- Developer: Omega Force
- Publisher: Koei Tecmo
- Release date:5th July 2019
- Genre: 3rd Person Action Adventure
- Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, Switch
- Reviewed on: Xbox One X
- Game Supplied by: Publisher
The base game of Attack on Titan 2 has been out now for over a year, and received a somewhat mixed bag of review scores. Our own Total Gaming Addicts reviewer Andy, gave the base game 6.5 out of ten and wrote “Great game held back by some pacing issues and the repeat of the season one story, but the new perspective is still enjoyable.”
Visually, the game is a delight for fans as Omega Force has done an outstanding job of converting the Anime into a moving, living, gripping, video game format. It adds to the aesthetic and feeling that you are playing out the events of the anime on your console, as it looks on screen just like one.
If you have not played the base game before, or indeed A.O.T.1, then picking up the complete Attack on Titan 2; Final Battle package, is most certainly the best value for money starting point. You will get to experience the thrilling journey of the complete story from the beginning of season one, all the way to the end of the recently finished anime of season 3. However, as well as the complete package edition, owners of the base game A.O.T.2 can also upgrade their game at a slightly cheaper price, and buy the expansion pack for which the additions to the base game will be the main focus of this review.
The key new features of the Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle expansion over the base game A.O.T.2 are:
Character Episode Mode – Experience season 3 of the Attack On Titan anime. Play through the story from the same viewpoint as select key characters from the series.
Additional five playable characters – Play as the newest season 3 characters including Nifa, Zeke, Kenny, Caven and Floch – totalling the amount of playable characters to over 40!
New equipment “Thunder Spear” “Anti Personnel Omni-directional Mobility” – As seen in season 3, experience all new equipment to enhance your tactics.
Territory Recovery Mode – Invite your favourite characters to the Corps and join them in trying to recover territory outside the wall. There are no restrictions for your squad choices. Watch as your character grows and unlock rewards.
First Impressions- What’s actually new then?
As an owner of the base Attack on Titan 2 game, you get more of the swingtastic, adrenaline fueled slaughter of behemoth titans, around a gripping fast paced narrative. Chopping bits of Titans off never gets boring, but with over complicated controls that, more often than not, frustrated more than fulfilled, Omega Force seem to have gone slightly off track here from the much more intuitive control system of A.O.T.1 Wings of Freedom. For example, when firing your hooks into Titans, the reticule in A.O.T.1 was a wide yellow circle, and it was easy to see against the backdrop what part of the Titan you were aiming at, and therefore simple to then move on to a target, like a collectable item in an arm or nape of the neck with ease. Here in this game and the DLC extras however, the area is a smaller, thinner, white circle, but then so are all the other areas you can target, so it’s very easy to get confused as to which white circle you are actually targeting. You may not realize until you waste precious blade sharpness and Omni-directional gear gas, by charging in, to find you were actually focused on a body part you weren’t interested in.
The new weapon of the “Thunder Spear” uses the exact same gameplay mechanics, but this time instead of slashing your blades, you fire explosive charges into the body parts, that then explode to detach limb from Titan limb.
As season three of the Anime series, Attack on Titan has just finished airing in Japan, it is of no surprise that the base game A.O.T.2 received this expansion that basically picks up the story where season two of the Anime finished.
The contents of the game are at first pretty hard to find. You can carry on the main story from the end of season two, from the new Character Episode Mode. This starts with Armin escaping from a scene that is centered around what Eren does at the climatic end of season two. If you really haven’t played the series from the start, it is utterly confusing to know what’s going on here, and it’s worthwhile playing the main storyline first to understand the situation of where you are at in the story arc.The base game of A.O.T.2 will allow you to do this, but having already watched the Anime series, completed A.O.T. 1 Wings of Freedom, and completed A.O.T.2, it was a massive ball ache to replay that story arc all over again in A.O.T.2. The Final Chapter.
However, you do get an entire anime season of new story content here for those who know the story, with some nice extras from the Character Story Mode. This mode is extra story content where you start playing scenes from the story you already know, but from different character perspectives. It is a nice addition for fans of the series who just can’t get enough gameplay.
In addition to the storyline extension, there are now two menus for Territory Recovery Mode. One is for the base game content, and the other is now just for the Final Battle content, and themed around season three only. This is where owners can really pad out their Titan-slaying wanderlust, collecting items, clearing areas, online with friends or solo, but it doesn’t bring any new mechanics or features to the table, merely expands on what the base game already provides.
SUMMARY
Generally I don’t mention pricing in reviews, but here I felt compelled to. For fans of the series, and the owners of the A.O.T.2 base game, £40 seems a high price for an additional third of a story and little else. This expansion will bring previous owners up to date with the events of season three of the Anime, but is seriously lacking any new gameplay mechanics other than the “Thunder Spear” to make it more fun.
However, if you are brand new to the series, and don’t own any of the previous base games, £55 for three seasons of A.O.T content is most certainly cost effective, and excellent value for money. Working in its favour is the fact that what happens in season three in the anime and therefore at the end of this expansion, is thrilling and exciting and a worthwhile journey to begin.
