Attack on Titan 2 (ACTUAL Game Review)

The spirit of Attack on Titan is kept alive with its transition to video game form here in Attack on Titan 2. Despite being the second game in the series, Attack on Titan 2 can be enjoyed without playing the first, as this time the events of the first two anime seasons are covered through the eyes of a custom character.

Pros:

Fluid movement. Having never played the first game, I was a bit skeptical as to how the movement would work in a game like this. The characters in the anime and manga do use ODM gear to fly all over the place after all. However, I was pleasantly surprised with just how easy it is to master the game’s movement. All I needed was a brief tutorial and I had my character zipping all over the place, cutting up titans with ease. The movement works just like it does in the anime series with even minor details preserved, like the wires breaking when coming into contact with a tree or a titan limb.

Fun combat. Attack on Titan 2 has some really fun combat to go along with its movement mechanics. There are numerous ways to take down titans outside of just charging in and cutting their napes. The player can perform stealth kills, send buddies to kill the titans for them, and even set up artillery towers to rain down fire on the enemy horde. Of course it is still just as satisfying to take down titan after titan using regular means, but the different options provided here prevent the experience from getting stale.

Great optimization. I did not actually expect Attack on Titan 2 to run as well as it did. I was expecting to have to run the game at lower settings due to how much can happen in a titan battle. Fortunately, the game actually runs great, with fps drops being rare and only ever happening when the screen was covered with thirty soldiers flying around. The game does not even look that bad either, it is just that well-optimized.

Amount of content. It took me just over 14 hours to clear the game’s main storyline, which is reasonable in its own right, but the game offers so much more than just a main storyline. Even after the main storyline is complete, the player is able to go back and mess around in the daily life mode, build stats in training, upgrade his/her gear, and participate in the numerous scout missions available. There are two other modes that are completely separate from the main storyline to play as well: another mode and inferno mode. The game also includes multiplayer, but I cannot speak for that aspect because I was never able to try it.

Cons:

Frustrating interruptions. Attack on Titan 2 has this really annoying tendency to interrupt one’s gameplay with a cutscene or tutorial pop-up. I would be flying in from behind a titan, just about to cut its nape, only to be interrupted by some short, mid-battle cutscene. The cutscene would then finish and I would be at the foot of the titan, having sat in the titan’s eyesight long enough for it to go into frenzy mode, usually resulting in the titan grabbing me. This grew incredibly frustrating throughout the course of the game, even resulting in my death at one point. It does get better after the first couple chapters once the tutorial prompts are over with, but the cutscenes continue to do  so throughout the entire storyline.

Forced camera lock-on. Another really annoying aspect of Attack on Titan 2 is the game forcing the player’s camera to remain locked on a titan if that titan has entered frenzy mode. This makes it incredibly difficult to evade the titan, with the player being forced to grapple in a direction he/she cannot see, sometimes into other titans. It is even more frustrating when the titan in a frenzy is a boss, as a couple of the bosses can kill the player really quickly if he/she is in range.

Lazy enemy types. Normally, titans in Attack on Titan 2 take two or three hits to the nape to fully kill, depending on the player’s stats and weapon. However, there are also special abnormal titans that have their own HP bar at the top of the screen. These titans require the player to target the titan’s weak points, which can swap from one limb to another throughout the battle. The fights against these titans are long and repetitive, as the only difference these titans have from regular titans is a massively increased health pool. It really just felt like these titans were implemented in an attempt to pad the game’s length.

Attack on Titan 2 is a fantastic game adaptation of a great series. The movement is fluid, the combat is fun, the game is optimized well, and there is plenty of content to play through. There are some annoyances though, especially the cutscene interruptions, the forced camera lock-on, and the lazy enemy types. I would only recommend this to those that have watched and/or read the series as it is a rather condensed version of a good story. Get the full experience first before letting the game spoil the story.

You can buy Attack on Titan 2 on Steam here.

I was provided a free review copy of the game in order to write this review. Read more about how I do my game reviews here.