The new game Attack on Titan is based on a popular anime of the same name. Since I haven’t seen the anime, this review is solely about the game and its merits. I will tell you that after playing Attack on Titan just a little, I added the anime to my Netflix queue and watched the first two episodes. I will finish the rest ASAP!

The overall look is very much one of anime. They definitely aren’t going for ultra-realistic and the game looks pretty much exactly like the anime. It’s quite possible that some of the cut-scenes were taken directly from the anime, at least they looked like it to me! The cel-shading look fits perfectly for this style. The characters are all well done. This world is not bright and colorful and most people are dressed in browns, blacks and greys. It’s not quite a post-apocalyptic look, but more of a pre-post-apocalyptic appearance. The titans are creepy and they look a bit more like golems than humans. They’re all quite different in looks and ages, but almost all can give you nightmares, especially the ones who look like they have been skinned.

Attack on Titan is in Japanese with English subtitles. If you don’t speak Japanese, you will miss some things that other characters are saying during battle, just because it is hard to fight and read at the same time, but you probably won’t miss anything important. If it is important, you can find out what you missed by checking the battle log.

Attack on Titan is an action RPG where you can choose to play through the story (Attack Mode) or you can go out on missions (Expedition Mode). I do recommend that you start with Attack Mode as that is where you will learn how to play the game, whereas Expedition Mode is a great place to get extra stuff.

Starting Attack Mode will essentially start you at the beginning of the anime. The beginning/how-to-play part of the game is essentially the first two episodes of the anime. Over 100 years ago, the titans showed up on Earth and threatened humanity to extinction. The survivors built three walls to keep out the titans and save the few humans left. Wall Maria is the outer wall, Wall Rose is in the middle, and Wall Sina is the inner-most. On the day that a massive titan appeared and put a hole in the outer wall letting in the normal titans, humanity took a huge hit, but it also gained a will to live again.

Two years after the fall of the outer wall, our story begins. The humans have developed better weapons and training to try and take down the titans. You start out the game as Eren Jaeger, a member of the 104th Cadet Corps, in training to join in the war on the titans. Basically, you’ll get one training battle to learn how to fight and it is graduation day. There are three jobs for corps members: the Garrison Regiment watches the walls and town, the Scout Regiment goes outside the walls into the Titan’s areas to try and bring them down, and then there is the Military Police, who keep the peace in the name of the king. They are essentially safe inside the inner most walls. The Military Police are chosen from the most talented and Eren has been chosen to join them, but he isn’t happy with his assignment. Eren chooses to be outside the walls with the scouts, hunting down titans. Mikasa is going to choose to go wherever he goes. Eren wants revenge for his mother, who was killed by a titan when Wall Maria fell. He and Mikasa were saved that day by Hannes, a soldier. Several of Eren’s friends decide to join the scouts too, not that they will all last very long. You will play Attack on Titan as other characters than Eren as well, like Mikasa and Armin.

Expedition Mode lets you take any of the characters that you have unlocked at their current skill level in Attack Mode and go exploring for stuff. Anything you find and earn, including experience, will be available in Attack Mode, so this is a good way to level up your characters and get new stuff to make your story easier to beat. Expedition Mode can be played online or offline. You can choose to take on both survey and expedition missions. As you complete missions, more will be made available. You can also get horses for missions.

Attack on Titan provides 3 difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, and Hard. By default, it asks if you want to start on Easy to make it easier to see the whole story. Easy is pretty darned easy and I think Normal is a moderate setting, as it should be. Hard will give you the challenge that you’re looking for.

At the end of each battle, you will get a rating on your performance. Better ratings give your more experience and funds, so obviously the better you do, the easier your life will be. Your Regiment and Soldier Skill will go up with experience. A higher Regiment means more items in camp and new equipment. Higher Soldier Skill allows you to learn new skills and you can also get Regiment Funds at the end of battle. These can be used to make your camp better. As you might expect, you can also earn materials that you found in battle and these can be useful for many things.

Your equipment can be the difference between life and death. I highly recommend checking in at the Logistician to see what all you can do pretty frequently. You can develop new equipment or modify existing equipment there. If you haven’t found all the materials that you might need when in battle, you can check with the Logistician at camp to see if you can purchase them with your Regiment Funds. You can also sell materials that you have found, if you find you have an over-abundance of something or if you just need the money.

I expected Attack on Titan to be a hack n’ slash, but it’s really not. You will need to precisely time your anchor, boost, and attacks to the correct spot on the titans to take them down most efficiently. (Square) fires an anchor that will let you climb walls (a bit like Spiderman), while (X) boosts in the air so you can propel forward. Using a combination of these, you can get around cliffs quite easily. (R1) switches you to Combat Mode. In this state, (Square) will fire an anchor that will embed in a titan’s body rather than cliff walls. This will put you in omni-directional mobility combat. It’s a bit different to get used to, but you’ll get the hang of it. If you rush close to the titan and press (Triangle), you can attack the body parts, provided you time it right. (X) will boost you towards the titan quicker, and (R) will switch between the body parts that you want to target and you can press (Square) again to lock onto that part. If you get caught by a titan, press (Triangle) quickly and hopefully you will break away. If not, you are eaten and will need to start over from the last save.

Your items do not last forever, nor do they magically replenish over time. Gas goes down during omni-directional mobility and your blades wear down as you attack. You will need to find a Logistician on the battlefield and press (O) when near them to get more supplies. You can hold an item by pressing up on the D-pad, and left and right on the D-pad will switch items. You have the option of turning vibration off or on. Interestingly enough, you can also turn off Gore if you don’t want to see the blood and guts. Personally, I find it more disturbing to watch something get sliced apart and not bleed than to see the blood, but that is up to you.

Your companions are marked in blue on the map and titans are marked in red, while Logisticians are white. Sometimes you have team members you can work with and you can use the D-pad to issue orders. If you have a cannon nearby, you can press (O) to control it. The Touchpad will bring up your in-game Menu. Here you’ll find a variety of options. In camp, you have the choice to save, load, change your settings, upload your data, and get some game tips. In battle, the Touchpad will bring up information and logs.

I have really enjoyed playing Attack on Titan. I love the storyline and I’m excited to finish the game to see the rest of it. It did take me a few minutes to get used to more precise battle rather than the hack n’ slashes that I am used to, but once I did, I really liked the battle style. If you’re looking for a great story with interesting play, check out Attack on Titan today!