Gods Eater Burst [PSP] [Review]

I hadn't heard much about this game or ever seen it in stores but I've gotten a hold of this recently and it's clear that it should have had a much bigger release than it received (at least in the UK and US.)

The story is set in the future where the God Eaters, people trained to fight Aragami, are trying to rid the world of the Aragami, monsters who threaten humanity's existence.

It's a long game even without the side missions and although it starts off slowly it soon gets exciting as more mystery, desperation and twists are introduced.

If you are a fan of story driven, drama filled games that are presented in a way that isn't cheesy or over the top then the story should sit fine with you.

You play as a previously unemployed, newly introduced new type character who you can customise as you like although the choices are fairly limited and you join the ranks of the Far-East branch at Fenrir - an organisation created to defeat Aragami.

You work with Lindow, Sakuya, Kota, Soma and Alisa whilst Lindow's sister, Tsubaki, assigns you missions for you and your team to go on.

There are other characters you can work and interact with but the story focuses on the above listed characters and they are the ones you will usually be fighting alongside with.

The gameplay is fairly unique but people who have played Monster Hunter will be reminded of this as the games are both pretty similar when in battle.

Brought new to the table however is having a sword that acts both as a sword, gun and 'God Eater' - a monster's head that appears from your sword by holding triangle that then takes a bit out of the enemy and allows you to use a new move when using your gun.
The term used for weapons in this game is God Arc.

I personally main the melee weapon as Sakuya and Kota main the guns and all allies are capable of healing themselves and others. 

A reason why I prefer the sword is that a lot of enemies have certain weak spots that I find are easier to find and break when using the sword even if it is recommended to use the gun to freeze, flame, electrocute, etc, the enemy as they are vulnerable to it.

The gun is useful for the reason above though as you have Bullets that allow you to use different types of attack against the enemy such as ice and fire which come in useful as in the mission briefing you are told what the enemy is known to be vulnerable too.

When not in battle you will be in Fenrir, customising and upgrading or changing your clothing, weapons, bullets, etc, or talking to allies and watching cutscenes to progress the story.

If customising though, I advise you to look online at what the clothing actually looks like as I bought a coat which is absolutely nothing like a coat and as it doesn't let you view the item before you buy it, I was stuck with it and just never used it.

The graphics are great for the PSP but it is outstripped by other games, mainly by Square Enix such as Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core and the Dissidia series, but it is still great to look at even if the movements are a bit stiff and flat during cutscenes.

In battle however animations are fluid, there are no framedrops or screentears and everything runs smoothly no matter how much is occurring onscreen.

I quite like how the screen gets blood stains across it when you bite a chunk out of the enemy, that doesn't seem too common in PSP games.

The audio is fantastic and I love listening to it when in battle, it reminds me of Final Fantasy as it makes good use of an orchestra whilst keeping dramatic in setting with the story and battles.

The vocals that sometimes play over the tracks are lovely too, blending in perfectly with the music whether its strings, piano or another instrument.

It is definitely a soundtrack I could listen too even when not playing the game.

The lasting appeal is high on this game as there are so many side missions but considering several of them are very similar you may not want to deal with all of them.

There are 10 difficulties overall which include story and side missions and you can go back to these whenever you wish so I advise to do the story then go back to do the other missions unless you want to upgrade or buy new equipment.

There is also online where you can tackle missions with friends or strangers if you prefer to play with others but there are no missions which are too hard to play solo.

The scores I give Gods Eater Burst are:

Story: 9

Characters: 8

Gameplay: 8

Graphics: 7

Audio: 8

Lasting appeal: 8

Overall: 8.5