The Japanese scene is slowly filling up with some great titles, most of which are being localised to the west after only a brief period of time, generally a year. In turn this is expanding what was once only a niche fandom of Japanese games, which one can now say has become a genre of its own even here in Europe, which is constantly increasing the demand for any game releasing first only in the eastern country to be localised as soon as possible. The God Eater series has been quite a big name in Japan, made even more so by its competitor Monster Hunter. While the Monster Hunter series have been ported west quite quickly, the God Eaters have not been as quick to come over. Until now that is.
With the release of God Eater 2: Rage Burst, the series is making quite a statement in Europe and the Americas. This is because upon pre-ordering the title, one could also benefit from a free God Eater Resurrection download, which is the remaster of the first title in the series. This is because this game’s availability was very limited, being only on PSP for the time being. This time around, it is being made on PS4, so there are no excuses for anyone who is willing to try out the series. Which, honestly speaking, is very good and worth a shot.
God Eater 2: Rage Burst is a sort of sequel to the original, but its stories almost seem to be identical. You are a new recruit in the academy of Fenrir, humanity’s last stand against the Aragami, demon-like creatures who have invaded big-time and seek to take over our precious home planet. The God Eaters thus have been born with the almighty quest to defend Earth from this threat, and you are one such member of the organisation. Each recruit of this organisation is given a God Arc, gargantuan swords who double up as guns, which provide all the range needed to take down these beasts.
If you played the previous God Eater before, you will be quite knowledgeable to the gameplay mechanics, and thus will need no introduction going into the fray. The game still launches a tutorial to guide you through all the commands in the game, and in a matter of minutes you will be given your very first mission into the wild. Here you will get the chance to test your abilities, as well as start gaining items thanks to the devour attack, which is a pivotal part in the game, and a major factor in naming these soldiers God Eaters. This is because these God Arcs can channel a demon’s mouth, and attacking the Aragami with this bite attack will net the attacker items which can then be used in crafting. You will also get a boost in stats for a short period of time, which refreshes upon biting another Aragami, or even the same one over and over. It makes for a neat mechanic, which removes the need for useless running around the map looking for craftable items. There are items scattered around the map as well, but these may be picked up after a mission concludes, while you are eagerly waiting for the mission timer to end and return to base.
With that said, one will not be able to differentiate this game from its predecessor a lot. Rage Burst, however, does have its differences from the first game, and mostly they are improvements. First of all, the graphics are improved a lot from the first one, which is to be expected. Secondly, the game features much more colour than the first, and this is also to be found in the character design. While the original’s characters are awesome, they seem to be lacking a little colour, revolving mostly around black, blue and green. In God Eater 2, there is a lot of colour, starting with the characters of Nana and Romeo instant examples of this. The world, although a lot of it is recycled from the first game, may look like it has more colour to it as well, which increments the feeling of liveliness in the game.
GE2 also introduces some new features in the game, such as Blood Rage, which as the name implies, is an ability to fuel the character with rage and unleash devastating havoc upon your enemies. Another new feature of the game is the abandoned god arc findings after each battle. This consists in having various God Arc remnants given to you after battle, with the ability to transfer an existing skill or ability from these abandoned god arcs to the one you have equipped. This will result in making your weapon all the more powerful, and you do this as you progress the story.
As mentioned briefly beforehand, GE2 makes use of a number of resources from the first game, which although is done a lot by similar titles in the genre, is not very appealing to gamers who have played the first game. Originality is becoming rarer these days so it would have been much more attractive to have brand new demons for the characters to face. Nonetheless, the demons do not feel boring, thus being the potential reason why they have been featured in the second game as well. Battlegrounds too seem to have been hugely inspired by the first, but in itself this is a good thing since the variation of the first game’s arenas have been a major plus for the game itself.
With all that said, I cannot emphasize enough that GE2 is a separate experience from the first. Sure, it does have a lot of similarities with the previous title in the series, but the game has quite a lot of merits on its own. Fans of the series can definitely look forward to pick this up, while those in doubt can try purchasing Resurrection alone, which is priced much less than GE2, as a starter and to see if ultimately this genre is for them or not.
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