Attack on Titan 2 Review

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• Developer: Omega force
• Publisher: koe tecom
• Genre: hack and slash
• Release Date: 20/4/18
• Platforms:pc Xbox ps4
• Reviewed on: Xbox one x
• Game Supplied by: Microsoft

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Omega force made a great start with the previous attack on titan game, allowing you to live in the anime world and fly around using ODM gear whilst facing off against colossal human like titans. The sequel has made some great progress in terms of interface upgrades and some nice new ways to dispatch titans, But this all falls short due to a slow paced regurgitated story.

[su_accordion][su_accordion] [su_spoiler title=”About” style=”fancy”] Abandon all fear. A.O.T. 2 is the gripping sequel to the action game based on the worldwide hit anime series “Attack on Titan.” Experience the immense story of the anime alongside Eren and his companions, as they fight to save humanity from the threat of the deadly human devouring Titans. Try your hand in operating the omni-directional mobility gear, maneuvering and flying through the sky to counter the Titans, and feel the thrill and satisfaction of battling giant opponents. [/su_spoiler] [/su_accordion]

The missions both new and old still consist of the usual. Plenty of protect this point, escort this npc from point a to point b and the spur of the moment save your friend from being eaten, there’s nothing hugely new in this sense. On the plus side the reused cut scenes still do a great job of telling the story and emphasising the heart wrenching moments in the anime.

Another plus worth mentioning is even if you’re new to the attack on titan universe, this is a great game to start with, you won’t miss anything as it starts right from the beginning all the way to where the second season of the anime has left off.

The biggest and only change narratively speaking is the story is seen through the eyes of a player created character, you play as a completely unaffected character, your a random recruit that ends up befriending the main characters. You do have dialogue options but the have no effect on how the story unfolds, the only effect is has is on a rather streamlined friendship system that only rewards you by giving you skills for characters. There is another mode literally called “another mode” that lets you play as a main character and run through missions outside of the story line.

The worst part is your character progression is tied to the relationship system, this is how you progress as a player. It is not only boring and completely destructive in terms of your characters personality, but it also adds to the fact this is a very slow moving game, and if you decide to ignore it you will be at a disadvantage in the next mission. I must say this was one of the worse features in the game for me.

Most of the game feels like filler in between killing titans, and that’s the real fun, that is the real reason to play attack on titan 2. Locking on to a titan and leaping into battle is great especially when you select individual body parts to hack off or damage, a couple good shots to the legs and you will have the beast on its knees and you can go for the kill. Latch on to the neck line to pull yourself up and fly towards the nape, add in some boost with timing to the swing and you could have a wicked looking spinning attack full of devastating damage.

The combat hasn’t changed much since the last game but it definitely is more fluid and appears more on the over the top side, which is not a bad thing, who doesn’t like pulling of 360 blade spins taking out titans and getting drenched in blood.

It will make you feel like a titan killing boss, and it hugely satisfying. Add in the buffs you can get from recruiting some of the original cast into your squad and you are in for a bloodbath, send Mikasa in with her omniblade attack and then dive in with Armins attack buff, no titan can stand in your way.

All these improvements come on top of a much cleaner, more compact interface, faster and more fluid movement, two-player online co-op, and a cool online competitive mode called Annihilation that pits two teams of up to four, to see who can kill the most Titans and score the most points before time expires. You only get credit for the kill if you land the final blow, so coordination and timing is important to make sure that you don’t lose kills to the other team – and to try to steal theirs.

Now put all this on top of a much improved interface, a lot smaller and much, much more visually pleasing, paired with two player co-op, and the new competitive mode called annihilation, that makes you compete against another team to see who can kill the most titans. But coordination and teamwork is key, you have to land the killer hit for it to count towards your score, otherwise the opposite team will be stealing kills, or you steal theirs.

Graphically there is not a huge change from the previous A.O.T game, it’s the slight tweaks, the team at Omega force have done a good job at making the game feel true to the anime, the sound is no slack either bar the fact that all voice acting is in Japanese (a bugbear of mine) everything sounded great, sound of spinning blades dancing through the air was almost as if you could feel how sharp they are, this is an anime based game so yeah it all a bit over the top but it fits well and adds to the general feel of the world, the only thing I would warn for fans of the dubbed anime, is things sound different in the Japanese version and that is what this game is recreating so even the screaming titan has a completely different sound.

My biggest issue in the whole game was what i assume is an oversight, characters in the town all seemed to have this black haze around their feet, it was annoying but not game breaking.

SUMMARY

Over all i think attack on titan 2 is a good game that’s let down by having to slog through old story lines before reaching the new relevant parts and an annoying progression system. But if slaying giant beasts is for you it’s worth a try or if you are new to the series and want a fun way to experience it.