The early 80s was an absolutely incredible time for arcade gamers, with innovation and iconic experiences arriving at a mind-blowing pace.

There are countless, famous arcade titles that passed me by even then, despite my obsession with video games and arcades themselves, in general.

I think I was perhaps a bit young when Berzerk arrived; though I do distinctly, vividly recall encountering 1978 title Space Invaders, it being probably the first video game I ever saw in action, it’s doubtful that this was back in its year of release.

And Space Invaders was everywhere, for years; even in the face of rapid technological advancement and much more impressive games from an audiovisual perspective, Space Invaders was, and remains, iconic.

Back to Berzerk though; I don’t actually recall seeing a Berzerk machine anywhere, though again, I would have been very young when it first came out.

Having now played its arcade version, with its synthesized speech and fairly open ended gameplay, which was unusual at the time, I know it would have made a big impression on me.

I hadn’t played the original Atari 2600 version either, though again I know I would have enjoyed it if I had.

Now that I have this Enhanced Edition, I’m hardly going to track down the original; this newly released cartridge (no, that 2023 release date in the title is not a typo) adds synthesized speech and the ability for the game’s enemies to fire diagonally at your hapless human, bringing it much closer to the arcade version.

So, what’s Berzerk about?

Well, you’re a human in a deadly maze, beset on all sides by robots out to get you. You’re armed with a laser gun and can blast them, but they’re fast and deadly, so you’ll need to have your wits about you.

Even the walls are lethal; touch one and you’ll get a fatal electric shock, robbing you of a precious life.

The aim is to get out of your room and into the next one, leaving by one of the exits. I’m happy to be corrected if this is wrong, but the layout seems somewhat randomly generated, as I don’t always start, or continue, in the same rooms.

Oh, and did I forget to mention Evil Otto?

An insidious ball with a happy face, Evil Otto will track you down if you linger too long in a room, getting faster if you clear all of the robots out. In the arcade version, Otto is invincible, but you can set the Atari 2600 version to have no Otto, or even an Otto that can be temporarily destroyed.

Not that you’d know this from the instructions of course, because none are included! Despite the lovely retro packaging and neat little slipcase for the cartridge itself, just as with the multi-carts and, to a lesser extent, Mr Run and Jump, there really should have been some sort of pamphlet included to explain what all the different game modes are.

Instead you have to hunt for these online, which seems a bit daft when the details could have just been printed on the slipcase, if an extra instruction booklet added too much cost.

Still, that grumble aside, though it doesn’t look all that great at first glance, I’ve found Berzerk to be an incredibly addictive game that has aged really well.

It’s playable, responsive and very addictive as a high score challenge; though the speech is barely audible, in terms of knowing exactly what the robots are saying when they taunt you, it’s a neat extra feature and makes it feel even more like a classic arcade experience.

Despite not experiencing Berzerk in its heyday, it may just be one of my favourite Atari 2600 games; there’s no rose tinted specs involved here, considering this is the first time I’ve played it, so I’m very confident in saying that!

Naturally, it works very well on the Atari 2600+, and of course it’s designed to be playable in original hardware too (both the 2600 and Atari 7800); Berzerk is a game that I would recommend even over the more modern Mr Run and Jump, even though I enjoyed the latter game immensely.

With three Atari 7800 games being reissued by Atari next, all of which tend to be very expensive to acquire via eBay and the like, I’m very keen to see the new console’s library grow. Whether that be with reissues or ‘new’ games, or even older titles with new features, as is the case with Berzerk: Enhanced Edition; regardless, this is another great showing for the classic machine.

You can buy Berzerk: Enhanced Edition from Amazon here.