Muscular body
Surgical robe?
Fused fingers
Great Knife
represents guilt and sin in humanity. Though metaphorical in being, he seems to be just a
man with a loincloth and well, a big pyramid on his head anyway, one swing of his
sword will do much damage, which is enough of a sign for me to get out of his way.
Pyramid head, the Red Pyramid Thing or Bogeyman, depending where youre referencing
from, is most definitely a powerful monster, however it is suggested that since he attacks
both humans and other monsters in the town (for example, manikins), that he is neutral
in his position as a Silent Hill monster, a separate creature entirely. The helmet itself
appears to be a chunk of rusted steel grafted onto his head, and at times a tentacle
will shoot out to impale his prey, further complimenting his state as a monster.
TANK
Hulking muscles
Vacant expression
Lust for blood
Open pectoral wound
Powerful weapons
Gears of War, Tank will, at the sight of you, smash through everything in his way to get
to you, including hordes of infected. Fire and small passageways are the best tactics
against this formidable foe, and you can distinguish between his breathing and footsteps
from those of Hunters before they get too close. Unlike the Berserker however, Tank can
be killed in any number of ways, and all weapons will affect his health bar in some way
it just depends on personal preference when up against him, for example, you may decide
that attacking this monstrosity with a frying pan may not be the most sensible
strategy
CYCLOPS
Finally, I give you the God of War Cyclops. My first introduction to this fantastic enemy
was in a demo of GoW3, which features a fight with the giant one-eyed beast before
destroying Ares. At first your attempts seem futile, as its tough skin and large body are
formidable against Kratos Blades of Exile. The fun bit comes when you see the tell-tale
O symbol, allowing Kratos to mount the monster and continuously stab it, controlling it,
until eventually you are able to tear out the Cyclops eye out, in a gruesome, bloody, epic
scene. The Cyclops is not particularly difficult to defeat, but it has the typical wide-spread
sweeping attack of its arms, causing damage to both Kratos and the other enemies
surrounding the two. In the trailer video of God of War: Ascension, a multiplayer fight
features four Spartans attacking one very large Cyclops, which is more accurate to Greek
mythology, similarly tearing out the ugly eyeball from its socket with hooks and chains. As
much as these enemies are great fun to finish off, you almost have to kill them before
:)