REVIEW: God Eater 2 Rage Burst


Title	God Eater 2 Rage Burst
Developer	BANDAI NAMCO Studio, SHIFT, QLOC
Publisher	BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment
Release Date	August 29, 2016
Genre	Monster Hunter, Action
Platform	PS4, PS Vita, PC (Steam)
Age Rating	T (Teen)
Official Website

I had some positive things to say about God Eater Resurrection when I had the chance to review it for the PlayStation 4 earlier this year. Having never played the original on PSP myself, in my experience it was a fresh and different take on the whole monster hunter genre, with a faster pace than Monster Hunter itself, and a story full of drama and interesting characters. And now that we have God Eater 2 Rage Burst for both PS4 and PS Vita, and now the PC, one has to ask themselves what this game brings as a sequel? Well the short answer is… not much. But as a Steam port, this is one of Bandai Namco’s better ones, as I’m well aware their track record has been hit or miss with such things.

God Eater 2 Rage Burst follows up on God Eater Resurrection’s story three years later, with a new generation of God Eaters, the Blood unit, the most elite force defending humanity from the Aragami menace out there. But that isn’t the only threat: strange crimson red rains and a black plague also threaten the populace’s survival. Once again, you’ll be called to fulfill one mission after another to hunt creatures large and small, collect their parts, and turn them into all kinds of things, like clothes, weapons, and upgrade parts. You can expect the same kind of soapy drama with moments of hope planted here and there, and without saying too much, what you’ll find out is rather disturbing. The flow of the game is a bit different from its predecessor. Difficulty tiers are much longer this time, and you will find yourself playing through dozens and dozens of missions just to get to the next tier. Speaking of difficulty, it gives you a general idea of the kinds of monsters you’ll be facing in missions, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have an easy or difficult time. There are a few missions when you’ll face swarms of Aragami, or a few large Aragami at once, and those can be hectic to get through, but it doesn’t happen that way all the time. What can really throw you off is the multipart survival missions, especially if there’s a really tough Aragami at the end (looking at you, Chrome Gawain).

The major issue I have with God Eater 2 is that as fun as it is, it doesn’t do very much to differentiate itself from God Eater Resurrection. In fact, many of the locations and monsters you fight are drawn from it, with very little actual variation for hours of play. You could get into this game without ever playing the first one and barely notice the difference, save for the signature Blood Art attacks that add just a bit more depth and strategy to the combat. Repetition and recycling sums up God Eater 2’s Achilles’ Heel.

PC players who might be unsure of the port’s quality can rest assured that the game runs quite well at 60FPS/1080P without any framerate issues whatsoever. As with God Eater Resurrection, the character and Aragami models look quite good, too. One thing you should be aware of is that this game is region locked. I found this out through playing with an overseas friend from the UK. Changing your Steam region seems to be the workaround for this, and for the most part he and I haven’t had much trouble playing together in multiplayer after we did that. There also seems to be some kind of sound bug where the music will cut out after playing for a minute or two, and I’m not really sure why this happens. I’d just like it to be patched, because I like hearing it — even though the field music happens to be taken from the first game too. The soundtrack by Go Shiina is phenomenal, by the way. There are some quite epic orchestral themes that properly convey the sense of drama, danger and risk taking the God Eaters and the people working at Fenrir go through to fight these monsters.

Now as a game purchase, I don’t think it’s a bad deal to buy God Eater 2 Rage Burst at full price ($49.99) for the amount of content you get. I’ve spent over 57 hours in both single and multiplayer and I have yet to finish the second arc. Keep in mind that by buying this, you’ll also get God Eater Resurrection for free, and that’s an awfully tempting proposition. But for the deal hunters out there, take heart, because Bandai Namco’s PC games go on sale quite a bit, and if you want to save yourself some money, I think you’ll have plenty of chances to do so. If you don’t have the PlayStation platforms, this is probably the premier monster hunting experience on Steam. Since most people own PCs, it shouldn’t be too difficult to get together with friends and hunt Aragami for countless hours. There are times when you’ll have to replay missions to farm materials for upgrades, but it’s naturally more enjoyable with other people than the AI. And despite the blatant reuse of assets, God Eater 2 Rage Burst will whet your appetite for God slaying.