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SGGAMINGINFO » A.O.T. Wings of Freedom (PS4) review SGGAMINGINFO » A.O.T. Wings of Freedom (PS4) review

A.O.T. Wings of Freedom (PS4) review

On October 6, 2016 by Ash Meehan

You might remember that back in May I had a hands-on preview of Koei Tecmo’s A.O.T. Wings of Freedom, and back then my overall opinion was positive as I praised the movement and combat of the game. However, while I still enjoyed the combat and movement in the finished product my opinion on the game has changed.

For those who don’t know, A.O.T. Wings of Freedom is based on the 2009 manga Attack on Titan, the manga proved to be a hit, and eventually received more mainstream attention with an Attack on Titan anime released in April 2013; a second season of the anime is due for release in April 2017. So, while the show is based on an existing property the question is, do you need to know the franchise? Well not necessarily, the game’s story is retelling the anime’s first season, although being familiar with the franchise such as what are Titans is helpful. For me, I haven’t read or watched any Attack on Titan material, and while I have a vague understanding of the plot, I found Wings of Freedom to be somewhat interesting.

The basic plot of A.O.T. Wings of Freedom is that creatures known as Titans are slowly beginning to wipe out humanity, and so to protect themselves the remaining humans created three giant walls to keep the Titans out, but now the Titans have breached one of the three walls and once again threaten humanity with extinction. The game’s story focuses a number of different characters including Eren, Mikasa and Levi as they fight back against the Titans, and as you fight the Titans, you learn more about the world and uncover new secrets about the Titans.

In terms of characters, there isn’t much to say as I never found myself being invested in the characters struggles sure you could see they all care for each other and the world, but I just couldn’t bring myself to care about them or their problems. To me, many of the characters felt one directional. For example, Eren with his focus on revenge and Armin an intelligent and cowardly character who always found some way to stand up and solve an issue.

colossaltitan_event

Now, let’s move onto gameplay. Gameplay is primarily based around using speed and movement to your advantage by way of your omni-directional mobility (ODM) gear, this gear allows for three-dimensional movement throughout a battlefield as you can hook anchors onto buildings and propel yourself through the sky and most importantly of all onto Titans. If you love moving fast, Attack on Titan does offer speed, although it can get chaotic when you begin to fight.

Fighting Titans is all about entering combat mode, anchoring to the neck, legs or arms of a Titan, then rushing towards it, and slashing as you make contact. Fighting a Titan is all about speed and movement because if you don’t move quickly enough your blade won’t cut through the body part. However, while I normally had no trouble keeping my speed up things did get hectic with buildings and rubble either cutting my anchors or making it tough to get a lock. Although, I must say while the game makes Titans out to be powerful creatures they were relatively straightforward to defeat as a hit on the neck kills them, although sometimes you do have to weaken it by removing some body parts.

I’d like to say there is more to the game than fighting Titans and trying to act like Spiderman, but honestly, when it comes to gameplay there isn’t much else. Outside of killing titans, you have a levelling system that is based on the rank you earned for completing a mission and what I could loosely call a crafting system as it simply relies on using materials you gain by completing a mission.

Speaking of missions, nearly every mission felt identical as the majority of missions involved killing all the titans in the area and making sure no allies die. Although, speaking of allies they do offer some help during combat as the offer side mission, can be recruited to help you defeat the titans in the area, and the ones you can’t recruit help you by replenishing your item count, as you need to use items to recharge your gas and blades.

mikasa-battle

Looking past the gameplay and story mode, does the game offer anything else? Well, you can replay missions, and enter Expedition mode where you can take on survey and expedition missions either online with friends or by yourself. Apart from the additional mode, there is nothing else.

In terms of issues, the game suffers from a lot of clipping as I found the camera constantly messing around when I was close to a building or had a titan blocking my view, frankly for me the camera was a major annoyance. As I mentioned earlier another issue is that the movement can get chaotic when in combat.

When it comes to graphics, the game has a very anime inspire art style that does suit the game nicely. In terms of audio, the game is Japanese audio only with English subtitles, while people do like Japanese only audio I felt it was a major reason why I couldn’t be invested in the characters.

Conclusion

While A.O.T. Wings of Freedom offers great combat and a fluid movement system, the game is let down by similar feeling missions and uninteresting characters.

Score: 6/10

Pros Cons
+ The ODM gear is fun to use – Missions feel similar
+ Combat flows well with the game’s emphasis on movement – Japanese only audio
– The characters aren’t very interesting
Developer Publisher Genre Rating Platform Release date
Omega Force Koei Tecmo Games Action 18+ Windows PC, PS3, PS4,PSVita,XboxOne August 26, 2016

*A review code was provided by the game’s publisher.*

For more information on A.O.T. Wings of Freedom, visit http://www.koeitecmoeurope.com/attackontitan/.

Author: Ash Meehan

Hi, I’m the creator of SG Gaming Info. When I’m not working on my writing or creating content for this site’s YouTube channel, I like to relax and enjoy character driven story games.


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