George ShineHey gamers, A Nerdy Dwarf here again, here to tell you all about the newest game from Koei Tecmo, Attack on Titan Wings of freedom. This game was initially released in Japan back in February but exclusively for Sony consoles and handheld but has now been released globally for all platforms including Xbox and PC.
If you’re a fan of attack on Titan already I’m sure it needs no introduction but for those of you who are unfamiliar, a quick simple recap would be all of humanity has now been enclosed into one large area, surrounded (or separated depending on how you see it) by 3 giant walls, and the reason? Well, giant naked humanoid creatures called Titans have a rather annoying habit of wanting to eat humans for fun, now, these walls are secure and have been for over 100 years, but now a new huge on has appeared and decided to put a hole in the wall.
As a fan there’s so much praise I’d love to give the game but there’s a few issues. The main one being, I can’t honestly say it’s got a good gripping story mode, and the reason for that is because it’s based off of the anime/manga of said series, so in theory, there’s no spoilers, no cliffhangers or surprises, because you’ve probably seen it all already. And I can’t imagine many people who are not fans would get the game, but I would strongly recommend it, other than the fact fans would know it all already, the story itself is fantastic and full of great moments, that would shock and maybe even infuriate gamers who appreciate a good plot.
It’s very easy to learn, the controls are simple and easy to remember, Titan killing is fairly easy, achievements and trophies are really easy to get given enough time, it’s all action so not much thinking is required, and progression is easy. What I’m trying to say, is the biggest flaw with this game, is that it’s easy, a little too easy. From a company that brought us Dead Or alive, Ninja Gaiden and Fatal Frame, I was a little disappointed, watching the anime and seeing Eren and his fellow soldiers struggle against he Titans and the heartfelt deaths, I turned this game on and selected easy difficulty straight away, but within a few missions, there was a severe lack of challenge, and an NPC death was generic, felt unimportant. I’ve switched the difficulty up and still got through with few issues.
Although, saying that, there’s a few “special” Titans, that fans can expect to see, that will give a slight sense of panic, but even the final boss battle won’t even scratch the surface of Dark Souls difficulty, and in a game about being humanities last hope, I was expecting so much more.
The show and manga itself is full of blood and gore, getting eaten by 15 foot tall and bigger humanoid things, well, it’s messy. And the game gives you an option to turn blood and gore down to a minimum, so, naturally, I didn’t. It feels like I did though, I’m not saying it doesn’t live up to its 18 rated content, but the blood is just cell shaded red waves, you get covered in dark red which fades after about 5 seconds, the limbs being hacked off provides no cringe value, swearing is minimal and nothing explicit that would shock people.
I am kind of glad about that though, many people are not a fan of low level graphics, and the games look is quite simile to that of previous anime based games, dragon ball xenoverse being a fantastic example. But it’s beautiful, they’ve captured the spirit and feel of the series perfectly, many cartoon to game adaptions look bugged, out of place or just plain wrong (yes family guy game, we’re looking at you) but A.O.T. Wings of Freedom, it looks and feels like an interactive anime, still fully 3D, but everything from the colossal at the wall to Levi’s cleaning gear looks like it’s perfectly extracted from the series itself.
The game came out only a few days ago but I haven’t been able to put it down, it doesn’t matter how many things I could say bad about this game, there is nothing exactly wrong with it, and even if I have seen it all before, there’s a wide array of characters, modes and gear to keep changing things around, and it has plenty of replay value.
I love this game, as a fan of the series and a fan of great games this is fantastic, some people know video games as works of art, if that rolls true, this deserves a gallery by itself, there is no single moment I can point out to be the best, from playing to cut scenes, I could even look at the main menu for ages listening to the iconic, inspiring theme tune, with the graphics, controls, story, gameplay, accessibility, and the variety of things to do, this game gets a solid 9 out of 10 from me. Strongly reccomend ex for both fans of the series and fans of action games, this will not be a purchase you regret, just don’t expect too much challenge. Out now on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4 and PC, both digitally and physically, if you’ve never leaped from a rooftop to kill a giant man eating Titan that’s about to kill your friends, I’d go do so now.
George Shine
@DwarfsDigs