God Eater 2: Rage Burst review for PS Vita, PS4

It’s pretty easy to review God Eater 2: Rage Burst, as far as I’m concerned: just think of it as a slightly improved version of God Eater Resurrection. As far as I’m concerned, that means it merits a slightly better grade than God Eater Resurrection. We’re not talking rocket science here.

I mean, looked at a certain way, you may think that this is a mark against God Eater 2. After all, GE Resurrection was itself a slightly upgraded version of a 2011 PSP game, which in turn was a somewhat stale Monster Hunter clone even when it first released. In other words, we’re talking about a game that essentially could’ve come out a decade ago without being substantially different from what we’re seeing today. If you’re looking for a game that revolutionizes the MonHun formula, I could see how that might be disappointing.

Conversely, if you’re a huge fan of the God Eater franchise, you may think that God Eater 2 takes its own formula to a new level. New monsters, new weapons, a new “attack add-on” called Blood Arts, even the introduction of character-specific quests: in those terms, I suppose, GE2 does bring in some new bells and whistles that help elevate it to something more than it was the last time around.

As you’ve probably already guessed, my opinion falls squarely in the middle. I don’t think God Eater 2 is a particularly innovative game, but at the same time, I think it improves on the series’ first game enough that there’s no denying that it’s noticeably better. Take the graphics, for example: while this game still isn’t going to win any awards for its looks, it’s undeniably an improvement over what previous iterations looked like. The same, too, could be said for the combat, or the controls, or the plot, or any other aspect of the game. The improvements are small and incremental, but they’re nonetheless obvious enough that they’re undeniably present.

Of course, a big part of why it’s so apparent that they’re present is because God Eater 2 has quite a bit in common with its predecessors. The tutorial is the same, most enemies are the same, even a lot of the environments are the same, albeit with minor differences here and there. If you want a dramatic departure, you’re not going to find it here. What you will find, however, is a pretty darn enjoyable monster-hunting game, that’s well worth checking out if you’re a fan of the genre.