God Eater Resurrection | First Impressions

God Eater Resurrection | First Impressions - Vita

Well, now that I’ve got my hands on the game, pumped seven hours into it so far and I’m already well into the third chapter, I figured I’d give my thoughts on the game so far.

For those of you that don’t know, God Eater Resurrection is an updated remake of God Eater and its expansion, God Eater Burst. The game was released for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, and features updated game mechanics, additional moves and weaponry from God Eater 2: Rage Burst, a new gameplay mechanic known as the Predator Style, and a third story arc that bridges the gap between God Eater Burst and God Eater 2. After a long silence of six years, God Eater Resurrection is the first media we got of the franchise in the United States since God Eater Burst’s PSP release back in 2010 (questionably localized as Gods Eater Burst).

Storywise, not much has changed, but that might be because I’m in the early chapters, which is still just the story from the original game. Graphics are noticeably improved, and while they’re not the best the Vita can do, they’re definitely an improvement over the original and they’re actually quite nice to look at. All voiced dialogue has been redone, and while the main cast from God Eater Burst reprises their roles here, a large portion of the cast is noticeably different, but better. There seem to be a few additional cutscenes that weren’t in the original, but I’m not entirely sure since it’s been four years since I last played God Eater Burst.

Going back to the voiced dialogue, it’s excellent. Cast members return, such as Kyle Hebert as Lindow, Michelle Ruff as Sakuya, Yuri Lowenthal as Soma, and Johnny Yong Bosch as Kota. Others are different, like Patrick Seitz replacing Crispin Freeman as Johannes, Spike Spencer replacing Fritz Bronner as Sakaki, and Kaiji Tang replacing Tony Oliver as Brendan. The acting in this game simply bleeds personality, and pacing has been noticeably improved, with words perfectly matching up to the lip flaps. This alone makes cutscenes significantly more enjoyable than the original PSP release, which was notorious for its improper lip syncing.

Gameplay-wise, at a surface level, the game is just the same God Eater you’ve always known. However, upon delving deeper, you’ll find that the gameplay is significantly improved upon. Firstly in that there are now six weapon styles to choose from, rather than only three. The Charge Spear, Boost Hammer, and the Variant Scythe all appear in this game (originally from God Eater 2), all expanded upon from their original appearance. As well, the original movesets have been updated to be more useful, as well.

With the Short Blade, you can now perform an uppercut with R+Square, that has your character perform an upward strike that brings them into the air, where you can follow up with an air combo. This is especially useful, because as far as I can tell, it doesn’t require any stamina, and can replace actually jumping when trying to hit higher areas on Aragami. With the Charge Spear, a backflip ability was added (with the same button prompt), that allows you to perform a high evasive maneuver to put both horizontal and vertical distance between you and your foe. What’s great is that you can actually cancel this backflip midair with an aerial combo.

The biggest new draw on the gameplay is Predator Styles, however. Previously, there were only two forms of Devour. Regular Devour was performed by holding Triangle, while Combo Devour was done by pressing R+Triangle mid-combo. The former is slower than the latter, but the latter only gives you half your Burst gauge, rather than the full thing like the former. Now, there are more ways than ever to Devour Aragami. Firstly is Quick Devour, which is done simply by pressing R+Triangle at any time. It’s not as fast as Combo Devour, but it’s especially faster than the regular. There’s also Aerial Devour, which allows you to do it in the air, and Dash Devour, which has your character charge forward and Devour upon contact with the opponent.

However, Predator Style allows you to change up these, as well. For example, you can adjust Quick Devour so that your character performs a back-dash prior to activating Burst, allowing you to gain some distance and avoid a potential attack. Aerial Devour activates Burst in midair by default, but you can switch it so that your character dashes downward while Devouring, thus activating Burst on the ground instead. Dash Devour can also be modified so that it covers a wider area-of-effect, allowing you to Devour multiple enemies at once.

All-in-all, while I’ve only really played missions that I’ve already done before in God Eater Burst, the gameplay changes themselves make going through the game all over again completely worth it. Also worth mentioning, previously DLC-only Aragami such as the Yaksha Raja are now incorporated into the main game. Since we didn’t get God Eater Burst’s DLC stateside, these new missions are a real treat for us.

So far, I’m loving God Eater Resurrection, and I’m excited for all the new media coming. We got a dub for the God Eater anime on its way, and God Eater 2: Rage Burst will be releasing in the US on August 30th. If you’re a God Eater fan, 2016 is definitely the year for you!

If you liked God Eater Burst, like hunting games, or just like intense hack-and-slash games, definitely check out God Eater Resurrection. It’s on both PlayStation 4 and Vita, and will be releasing on Steam at the end of August. And for only $20, that’s a hell of a steal!