Ever want to join Eren and Mikasa to ensure humanity’s last stand will not falter? Before you anchor yourself into Attack on Titan 2, be sure to read my Attack on Titan 2 review. The sequel to the first installment in the Attack on Titan series was released by Omega Force and Koei Tecmo for all platforms. Players will be engage in the story that follows the anime in this gruesome and nerve racking hack and slash.

Attack on Titan 2 Review

Genre: Action Hack and Slash
Developed by: Omega Force
Published by: Koei Tecmo
Release date: March 15th, 2018 for Japan; March 20th, 2018 for North American and PAL.
Platforms: PS4, Steam, Switch, Xbox1 (Reviewed on PS4)
Price at time of review: 59.99 USD

Attack on Titan Features

• Experience the Story of AOT – Players create their own characters and experience the story of AOT firsthand.
• Story & Another Mode – Play the campaign as your character then hop to another mode to play multiplayer with others.
• Develop bonds – Deepening friendship with characters from the series allows one to obtain power ups and learn their backstory.

Story and Setting

Attack on Titan 2 takes places right after the female titan appears in town and heads towards the wall to escape. The game then cuts back to introduce the titans and the characters backstories leading them up to their paths. Players create their own characters customizing their looks and outfit. You are thrown into training like the characters in the series to learn the basic controls of the game. The game will follow the story up to the second season of the anime using video cut scenes until the game allows you to control your character. Most of the story is told through cut scenes in between missions.

Gameplay

Once players start the game they are pretty strapped for items. Progressing the story will allow them to start making new blades, omni-directional mobility gear, and horses. Items required for forging and improving gear all comes from titan parts and awarded once missions are successfully completed.

For the most part gameplay will consist of Daily Life/Camp where players work on improving their gear for battle, deepening friendship with comrades, until players elect to talk to the character with a red exclamation point to advance to the next possible segment.

Episodes are segments of the story where players fight through them and once victory is achieved the story will progress. Scout Missions are battles that do not impact the story, generally consist of 2 to 5 battles, and players have the choice to return to camp/home after each battle or to continue to the next battle.

Those wishing to play the game with others can do so once they have reach Chapter 1 Episode 2. They can use distress calls to undergo episodes (story mode) by pressing the L1 button. The episode will automatically start once all players have joined.

On the battlefield

In the battlefield, players will have to make good use of their omni-directional mobility gear to get around, quickly hooking onto a Titan, and master the timing of attacking the nape of the neck or limbs of the Titan. That is the basic strategy for Titan encounters; players can elect to use sneak attacks and buddy commands once they have progress in the story enough.

Sneak attacks have the potential to severely injure or even one shot Titans and players can do these attacks with the Titan looking straight at you! Just don’t take forever or you will be seeing an enraged Titan wanting to feast on you very soon. Players can adapt their weapons to better suit these attacks if they like.

Buddy commands are mapped to the D-pad and are available during certain missions or when players have recruited comrades to their team. Each direction on the D-pad is linked to a character depending on their deposition can help the player by healing them or attacking the targeted Titan. Mastering this will greatly increase the players success in the field so overcome the difficulty of interweaving their commands along with yours.

Audio and Visual

Audio puts you right into the fray hearing comrades and citizens screaming when they are being devoured by various Titans. Alas that is the extent of how impactful the audio will become. Besides hearing characters call outs and other characters instructing the players on where to head next audio is average.

Visually these cut scenes are pretty much taken from the anime and looks amazing; a great element that was properly implemented and executed. For the rest of the game visuals look good, no real complaints although I can’t find much where I can applaud where greatness shone through. Characters look a bit off as they have a white line surrounding their model but as one plays the game your eyes tend to overlook it.

So, I hope that you enjoyed reading the Attack on Titan 2 review. If so, you may also want to read Attack on Titan Anime Review. I also recommend reading the Attack on Titan 2 Achievement Guide & Roadmap article.