Prior to my gameplay experience with Attack on Titan 2, I had never watched the anime nor read the manga. I wasn’t exactly curious about it, even though everyone I knew was constantly telling me to stop everything I was doing in order to watch it. I just never had the curiosity. Despite this, since I was craving for bigger budget action titles on the Switch, I decided to give Attack on Titan 2 a shot and now I’m currently looking for the first season of the show online. Not only is this game a pretty good action title in its own right, but it clearly convinced to give the anime a shot.

Developed by Omega Force, Attack on Titan 2 isn’t a Dynasty Warriors clone like the vast majority of games made by that company. This game is less focused on killing three billion easy enemies per mission, instead focuses on killing half a dozen bigger and much harder enemies per mission. Each titan is an actual threat. Enemies can easily kill you in a few hits and only have one actual weak spot: the back of its neck. You’ll need a couple of extremely well-timed hits at that very small weak spot in order to take those gargantuan foes down, in a pseudo “Monster Hunter meets Shadow of the Colossus” fashion.

In order to climb those massive titans and reach their weak spot, you have access to a grappling hook system of sorts (the “omni-directional mobility gear”), arguably the game’s coolest feature. This gear allows you to move around the map and grapple onto things not unlike your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. The maps are gigantic, but the ODM allows you to go from one end to the other in a matter of seconds, even though it does consume fuel while you use it. You must use the ODM in order to attack your foes: aim for the limbs in order to stun them, then aim for the nape, give yourself some room in order to accelerate, then press the attack button as soon as you reach the neck in order to knock that sucker down. When you compare Attack on Titan 2‘s combat to Omega Force’s other games, you’ll notice how less often you need to attack, but in this game’s case, every single slash counts a lot more.

Attack on Titan 2 isn’t only about the action, however. As previously mentioned, the game is based off the manga and anime and both are well known for having a deep but borderline macabre storyline, full of death and betrayals. The game’s pacing is a bit rough in the beginning since it needs to dump a ton of exposition onto newcomers, but it gets a lot better once the action actually gets going. The game actually covers both seasons of the show, making it a great deal for those who haven’t played the first Attack on Titan game for other platforms. Even though characters die as frequently as Game of Thrones supporting actors, it doesn’t take long for you to start caring for each one of them. You can create relationships with every character in the game, with the player being rewarded with various bonuses by doing so.

Visually speaking, the game looks pretty good, but it does suffer from framerate issues. Whenever there’s too much action onscreen, the game will run on single digits. Combine that with the millisecond precision you need in order to strike a titan’s neck and you’ll have a bit of trouble whenever the action gets too hectic. The sound design on the other hand, is great: the voice acting is pretty decent and the soundtrack is comprised of epic orchestrated tracks, full of dramatic choirs and adrenaline inducing moments. It perfectly embodies the sense of tension the gameplay and story try to provide.

Attack on Titan 2 is far from being a perfect game as it suffers from some severe framerate hiccups and some pacing issues, but it’s still a great action title for the Switch. Its combat is addictive and its story is excellent. It’s one of the very few anime games which have actually managed to convince me to take a look at its original source material. If you’re a fan of the series, don’t think twice. If you’ve never watched the show or read the manga, I’d still recommend the game for just being a good game in its own right.

 

Graphics: 6.5 The game features interesting cel-shaded visuals and immense maps. Despite this, they aren’t exactly pushing the console to its limits. Framerate drops occur often.	Gameplay: 8.0 Swinging around with your grappling hook feels amazing, and the combat is pretty fun, even if it’s far from easy at the beginning. The camera isn’t helpful at times and there’s the aforementioned framerate issue.
Sound: 9.0 The soundtrack is epic and perfectly suited for large battles full of stakes and drama. The voice acting is also solid.	Fun Factor: 8.5 There are some gameplay glitches and the pacing can be a bit off-putting in the beginning, but Attack on Titan 2 knows how to perfectly balance a great story with satisfying action.
Final Verdict: 8.0

Reviewed on Switch.
Also available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC