➤ To the last blood 🎮

A few years after the events of the first God Eater, a new threat emerges for the survivors. The terrible Aragami are still out there, in the rubble of what were once great metropolises, but the Fenrir organization must now also take into account a mysterious red rain, the bearer of deadly diseases.

It is precisely to investigate this phenomenon that the Blood team is formed, of which our God Eater is a part: elite warriors capable of using new generation equipment, in this case God Arc with new features, to cope with any situation. . Once a character has been created, we will witness the first, painful graft of the device (which is biologically linked to its owner) and we will have to try some introductory missions under the orders of Captain Julius Visconti; after that it will be up to us to discover the many facets of an experience that, from a good action survival to the Monster Hunter, focuses strongly on the number of missions and monsters, on the customization of weapons (especially firearms) and on the possibility of playing in cooperative multiplayer (functional but sometimes not very stable, an update would be needed), so as to face some extra challenges together with a close-knit and expert team, obtaining valuable rewards to be used in crafting.

God Eater 2: Rage Burst is a solid and long-lasting action survival, albeit in some ways dated

A godsend undertaking

The plot of God Eater 2: Rage Burst makes extensive use of typically Japanese narrative devices, telling us the story of some characters in particular through sets of exclusive missions that are unlocked after the first hours of the campaign.

The use of stereotypes by the developers unfortunately prevents this aspect of the experience from being highlighted compared to many other productions characterized by the same tones, but lovers of the genre will have no problem becoming attached to Ciel and its difficulties in relating with the next, to the very positive Nana and her unlikely combat outfit, the clumsy Romeo and the brave Captain Julius. It is really a pity that their stories are told through poorly recited English dialogues, without the possibility of switching to Japanese audio. The self-propelled fortress of the Blood unit and other places, further on, function as hubs for missions: by contacting a (sexy) operator we will be able to select our objective between the levels belonging to the story and the extra ones, choose any companions and go. The complexity of the stages gradually increases, presenting a greater number of Aragami and putting us in difficult situations, in which attacking one monster can simultaneously expose us to the blows of another, but from this factor the scenarios are completely excluded, which are unfortunately always the themselves, desolate, banal, devoid of the slightest degree of interactivity and at the same time full of invisible walls that delimit the margins of generally small maps: the price to pay for a production originally born on PSP and PlayStation Vita, which on the occasion of the passage on PC and home console obviously could not undergo structural changes.

An extra not to be underestimated

By purchasing God Eater 2: Rage Burst we will have the opportunity to download for free God Eater: Resurrection, the remaster of the first episode of the series. This is a very valuable extra, considering the amount of hours needed to complete this type of games and the importance of an introductory chapter to deal with for a less edgy first impact with the franchise. In evaluating the purchase, this factor must undoubtedly also be taken into account.

The spirit of the hunter

God Eater is Bandai Namco's answer to Monster Hunter, so it is clear how the game refers to the mechanics of the Capcom blockbuster, especially as regards the combat system. The God Arc, the weapon we are equipped with, can take three different forms (sword, rifle or shield) and free its bestial nature when we hold down the heavy attack button for a long time, literally biting the enemy to inflict extra damage. and collect items for crafting.

There are the traditional combos, the possibility of taking side shots (maneuver that we much prefer to parry, during clashes) and even activating spectacular specials that must be loaded gradually, in the perspective of a skill tree with a clear and solid sense of progression. To eliminate the strongest Aragami it is necessary to memorize their movement patterns, then take advantage of moments of vulnerability to hit them in the "sensitive" points, destroying their armor in the long run and persevering until the battle is won. Shooting can be a valid tactic, but only if our companions are concerned with distracting the monster at close range and if we have a way to recover the dark energy that powers the cannon. Throwing your head down in a fight and ignoring the defensive maneuvers will result in a waste of time and medkit, so watch out. Using the credits earned in battle, it is possible to buy different God Arc, but each element must be carefully evaluated: the larger swords or slash weapons require long attack times and do not go well with fast and elusive opponents, for example, while on the firearms front, you can opt for shotguns that fire small bursts or cannons with an explosive charge. In this context, fine adjustments are wasted, since after a few hours we will be able to access an editor for the customization of bullets that allows you to really do everything, determining the impact force, the curvature of the trajectory, the implications of the explosion. , incendiary or freezing effects and much more. It is a shame that you find yourself practically alone to tackle this arduous path, since the game does not go beyond the basic tutorials and experimenting with weapons and solutions takes a lot of time, beyond getting oriented within an interface that could have been much friendlier. It therefore happens to give up this rich substrate in favor of more instinctive approaches: the fact that they lead to the same results is a limit that the gameplay of God Eater 2: Rage Burst has to deal with.

The technical aspect

The sound sector represents the weakest element in the technical offer of the game, albeit for different reasons. We have already talked about the dialogues in English: badly recited, with hatefully set voices, they manage to make us lose enthusiasm in the face of events that are, however, very unoriginal, in widely stereotyped situations.

The musical accompaniment, on the other hand, is very valid, with orchestral pieces of great potential: it is a pity that some of them are repeated so many times that they get bored and that the direction does not exploit them in the best way to emphasize certain narrative moments. On PC the graphic adjustments are very few, as was to be expected from a production of this kind, but at 1080p and with all the effects at the maximum the Shift title shoots at sixty frames per second without ever the slightest uncertainty. However, it is not thanks to who knows what optimization efforts, but to a polygonal modeling that pays duty at the origins of the project, as mentioned, born on PSP and PlayStation Vita three years ago: the character design is valid, although sometimes out of place in its being so "Japanese", but you have the feeling of being in front of an older generation product in terms of texture and effects, while the animations seemed valid to us. The controls are reactive, whether you use the controller (perfectly supported and sincerely recommended) or the mouse / keyboard combination, although in the latter case the greater shooting accuracy is accompanied by a cumbersome movement that manifests itself especially during situations more confused.

PC System Requirements

Test Setup

Processore: AMD FX 8320 @ 4 GHz
Scheda video: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 Jetstream
Memory: 8 GB of RAM
Operating system: Windows 10

Minimum requirements

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E7500, AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+
Scheda video: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT, AMD Radeon HD 6670
Memory: 3 GB of RAM
Hard disk: 15 GB of space required
Operating system: Windows 7

Recommended Requirements

Processore: Intel Core i3 4130, AMD FX 4100
Scheda video: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560, AMD Radeon HD 6850
Memory: 8 GB of RAM
Hard disk: 15 GB of space required
Operating system: Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10

Comment

Tested version PC Windows Digital Delivery Steam Price 49,99 € Resources4Gaming.com

7.5

Readers (8)

8.1

Your vote

God Eater 2: Rage Burst is a title that fails to hide its "portable" origins nor the lack of innovative ideas with respect to the genre it belongs to, a game that you hate or love depending on how much you like action survival at Monster Hunter. However, it must be said that the numbers of the offer are respectable, the already substantial main campaign is supported by many secondary missions, there is the excellent bonus of the God Eater: Resurrection remaster and the cooperative multiplayer adds a further element of interest to the experience, especially if you can organize yourself with some friends.