By JENSEN LIM LEONG
Staff Writer
Attack on Titan: Wings of Freedom is a hack and slash video game based on the anime of the same name that came out in 2013. The game was created by Omega Force, and released in North America, for Xbox One, Playstation 4 and PC on August 30, 2016 and costs $60. The story follows the 104th Corps and Eren Jaeger, who enlists in the military in hopes to defend humanity from mass extinction due to giant humanoid monsters known as Titans. When fighting these Titans, each character uses the 3D maneuvering gear which essentially allows the player to slingshot themselves across a large distance similar to the moves of Spiderman. The game follows closely with the anime, with the exception of a few added fights to add gameplay where there would otherwise be none. Most of these fights explain what secondary characters were doing during the main storyline.
As a whole, players should not expect more than to just be able to fly with the maneuvering gear or mindless hack and slash fun. However, this is not actually an issue because the main draw to the game is the gameplay. One of the biggest concerns going into the game was whether the controls and gameplay felt kinetically pleasing. There is definitely a slight learning curve when it comes to the controls, mainly because the game has a lot of quick movements and requires fast reactions, but the gameplay is simply fun and feels good. The verticality, up-and-down movement, of the game isn’t matched by anything else besides one of the Batman Arkham games or Spiderman games. Attack on Titan does play like these free roaming games, with large open maps allow the player to reach their objective in several ways. Unfortunately, the game does not allow the player to traverse the wide open land from map to map. Instead, it teleports the player from map to home base in somewhat if a repetitive cycle.
The missions themselves take place on conveniently large maps, but many of these maps feel the same even though there are close to ten different maps to choose from. Because of this, the familiar terrain covered in each mission creates a déjà vu effect and the player feels like he has been there before. Each mission has the player following one of ten playable characters (all voiced by their original voice actors), and it is enjoyable to play these characters when each has their own special abilities due to their own personal stats: Strength, Dexterity, Concentration, Leadership, Health, and Stamina. This adds variety to the gameplay. Armin, a character with a high Leadership stat, can call members of his team to attack joints of a singular titan instead of attacking the enemy himself. Other characters like Levi excel in almost every stat, allowing for the player to Solo certain missions.
Overall, Attack on Titan is a fun game that could be considered great if there were minor gameplay and story changes. However, because there is just a lack of certain elements that should be there, Omega Force should add later Downloadable Content (DLC) that includes more of an original story and a free roaming mode to give the game that sense of freedom it advertises in the title. Most likely, Attack on Titan is not worth players’ time if they are not interested in the storyline and the quality of the gameplay is not entertaining enough to be worth the price.
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Attack on Titan: Wings of Freedom Video Game Review
October 10, 2016
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