Since 2009, Attack on Titan has grown to be a very popular anime and manga series. The series tells the story of conflict between humanity and man-eating Titans. With the help of technology and discipline, a group of highly trained attackers confronts these huge humanoids with only one goal… to assassinate the titan and ensure humanity’s survival. The first Attack on Titan game was released in 2016 and was received very well by the public. The game was good but not perfect and now Koei Tecmo is back with another Attack on Titan, hoping to surpass the original’s success. Let’s take a look!
The first game succeeded in bringing the anime alive with some well-developed gameplay mechanics, as well as an interesting story and a unique graphical style. Players who are looking for something different than the first game will have to look further because the A.O.T 2 doesn’t bring a lot new to the table, except for creating and customizing your very own character within the story. This is a bit different than the first one because the first one lets you choose between characters from the series that all had a unique set of skills and combos. In A.O.T 2 it’s all about creating the perfect assassin that’ll fit your play style. There is a character section as well and it’s a bit basic, but it’ll get the job done. Your created character takes on the role of a new cadet that joined the Titan killing division to get some revenge on the Titans for killing his/ her family.
Even though the game feels very familiar and similar to the first game, there are a couple of changes that’ll definitely improve the game for the better. Like I said, you’re a trained cadet that’s built to assassinate big strong humanoids like those Titans. To kill some of these giants, you need to use omnidirectional gear to get from point A to B. The game (as well as the anime) uses a zip line/ boost system to go through towns. It looks a lot like Spiderman’s trip through New York City, swinging around from building to building with his web fluids but in the anime series, it’s a lot more technical. This zipping mechanic feels a lot more fluid and precise than the previous game. The ODM does react well which builds up the “intuitive” aspect of the game. This ODM system is a big part of the universe, so it would suck if they didn’t get this right.
The ODM system allows the player to traverse through the city and to help with taking down these Titans. There’s a special way of eliminating these Titans and can feel difficult in the beginning but once you get the hang of it, it’ll feel rewarding. The system is built on timing and in the beginning, the use of the ODM system can be a bit overwhelming but, in the end, it’ll feel tremendously satisfying. If you played the first game, you’ll notice that the Titans behavior has been improved. They are a lot harder to take down, especially when you have to aim at the weak spots to bring them to the ground. You’ll be able to use different special moves, but each move is different and needs to be executed in another way. Practice makes perfect and the game offers a lot of “modes” to get more experienced before you head on into the main story. Picking up side missions (scouting missions) can be a lot more helpful than you might think.
The game is built on missions to progress through the main story and eventually get to the plot. Next, to the main story, you’ll be able to pick up your cadet’s life within the “Daily Life” section. It’s more of a “vivid skills/ options menu” to make the game a lot more interactive. There are a lot of things to see and do when you’re in the “Daily Life” section. For example, this section gives you the opportunity to build up relationships with your teammates. The stronger the relationship, the more information you gather about them to get to know them. Once the player gets to know the character, the befriended NPC will give you some interesting skill to add to your combat pallet. As an outsider that doesn’t know a lot about these characters or even the anime series, this will get boring very easily as it’s more of a basic “conversation” system to open up your abilities. However, real fans will get to learn the personalities of their favorite in-game characters which is always a plus, especially when you try to fill up your blank spots within the anime’s lore. The Daily Life section is the perfect place to hone your relationship with the characters, level up and build up your set of skills.
“Picking up side missions (scouting missions) can be a lot more helpful than you might think.”
This Daily Life section can be a bit of a drag, but it’s necessary to build up your character as good as it can. Throughout the story, you’ll unlock more characters and use the online/ offline capabilities of the game. Players can join scouting missions or even help them out during a mission. There’s also a bit of a competitive mode where you battle another player by gathering points by killing Titans as many as possible within the time limit. Other players can even help with your gear if you want to.
Attack on Titan is an anime from Japan and you can tell that the international version of this game brings some “hackles” along the way. There’s a great number of spelling errors and pronoun issues. One of the game’s features is the fact that you can choose the right name and “sex” to create a character. However, during the game, you’ll notice that there can be some mix-ups. This isn’t necessarily a big deal breaker, but this does crumble the games cohesion. It makes the game feel like the development has been rushed and fans won’t appreciate these “little imperfections. However, they did make the game stand out “graphically” even though they’re using a very simple engine. The developers went for an art style that’s similar to cell-shading. Much like any other manga game, it’ll have this art style. It’s a simple art style but it’s very effective to create this link between the anime series and game.
Conclusion:
A.O.T. 2 has been an improvement of the original game. If you like the anime series, you’ll have a blast playing this. By buying this game, you’ll get the most out of the franchise and experience the universe first hand. You can create a character that’ll battle alongside your favorite characters within the game and you can team up to perform some crazy moves and take those gigantic titans down. The core mechanics are fluid and feel intuitive after a couple of hours. The gameplay is solid and fans will definitely like the “Daily Life” section to fill in some blanks that have occurred during the series.
