Game review: Kill large monsters in God Eater 3

Last year Capcom released the excellent Monster Hunter: World which let players kill huge monsters by themselves or with other players online. If you want the same sort of gameplay and setup, you'll love God Eater 3 which has just been released for PlayStation 4 and PC this month.

Many players may not have had the chance to play the older God Eater games because they only came out for the PSP and PS Vita handheld consoles several years ago. God Eater 3 is the series' debut for PS4 and PC and it is just as fun as other hunting games such as Capcom's aforementioned Monster Hunter franchise.

God Eater 3 is a unique action RPG mainly because it is not set in a huge open world environment for you to explore. The game is instead broken up into separate missions where you only visit smaller segments of a larger world. This makes the game easier to play because you don't have to spend several minutes exploring to hunt specific monsters.

The story of the game is set in a post apocalyptic Earth where monsters called the Aragami is roaming all over the place. Only a small set of people called God Eaters have the power to kill them and it's up to you and your teammates to stop them.

I don't want to give away too many details about the story, but there is a likable cast of characters and they have to face adversity even outside of the monsters. I was surprised by how much I liked the story as there are twists and turns to its plot. You really have to finish the game in order to fully appreciate the game's strong narrative.

Before you get to play the game though, you start off needing to create your own main character. The customisation options are quite limited, although you can still create a pretty looking anime male or female of your choosing. I chose to create someone that resembled Kasumi from the Dead or Alive fighting game series.

Customisation does not stop there because later on in the game, you'll have options to select your weaponry and skills. There are lots of swords, melee weapons and even guns for you to choose from that all deal varying degrees of damage. You may have to choose wisely because some enemies have weaknesses that you can exploit.

In terms of gameplay, God Eater 3's map size resembles that of a Dynasty Warriors game because there are linear paths and the areas you explore are usually very small. One cool thing about God Eater 3 is the fact that the map tells you exactly where the enemies are at all times. This is unlike in the Monster Huntergames where you have to locate the monster before you go out and try to kill it.

Due to the small size of the maps, it's usually pretty easy to locate monsters because they are indicated by a huge red dot. Even though big monsters are your main target, there are usually also smaller enemies that roam around for you to kill as well.

Combat is actually pretty fast and swift as I preferred playing God Eater 3 compared to last year's Monster Hunter: World. In this game, you can dodge enemy attacks with ease as the gameplay is faster paced and fun to play. It's much easier to move around in this game than in any Monster Hunter game I've played in the past.

Another cool thing about this game is that the single player mode allows you to team up with up to three other helpful A.I. teammates. I actually tested out their reliability and most of the time the A.I. teammates do a great job of dealing a lot of damage to the enemies even without my help. They even always come to your aid if you ever need reviving from the battlefield too.

The only thing I did not like about God Eater 3's combat gameplay is that long ranged weapons like guns feel cheap and ineffective all of the time. I tried using lots of different guns in this game, but none of them felt powerful or useful against the larger enemies. Using swords and other melee weapons are the best methods of playing this game in my opinion.

The other flaw about the game is that some of the missions start to feel repetitive after a while because you will be going up against the same types of enemies and visiting the same locations. If I was making this game, I would have added different monsters and locations to vary up the gameplay experience.

Another feature I did not like about God Eater 3 is that it can sometimes be difficult crafting and upgrading your weapons and items. You usually need to farm for lots of items and sometimes it can take a very long time to get the specific materials you need to upgrade your weapons!

Despite some minor flaws, I actually had a lot of fun playing God Eater 3. The gameplay is fun when it's not repetitive and the single player story is exciting and engaging. This is highly recommended especially if you love the Monster Hunter series.

Verdict: 8.5/10