God Eater Resurrection Review (PS4)
With the third God Eater title is in the works, we just got God Eater Resurrection and God Eater 2 as HD remasters on the current gen systems to bridge the gap. How well does the original hold up after all these years and especially with the transition to home console systems?
God Eater Resurrection is an updated version of the original that brings not only enhanced graphics but also new story content and an additional combat feature called Predator Style. Also, all new weapons introduced in God Eater 2 and God Eater 2 Rage Burst have been added.
Graphically, God Eater Resurrection holds up pretty well for a PSP title, even better than the excellent Final Fantasy Type-0. The reason it holds up so well is not in small part because of its stylish character designs and anime-like aesthetics. And of course, the developers did a great job with enhancing textures and lighting. Additional effort was made to make the transition as smooth as possible. The voice acting is quite good as English dub was re-recorded for this release specifically, which is quite impressive for an HD remaster.
God Eater Resurrection comes a long way to ease you into its story and combat. Sometimes a bit too much, actually. But if you are a type of person that likes taking in things at a slower pace, it might be something you would definitely appreciate.
Set in a post-apocalyptic Earth, the game puts you in the shoes of a God Eater – the last line of defense against monsters called Aragami. These monsters are actually all single-cell organisms, that can’t be destroyed by any conventional means. That’s where God Eaters jump in with their special weapons – God Arcs that are bound to them. What is interesting is that these weapons are made of the same stuff Aragami are made of. The story has a ton of these kind of lore intricacies you will learn along your journey.
God Eater Burst’s gameplay is consisted of many bite-sized missions with occasional big bosses to spice things up. So you will be playing in short bursts, which is great on a handheld console, but if you are playing it on PlayStation 4 this can be a bit annoying as at times you will feel as if the mission ended before it even actually started. What is not helping is that most missions are capped to a maximum of 30 minutes.
That is not to say there isn’t enough depth to the combat as there are cool moves your character can pull off and a variety of weapon types of which you get to sample as early as the very beginning of the game. The most impressive feature of the game is the ability to devour Aragami with your God Arc, which sends you into Burst Mode giving you more speed, attack power and an ability to control Aragami Bullets. The game goes as far as to also have Bullet Editor where you can customize your bullets.
You can choose up to four characters to keep you company or as assistance on your missions, with additional two characters for support. You can do little to guide them as they mostly do their own thing, but are quite useful when you need to get revived or just as a simple distraction for the monsters.
Monsters can be quite tough and will go through couple of behavioral stages. First off they will act aggressive, but after sustaining enough damage they will become submissive and flee from the battlefield. This is where you need to adjust your strategy to a more aggressive style where you will try to overrun the monster with your unstoppable barrage. Monsters have their weak points which you will notice by attacking their various parts. Make sure you hit them hard to quickly submit the monster and get more goodies as a reward.
After playing through a couple of missions, gameplay can get repetitive, but what kept me going was a story that went much more intriguing than expected. I wouldn’t like to spoil a lot of it, but an important character goes missing and you get a very important position in the organization, and from there on more twists and turns keep the story going. Not to mention that dramatic moments have been done pretty well, unlike in most video-games.
But that doesn’t mean the game doesn’t succeed in occasionally putting you on the edge of your seat. After successfully completing a difficult mission there is a chance an urgent mission might come along. When that happens you either have to take it or lose the chance of ever getting it again. No pressure, right?
The cast is enjoyable and you even get a bit of interaction with the characters depending on who you take to missions and which upgrades you pick. There is a ton of weapons to choose from and if that is not enough for you there is an extensive crafting system in the game.
While God Eater Resurrection can’t mask its PSP roots, it is an enjoyable title worth looking into if you are a newcomer or fan of the series alike and just can’t wait for the long awaited third installment. If you are a looking for a Monster Hunter-esque game on the PS4, God Eater Resurrection might be just the thing you were waiting for.
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