Six years ago, the world was introduced to the bloody dystopian anime known in Japan as Shingeki no Kyojin or Attack on Titan. Since then, anime enthusiasts and Adult Swim viewers have peered into the world of Eren Jaeger as he searches for answers about his family’s past. The audience is thrown into the story within the first episode as Eren’s mother is eaten by a titan. After the events of that tragic day, Eren swears to get revenge against the titans. Following a pursuit of vengeance, Eren enlists support from his two childhood friends, Mikasa and Armin. In Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle, players go through familiar story beats with the ability to experience the events of Eren’s past through a created character.
Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle is more of an expansion DLC for Attack on Titan 2 rather than its own separate entity. The expansion pack focuses on enhancing the player’s experience while adding the series’ third season to the game. Three new game modes have been added to Attack on Titan 2: Character Episode Mode and Territory Recovery Mode. The expansion pack also introduces new equipment introduced in the third season. Players will have the opportunity to use the “Thunder Spear” and “Anti-personnel Omni-directional Mobility Gear.” The Thunder Spear is an explosive weapon used to take down some of the thicker-skinned/armored titans. The Anti-personnel Omni-directional Mobility Gear introduces a gunplay element to the series; this weaponry is typically used for hunting other humans rather than titans.
Gameplay
Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle includes four playable game modes. As previously mentioned, Final Battle adds two additional game modes to grant the player the ability to choose how they want to experience the expanded story. In Attack on Titan 2’s base game, players had the opportunity to play through Story Mode and Another Mode. The base game only included three game types before Attack on Titan 2 Final Battle’s release: those three game modes are Annihilation, Co-Op Play, and Predator mode.
Story Mode
Story Mode focuses on a player-created character with a similar backstory to Eren, Mikasa, and Armin. The events of Story Mode take place during seasons 1 and 2 of the anime but seen from an outsider’s perspective with a focus on the player’s interactions with different characters. Leveling up characters’ friendships grants the player additional abilities and gives the player an insight into the different characters’ backstories. Friendship levels of these characters can be increased by taking them along on missions, siding with them, or giving them a special gift. Once the player joins the scouts, they are able to depart on different scouting missions to reclaim lost territory. Once the story mode is completed, Inferno Mode (Hard) is unlocked and the player can replay certain missions to save characters that have previously died. By saving previously fallen comrades, the player is then able to build a new set of relationships.
Another Mode
In “Another Mode”, the player has the opportunity to play as a variety of characters from the Attack on Titan franchise. Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle’s expansion pack introduces more than 40 playable characters that can join the battle. Online Another Mode gives the player the option to create a lobby or join other players lobbies and the host can change the game mode and the mission in the lobby. Players have the choice to replay former story missions, scout missions, Character Episode missions, and more.
The Another Mode world hub gives players a variety of options to expand their character customization. Players can interact with different units: Joint Development, Training Ground, Regiment Administration, Character Editor, Equipment Station, Titan Research Room, Wings of Freedom Exchange, Leaderboards, Rescue Mission, and Online Mode. The different units are divided based on their function. The character Editor and Equipment Station are used to change the stats and cosmetic look of the character. The Wings of Freedom Exchange, Training Ground, Regiment Administration, and Joint Development help to develop the character’s stats and weapons. The Titan Research Room is a collection hub for captured titans. Finally, the Rescue mission and Online mode are the two online game options. In Rescue Mode, the player is able to respond to other players distress signals.
New Game Modes
Character Episode Mode
Through Character Episode Mode, the player witnesses and plays through the events of the third season through the eyes of different characters. The three storylines focus on the character’s discovery of corruption in the government, the history behind the titans, and some of the character’s hidden past. The two stories do overlap at times and makes the game feel a bit repetitive. Character Episode Mode’s cutscenes focus on using character boxes rather than animated cutscenes; there are a few cutscenes but they are rather limited. Players must complete a set amount of missions to unlock new stories in the Scout Regiment, 104th Cadets, and Warriors Story.
Territory Recovery Mode
In Territory Recovery Mode, the player is tasked with creating a regiment to exterminate all remaining titans within the wall. Each area is sectioned off into zones with each zone holding a certain amount of events. As the player completes the events, the zone is liberated and the player gains valuable resources. With these resources, the player can expand their base to increase max personnel, supplies at departure, personnel positioning limit, and soldiers’ stats. All four of these base operations are upgraded using consumable base materials. By upgrading supplies at departure, the player is able to stay out and explore more. Each square the player moves by utilizing 1 supply ration. As you get more personnel, you can assign them to different squads, ex: Clean-Up, Operations, Medic Squad, and more. Each squad grants different abilities based off the teams’ aptitude.
Gameplay Bugs
Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle did feature some gameplay bugs that made playing the game frustrating and at times exhausting. During certain missions, the AI would be completely useless and sometimes non-responsive. The Omni- Directional gear would sometimes not allow me to climb buildings when landing the side; however, if I chose to jump off the building I would be able to resume swinging with ease. Probably the most infuriating gameplay issue or bug had to deal with the titans. Titans would grab the character when not in range or through another titans body. This could possibly be due to the artwork and animations of the titans but it can make combat harder than designed.
Another key titan issue was seen when fighting abnormal titans or the named titans. Once the player eliminated the abnormality, the titan was supposed to cease action and become vulnerable until the abnormality guage was restored. Sadly, this was not the case in multiple instances where the titan would continue to thrash about and sometimes even grab the character.
In addition to the titans being aggravating, the game’s inability to register when a task was complete was annoying and often infuriating. If there was a timed deadline in the game and a task was completed in the nick of time, the game would not always register the completion and make the player start from their last checkpoint. This made for some longer battle sequences to become more of a job rather than an enjoyable task.
Controls
Controls for Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle is one of the game’s best features and I found them easy to use with minimal effort to learn them. The only complicated aspect of the game’s controls is when switching through equipment. For controllers, the player is not required to use the array of buttons. The only frustrating aspect is adjusting/rotating the camera; throughout playing the story it took me hours to get used to and fine-tune the way to adjust the camera for optimal use and it still was not perfect. Hopefully, Koei Techmo and Omega Force will create a sliding scale camera adjustment option if they for for an Attack on Titan 3.
Sound/ Audio
The soundtrack for Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle is rather impressive. The game’s soundtrack is comprised of 77 musical compositions to listen to while slaying titans and humans. Sadly, the iconic theme song for Attack on Titan season 1 is not part of the game. The game is completely subbed which can be a strong deterrent for English gamers. At times, it would be mentally draining to focus on combat and listen to the Japanese actors while reading English Subtitles. Because of this, I was forced to take breaks to combat mental and physical exhaustion. Hopefully, the next game will welcome the voices of Matthew Mercer, Bryce Papenbrook, and the other members of the English cast to the game franchise.
Graphics
Sadly, the graphics of Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle is probably its weakest category. The game’s cell-shaded graphics create awkward faces and poor lighting. This detracts from the characters relationships. At times, the game’s animated scenes would glitch out and the characters would be floating on nothing or completely invisible. If the players looked down at the ground or looked at a building the wrong way, they could see through the map and sometimes other characters. The worst visual bug was witnessed was a visual break where all animation of the game broke but subtitles and audio kept going. This continued through three other cutscenes and we resolved the matter by hard rebooting. The titans in the game looked amazing despite their gameplay bugs. The last and most interesting graphical feature was the visual effects on the titans and the special weapons.
Replay Value
Finally, we come to our Replay Value category. Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle features minimal replayability. The only reason to replay Final Battle would be to save fallen comrades in Story Mode and gathering additional materials for better gear. The endgame focuses predominantly on grinding friendship levels or resources. Increasing friendship does grant the player additional skills and stories though.
Conclusion
In conclusion, if you are new to the Attack on Titan video game franchise Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle is worth the $60 despite its few issues. The game provides hours of gameplay that is hard to find in other anime games. Overall the gameplay is almost worth the $60 asking price for newcomers. For those who had previously owned Attack on Titan 2 though, a $40 DLC seems like a bit much on top of the original game. The Final Battle DLC does offer a lot but for those who had previously stepped away from the Attack on Titan 2, it might not be enough to entice them back.
If you do decide to pick up the game, make sure to take breaks to recharge. Warning, if you have trouble reading subtitles or get motion sick, we recommend avoiding this game or taking breaks. For those who are fans of Attack on Titan and have considered picking up this game, you could always wait until Black Friday when it is on sale; doing so will be a steal.
Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle is available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and PC; it is scheduled to be released on Google Stadia.
For more Attach on Titan action, check out some footage I took on the game.
A Review Code for Xbox One was provided for review purposes by Koei Tecmo.
