My games of the year 2018 (GoTY 2018)

Best Action game

Senran Kagura Burst Renewal (PS4)

Although it could certainly have delivered more, the remake of Senran Kagura Burst on PS4 keeps the good gameplay basis of Estival Versus. DLC was rather good and some new stuff like the reworked ending make it an enjoyable installment for series fans.

Runner-up : none

Best Shooter

Battlefield V (PS4)

Since Battlefield 3, DICE has constantly put efforts in fine-tuning the console experience. With the new generation, console versions have been closing the gap with the PC version and now PS4 offers the promised all-out war showdown. Gifted with a brilliant solo campaign while others reject this game mode, EA’s game also stays the best for multiplayer.

Runner-up : none

Best Fighting game

BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle (PS4)

Quite a few nice fighting games this year, but none that could claim victory on the generation. BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle was the most surprising, the best balanced and the most enjoyable of those overall. The tag system offers deep gameplay and instant fun at the same time, not to mention the game itself is splendid.

Runner-up : SoulCalibur VI (PS4) & Dissidia Final Fantasy NT (PS4)

Best RPG

Caligula Overdose (PS4)

Caligula Overdose shows how remakes and remasters should be done. Improved in animation but no so in graphics, Furyu’s title however boasts twice more scenario content and lots more characters. The charismatic bad guys are playable and fully inegrated in the new storyline.

Runner-up : Zanki Zero (PSVita)

Best Strategy/Puzzle game

Valkyria Chronicles 4 (PS4)

The return of the king. What else could be said when Valkyria Chronicles comes back in its former glory? The unmatched game system still gives the tactical ecstasy thanks to a formidable challenge and great variety in the gameplay.

Runner-up : The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince (PSVita)

Best music

Fate Extella Link (PS4)

I had first chosen Caligula Overdose for this award, but at listening to the music of the Fate Extella Link, the magnificient symphonies of the latter made me change my mind. Ultimately, Fate Extella Link is a game that failed on pretty much everything except its soundtrack

Runner-up : Valkyria Chronicles 4 (PS4) & Caligula Overdose (PS4)

Best narrative

Zanki Zero (PSVita)

I haven’t had the time to clear Zanki Zero yet, but the narrative style had been extremely good so far. Each chapter focuses on one character through some sort of quite fascinating animated storyboard. Progressive reveals within the story made it very hooking, especially towards the end.

Runner-up : Caligula Overdose (PS4) & Death End re;Quest (PS4)

Best atmosphere

NG (PSVita)

Experience knows that they did Something great with Death Mark. Logically, NG sticks to the same formula, sometimes a bit too much, but keeps the terrifying atmosphere that made its predecessor so fantastic. Crimes are onimous, pressure is high and fear is everywhere.

Runner-up : Transference (PSVR) & Zanki Zero (PSVita)

Best design

Valkyria Chronicles 4 (PS4)

One great thing about Valkyria Chronicles is its lovable characters. The 4^th game of the series is no different as party members are as diverse and charming as before. The player has no problem in making its own dream team. Depiction of Europe at war and the unique technology were once more remarkable.

Runner-up : Persona 3 Dancing Moon Night (PSVita), Persona 5 Dancing Star Night (PSVita) & Death End re;Quest (PS4)

Best game you might never play

Idol Death Game TV (PSVita)

Gaming UFO without a specific genre, I had a rather enjoyable time with Idol Death Game TV on Vita. The gameplay was quite simple but the story turned out to be surprising in such a good way that I couldn’t put down the system before the end. The animated «death sentences» of the heroines were also very amusing.

Runner-up : Sakura Sakura (PSVita)

Best graphics

Battlefield V (PS4)

Little suspense here since Battlefield 1 was already a technical prowess. DICE merely had to re-apply the same super realistic rendering to the following war, and they just did that. Battlefield V offers breathtaking conflict in massive and complex environments where up to 64 soldiers, tanks and planes clash at the same time.

Runner-up : Persona 3 Dancing Moon Night (PSVita), Persona 5 Dancing Star Night (PSVita)

Most disappointing

Mary Skelter Nightmares 2 (PS4)

Collapse. It’s the only word that comes to mind to define this 2018/2019 transition regarding Compile Heart. The people of that company are traitors, liars and now swindlers. By calling Mary Skelter Nightmares 2 a sequel, they deceived their fans and produced their most pitiful product to date. It does nothing but destroy the original and ruin the gameplay balance.

Runner-up : Gal Gun 2 (PS4)

Game of the Year

Valkyria Chronicles 4 (PS4)

The Valkyria Chronicles series comes back from deeper than hell : years into oblivion and then an unanimously rejected action-RPG spin-off. Against all the odds, Valkyria Chronicles 4 brought back the thrilling challenge, the tactical mastery, the lovable characters, the compelling story that had made its initial glory. Its perfectly executed return to its roots is one of the beautiful stories of 2018.

Battlefield V (PS4)

NG (PSVita)

Caligula Overdose (PS4)

Press Round-up – Spring 2018

Review – Senran Kagura Burst ReNewal (PS4)

It’s obvious that Senran Kagura Burst ReNewal was made with the West in mind. The franchise having started to get really popular after its arrival on Playstation, there’s definitely a market for that remake. But seen from someone who’s cleared the first one on 3DS, it doesn’t renew that much the starting point of the series. The storytelling is still remarkable today, but the progression is kinda tedious. Those who go through it will nevertheless find great surprises at the end.

Review – Gal Gun 2 (PS4)

After seeing the latest screenshots before release, I was genuinely interested in Gal Gun 2. Unfortunately, after three walkthroughs, there were arguably much less exciting scenes than in the awesome Gal Gun Double Peace. Apart from that, the unchanged gameplay and the few gimmicky additions failed to arouse my interest. The graphics were not really good compared its predecessor, but that will be explained if Inti Creates announces a VR update in a few days.

Review – Valkyria Chronicles 4 (PS4)

After an utterly disappointing Valkyria Revolution, there was some pressure surrounding the return of the main series. I have only one thing to say : fear not ! Valkyria Chronicles 4 restores the glory of the series with breathtaking narration, formidable challenge, great characters, many new strategic elements and worthwhile DLC. I hadn’t seen a game like that since… Valkyria Chronicles ten years ago !

Review – BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle (PS4)

I have been impressed by BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle ever since the Japanese beta. I’m not a specialist of 2D fighting games, but this latest Arc System Works game clearly has the deepest gameplay I have seen in the field. The number of moves and possible combos is impressive, the tag system is downright amazing, and graphics & sounds are quite enjoyable.

Enough of E3! Let’s talk about other games #2018

Nelke and the Legendary Alchemists (PS4/PSVita/Switch)

This is fresh of this week. As promised by Gust, the Atelier series takes a different path this year. Nelke, the protagonist, is not an alchemist but an aristocrat ! She’ll have to ask the services of famous heroines of the series (Meruru, Ayesha, Marie…) to help her develop her land. It would therefore be an Atelier game played from the client’s perspective instead of being the alchemist ! Rather refreshing, and another Vita version is more than welcome.

World End Syndrome (PS4/PSVita/Switch)

Still no news of Arc System Works’ visual novel, which is supposed to mix dating and mystery. Delayed to summer quite a while ago, it’s high time we knew when we’ll be able to solve the cases of the coastal town of Mihate.

Tokyo Chronos (PSVR)

Another visual novel full of eerie murders, but in virtual reality this time. The details are kept for Anime Expo, the biggest western event for Japanese AA games. For now, we just have this sentence « I was killed, who’s the culprit ? ».

NG (PSVita)

Here it is ! The spiritual successor to the glorious Death Mark is being finalized for PSVita at Experience. No less spooky than the latter, NG puts away fantastical places and aims to juxtapose daily life and horror. A rather interesting mix that will put maximum pressure on characters themsleves eerie enough, but risking an horrible fate.

Bullet Girls Phantasia (PS4/PSVita)

Gone missing for 8 months, Bullet Girls Phantasia finally comes back to us with a release date in August. The girls of the airsoft club are going to be warped (with their equipment) in a heroic-fantasy world where they’ll meet no less attractive females. Elves, magic user, knight, catgirl will fight along in battles mixing blades, magic and 7×62 ammo.

Utawarerumono Zan (PS4)

Aquaplus finally cuts ties with the strategy/RPG genre with this new episode called Zan. The old engine is replaced by beautiful technical assets created by Tamsoft. The developer is preparing another superb beat’em all, which will undoubtly gather new series fans.

Legend of Heroes Trails of Cold Steel IV (PS4)

Lots of games are planned for release on September 27^th in Japan, but only one has the attention of JRPG fans. Trails of Cold Steel IV comes swiftly to give some answers to the insane events sorrounding the end of the third one, and offer us the greatest perspective Legend of Heroes has ever known.

Review – Fate Extella

Extremely large media mix IP, Fate has gone into anime, visual novels & mangas. But it of course doesn’t fail to visit the gaming business to meet the demand for more interactivity. So after Fate Extra and Fate Extra CCC on PSP, it’s the turn of Fate Extella on PSVita.

Fate GO, Fate Zero, Fate Extra, Fate Stay Night, Fate Apocrypha, Fate Kaleid Liner Prisma Ilya… Not always easy to get facts right in the sprawling Fate universe. The aim of Fate Extella is thus very simple : to offer an action game picking charismatic characters in all those sub-IPs so that fans can play as their favorite characters. Altella and Elizabeth come from the smartphone game Fate Grand Order, No Name Archer is well-known for being Rin Tôsaka’s servant in Ufotable’s anime adaptation of Fate Stay Night, and Nero & Tamamo come from the previous PSP games. In Fate’s lore, some humans called magi or masters can summon the spirits of past heroes, reincarnated into powerful servants. You are to expect the evil Roman emperor Nero as a extrovert Blond girl, Attila as a tsundere girl and, more in line with history, Alexander the Great as an old and bold king. That’s a total of 16 playable characters in Fate Extella, with both handsome men and sexy girls. So no one gets left behind here.

Fate Extella’s story happens after Fate Extra and Fate Extra CCC : the Holy Grail War is over and your main character is already crowned king of SE.RA.PH, virtual domain set by the Moon Cell, itself a central system measuring and controlling activity on Earth. The main character first appears with his/her servant Nero Claudius, who de facto become regent of SE.RA.PH. Their reign however won’t be peaceful as Tamamo No Mae, another servant from the Holy Grail War, starts invading their territory.

Altella, another spirit, will barge in this struggle to power not to conquer, but to destroy all. This particular event foretells greater trials for the servants, which go beyond the Holy Grail War. Each of the three has a team involving other heroes, so Fate Extella shares out good and evil a bit like Dissidia does for Final Fantasy. The player is invited to experience the story from the three different points of view, three alternate futures that shall lead to an ideal fate in the lovable true end.

Likable on its principles, the story of Fate Extella is a little less exciting in the way it’s told : its structure is basically repetitive and vary only in the very last chapter, which is more interesting to follow. But before it, you can’t help thinking you’re doing the same game 3 times with 3 different characters. Note that purely narrative part are quite long (you often spend more time between chapters than playing) with lots of raw text in the middle of dialogs. In doing so, Fate Extella gets back to its roots of visual novel, even at risk of annoying players eager to enter the fray. It remains that those sequences have a strong poetic tone and excellent writing. A good read, but here again they could have made it more concise.

Besides that, dialogs still a have a strong sense of humor : driven by their unstoppable love for the main character and their own rivalry, Nero and Tamamo will keep making a fool of each other or come up with hilarious strange words. Their behavior is clearly over-the-top and lives up to the craziest JRPGs. Strangely, this wacky talk balanced by very sophisticated language, with complex use of Japanese kanjis and rare vocabulary. Once more, the redundancy of situations can be boring.

The combat area in Fate Extella is divided in several little sectors. The rules are pretty simple : you have to take a set number of sectors to make the boss appear. Once you’ve defeated him, the level is cleared. To make a sector your own, you first have to sweep dozens of basic (but sometimes threatening) enemies to make “aggressors” come down. Those much tougher entities are the guardians of the sector : you have to destroy three or more to secure the sector.

But that is easier said than done, because the opposing side isn’t going to stay idle while you march on its soil. Foes counterattack at every occasion, harass your sectors relentlessly and can even invade them from afar by devices called “plants”. Those strange UFOs can indeed send enemy troops from and to any part of map. You therefore have to eliminate them in priority, even it that means going all the way to the other side of the map. Thanks to those powerful means, opponents progress very quickly and your sectors are in a constant state of hemorrhage. Besides, enemy heroes will regularly stand on your way, slowing you down. Fate Extella is an action game with permanent pressure, because you always play on the brink of defeat! The game won’t even hesitate to throw you on map controlled 90% by the enemy, where surrender is a question of minutes! Up to the player to rush towards key-sectors and unleash his fighting spirit. Sensation are guaranteed.

Your arsenal of combos rely on variations of square and triangle buttons, a bit like Senran Kagura Estival Versus in fact. The good thing is that it ensure a good variety in gameplay while keeping the game very accessible. The same pattern being applied to every character, you can switch between stories without having to learn everything again. However, the three main heroines do have a fighting style of their own : Nero prefers shield/sword combos, Tamamo casts fire/ice/wind spells, while Altella boasts the most impressive combos with her polymorphic rainbow blade. To allow faster progression, each character has 3 trump cards.

Extella maneuver is a series of blows targeting every foe in the vicinity : it’s useful to take out several aggressors at the same time. Moondrive is a transformation that makes you temporarily invincible and the hôgu, the most powerful capacity and the one that makes the most impressive cut-scenes, blows everything in a sector. Even if you master the use of those abilities, victory is far from certain but you do keep the experience gained after losing. This way, missions become gradually less difficult, so that no one gets stuck. The boss characters, of seriously dumb AI, are still extremely disappointing. On the minus side, changing characters in the story is very limited, since you can switch to the current lieutenant and no one else. A bit of variety would have been welcomed here.

So we’re definitely happy to have side-stories for every character. «Story» might be a little exaggerated since the actual scenario is thin. Elizabeth’s stands out though, because her story is really fun and draws the best of her yandere personality : she will finally fulfill her evil ambitions and crush her rivals. This mode is a good occasion to fully enjoy the cast, not to mention that secondary characters’ movesets are as good as the main ones.

Combos and skills are original and varied. Jeanne d’Arc for example fight with a spear with a large flag on the top of it, also drawing on her knight sword from time to time. The holy maiden however heavily relies on her hôgu, considerably more powerful than any other and which, reference to History, costs her one life. Seriously challenging, those side-stories are a clever way to enhance to general value of the game.

If Marvelous’s technical mastery on PSVita needed further proof, Fate Extella is more evidence that the publisher take handheld fans seriously. Despite numerous elements and lot of movement on screen, the framerate knows no problem on PSVita. In fact, the game pixelates slightly to keep framerate stable at any time. A drawback for greater good, easily forgivable since character modeling is quite above average.

Fate Extella is a fun and intense action game making clever use of the series. With a rich array of characters and lots of storytelling, it adds a lot to the Fate universe and offers fans a thrilling way to experience the passion despite redundancies here and there.

Review – Valkyrie Drive Bhikkhuni

Rather ambitious media mix project, Valkyrie Drive had launched in three different formats last year in Japan. First a sexy mobile application, then a borderline hentai anime, and finally Valkyrie Drive Bhikkhuni, the console game part. And for the game to live up to the rest, the IP needed no other than Kenichirô Takaki, the creator of Senran Kagura.

This new game from Marvelous starts with a heftier synopsis than Senran Kagura. Teenage girls are affected by a mortal virus of strange properties : some girls can transform into weapons, and others acquire the formidable strength to wield them. Dangerous for the society, they are quarantined on distant islands. Valkyrie Drive Bhikkhuni (not Bikini, although you’ll surely find some) tells the events happening on the island called Bhikkhuni, where are treated the girls who bear both symptoms.

But of course, what’s important is not the base of the scenario, but what you do with it. Whereas Senran Kagura Shinobi Versus actually told great stories from almost nothing, Valkyrie Drive Bhikkhuni fails to correctly develop its original setting. There is some long and tiresome part where the game introduces every character without making them really charismatic. This lasts about 10 hours and features mundane dialog with few humor strokes, nothing to be remembered. The story gets some interesting twists at the end, including more existential talk : you’ll learn the truth about the V-Virus treatment program and the risks implied for the persons affected. No illustrations have been made for the side stories, which are told on a black screen. This is boring to say the least. You might still be curious to discover the strange universe of the school-island Bhikkhuni, the professors of which being giant robots of animal aspect. This, at least, was surprising and entertaining.

There are seven playable cuties in the game (four times less than Senran Kagura Estival Versus), but of uneven importance. While the sisters Rinka and Ranka bear a somewhat tragic past, all the others have little background. Viola (back on photo) may well be the most charismatic of the rest by its elitist and haughty personality, and her voice actress Yû Kobayashi (Katsuragi’s voice in Senran Kagura) performs that quite well. The real disappointment remains that the past of the secondary characters is often hinted at, but never explained. There’s clearly a feeling you’re missing something and that the story lacks a lot of substance. And seven is no lucky number here : as characters fight in groups of two, there’s always some strange nonsense with Manpukumaru (absurd character with zero personality) coming randomly to balance the teams.

Immediately when you start playing, you realize that Valkyrie Drive Bhikkhuni wants to go beyond Senran Kagura in terms of gameplay. Adding to the traditional combos, complexifying at each Drive (see below), the battles put some emphasis on various aerials. Initiated with circle and X (although in some cases, X alone can trigger them), they allow different final blows like Phantom Dance (long aerial combo) or Phantom Fall (throwing the enemy back on the ground). Each character can also charge a more powerful attack with triangle, capable of wiping out large groups of opponents.

Like said previously, the character you control can resort to a Drive, that is to say the weapon form of her buddy provided the Drive gauge is filled. The aforementioned gauge has four levels that correspond to as many steps in the Drive state, with each time a more lavish look and more destructive skills for the weapon. The good point in Valkyrie Drive Bhikkhuni is that dodging (elegantly rendered by a quick slow motion) makes the gauge fill faster, ideal base for intense beat’em all action.

Like in Senran Kagura Estival Versus, three special attacks of superior firepower are available, but that will empty your Drive gauge in no time. You’ll have to take that into account since you might also want to use the healing capabilities of the Drive, which heals your character at each transformation. The girls have their own particular weapon and fighting style, which is slightly more developed than in the rival series. So in theory, the game developed by Meteorise (which worked on Senran Kagura Bon Appetit before that) has a compelling gameplay.

But there is theory, and there is the actual experience. Once more, Valkyrie Drive Bhikkhuni ruins its good intentions by a simple drawback : it’s ridiculously easy. Even in hard mode, 90% of the game is piece of cake, as challenging as easy mode in Senran Kagura Estival Versus. The foes might far outnumber you, their I.A is close to a newborn chick and they’re barely threatening. The regular ground combos end up the best way to clear the stages quickly : no need of dodging, aerials, special moves whatsoever to prevail, the player might perform them to escape boredom. Bosses aren’t any stronger, since your fellow highschoolers can be beaten as fast as in twenty seconds… The “teachers“ are way tougher but they’re just longer to defeat but not especially strong. In such circumstances, you can hardly be motivated to throw yourself in challenge mode (which asks you to perform a definite set of actions in limited time), not to mention the even longer survival mode. The most worthy goal still is to tackle the true end, which can be unlocked by clearing missions at high rank. In such case, the game should last you thirty hours or so.

All this is a real pity, because Valkyrie Drive Bhikkhuni is seriously good to look at : it’s colorful, it’s over-the-top with lots of nice special effects and the moves are stunning and detailed even though the framerate could be better. As you could expect in a Takaki-made game, you’ll have your load of oversized breasts, underwear shots, suggestive poses and the mischievous changing room full of naughty touchscreen communication. Special mention for the Connect form for its glowing and deliciously revealing cybernetic “armor“, it’s an absolute work of art in the ecchi style. Costume break might be a little shy compared to Senran Kagura, there is clearly no deceit in the fan-service.

Valkyrie Drive Bhikkhuni wanted to transcend the Senran Kagura formula but forgot the most essential part : game sensations. The appeal of fresh game mechanics vanish given the clear lack of challenge, and the incomplete story and universe don’t help it make a stronger experience. The fan-service is still met with fine graphics, design and direction. Up to you to decide if it’s enough.

Review – God Eater 2 Rage Burst

In the long struggle to mimic the success of Monster Hunter and despite capable rookies like Tôkiden, the God Eater series has always been a solid 2^nd so far. Although well behind Capcom’s champion, it still is one of the most popular action games in Japan. All that BandaiNamco had to do was to erase the image of a mere hunting game and offer a richer experience.

PSVita

In the distant future of God Eater, mankind is nearly extinct. Humans are being preyed by aggressive and monstrous creatures called Aragamis, which also possess evolving capabilities far beyond those of humans. The longer the war against the Aragamis lasts, more hopeless it becomes. To make it worse, a crimson rain starting pouring, infecting those under it with an incurable disease. God Eaters are mankind’s only hope to avoid destruction : those men and women are chosen for their ability to equip jinki, weapons borrowing Aragami cells and therefore the only way to fight them. God Eater 2 Rage Burst impresses immediately by its post-apocalyptic setting and its vision of the future, symbolized by its protean weapons as large as their bearer, and capable of morphing into a railgun or any high-caliber rifle.

PS4

Inspired by this rich base storyline, BandaiNamco’s title features a complex scenario, far beyond your average hunting game. Let’s stress that the European branch of the publisher is rather generous at this occasion, because not only does God Eater 2 Rage Burst fully includes God Eater 2 (released in Japan in 2013), but they also give you God Eater Resurrection (the remake of the very first one) for free! You have the entire saga for the price of one game, no better deal. This sequel has quite a couple of twists to startle and fascinate the player : treason and drama are on the agenda, coupled with mature themes like human experiments, loyalty or sacrifice. Told with care, this tale is full of emotions, with political conflicts and frightening revelations. God Eater 2 Rage Burst follows with a dark atmosphere, but also touching thanks to Livie : the hooded girl has the power to adapt any jinki and see the past of the previous bearer.

PSVita

Having a good story is nice, but having a correctly-paced story is better. Let’s say it straight, God Eater 2 Rage Burst is loaded with uneventful missions that extend the playtime to 50 hours or more. Not especially a drawback provided you have fun with the gameplay, but it certainly does water down the narrative. To fill the void, nothing better than tackling character events. God Eater’s universe is full of buddies who have all a role, comic or dramatic. In particular, everything linked to Canon, a pink-haired girl whose aiming is terrible, has been tremendously funny. Eventually, the only sad news is that none of those characters are playable, the player being stuck to the avatar created at the very beginning. The character creation menu is fairly good and allows you to design a character you’d like, but what a shame given the numerous lovable mates…

PS4

As for the game system, God Eater 2 Rage Burst is not an Action-RPG, but a pure action game since there isn’t experience to gain, and that the dexterousness of the player is way more important than improving his character. The only way to make your hero stronger is to improve his weapon. Your jinki will get new forms as you go further in R&D, kafkaesque system with poor ergonomy given the length of the item lists. Other problem, the necessary materials are scarce, the drop rate being at best 10 or 15%. The result is even more tiring sub-missions that we surely could have done without, spending hours to strengthen one blade not being very motivating. You can also allocate skills to your weapon and shield, skills that you get from relics obtained after the battles. Rise your HP, improve close range combat, stamina… the possibilities have been greatly enhanced since the original God Eater 2.

PSVita

Missions will always send you face one or several Aragamis in closed and relatively small areas. Therefore, all the fun in God Eater 2 Rage Burst will come from its fast-paced combat. The game features super high-speed action and you do have to dodge every few seconds or so if you don’t want to take critical damage. Half a dozen close-range weapons are available, from the very classic but reliable two-handed blade to the scythe introduced in this 2015 version. There are as many fireweapons, from light machine guns to railguns. No doubt that everyone can find its own battle style, and even vary to enjoy a different experience at times.

PS4

In terms of active capacities, God Eater 2 Rage Burst allows you to modify the base combo of your weapon by adding Blood Arts. Those have different effects like throwing shockwaves, extend the reach of a weapon, healing or adding a devastating blow to a downed Aragami. The hoshoku will use the Aragami cells of your weapon : it will morph into a giant jaw that can bite the enemy. Very base of God Eater’s gameplay, it makes your character enter Burst mode, improving agility and stamina. This must be used as often as you can, even though finding an opening is not always easy. At such occasion you also gain special bullets taken from Aragamis, that are more efficient than average.

PS4

But the big novelty in God Eater 2 Rage Burst is the Blood Rage state. Activating it is tricky and risky : you have to be at 100% symbiosis level or more with your weapon (which gradually go up by attacking normally) and achieve one or several covenants. The more convenants, the more powerful the Blood Rage gets.

Still, you have only 30 seconds to accomplish those actions (deal a certain amount of damage, bite your enemy, etc) so it won’t work every time since any interruption can ruin your attempt. It’s still highly rewarding because it can turn the tables in difficult missions : your character takes an angel form, becomes fully invincible, and twice as fast and strong.

PS4

Even if you come to master all this perfectly, Argamis will make you bite the dust. Not only are BandaiNamco’s creatures strong enough to KO your avatar in a few blows, but they’re also astonishingly nimble. Even the most massive Aragamis move faster than you! Battles are violent and fast, every struggle is desperate and you need to adapt quickly if you want to win. Each Aragami has one or several elemental weaknesses : you therefore need to prepare your equipement so as you get the advantage, for example by manufacturing elemental blades or bullets.

PS4

God Eater 2 Rage Burst also introduces two elements that make the game harder. The first is a resistance gauge that goes down everytime your avatar is KO. When it reaches zero, the mission is a failure even if your comrades are still standing. It was a necessary evolution of the gameplay since game over could virtually never occur in the God Eater 2 of 2013. The second point is that you now face survival missions, which actually are 3 to 5 battles in a row with no more recovery items than usual. The game lets you have only a limited set of potions, not enough to survive on the long term.

PS4

God Eater’s bestiary is of uneven design. The art direction leans more towards a devilish and grotesque look for most of the creatures so we’re pretty far off Monster Hunter’s majestic dragons. Besides, it’s not that varied either, the same monsters being thrown at you regularly. That said, some fiends like the infamous Kyûbi are charimastic. The well-known mythological fox is so fierce that even getting close to it is risky. Worse still, some bosses can KO you in one blow, and those are the longest fights. In God Eater 2 Rage Burst, you’re not hunting, you’re the hunted.

PS4

When it goes real hard, the best thing to do is to call reinforcements. God Eater is first and foremost a multiplayer series, so it’s quite easy to create a lobby and get some buddies to join you (or invite a friend). The online environment is rock-solid, with no framerate drop observed. Bear in mind that you can only progress in the story with players that have reach the same point as you. It’s possible to filter players so that you meet only people of similar level.

PSVita

Despite living in the shadows of PS4, the Vita version of God Eater 2 Rage Burst is comparatively the best one. The overall contents are the same, online is as good as on PS4 and of course, you can play wherever you are! Graphically speaking, the game looks better relatively to the system it runs on : the 3D of God Eater 2 is ageing a bit, but stays a lot above the average of portable games. The only drawback concerns the healing items : it’s not possible to use potion via the touchscreen, whereas Phantasy Star on Vita allowed it. On PS4, it’s quick and effective thanks to the touchpad of the controller.

PS4

Clearly on PS4 the game looks average at best. While for financial reasons it’s difficult to expect that the PS4 version could have a 3D engine of its own, the devs could have at least corrected the character models a bit, since they look unrefined. As it is, God Eater 2 Rage Burst hasn’t progressed much technically compared to God Eater 2 in 2013 on Vita, the PS4 display being an HD slightly upscaled version of the former. The game is not even in 1080p but actually 1000p, which adds ugly black outlines on your screenshots. The dynamic sound environment will make up for it : the orchestrations of this action game are varied (rock, electro, symphonic…) and give an epic dimension to the fights. Kaketa mono for example concludes the hardest survival mission in a wonderful way. The frequent communications with the operator also make a great atmosphere. Pure art.

BandaiNamco did the right thing in making God Eater 2 Rage Burst more than a mere hunting game. It’s a solid action game boasting fast and thrilling gameplay as well as a good (but badly paced) storyline. The bestiary is not the best in the field and the PS4 version could have looked better, but that doesn’t alter the intense and compelling gaming experience.

Special thanks to Akuma for his help during those long campaigns