“Attack on Titan: Wings of Humanity’s End” on 3DS Launch Date Announced

A little while ago, there was announcement of a Titan game on 3DS. There wasn’t too much to say about it aside from a few screens of titans from low angles, but now we have a little more to work with. With the popularity behind the original comic, the anime, and the blu-rays, they’re looking to go further with the Titan name and make a 3DS game. Reportedly, the game is an action type game that seeks to replicate the high speed action of the 3D Maneuver Gear as seen in the anime. There will be a Story Mode and Multiplayer support that uses creatable characters with up to 4 people at the same time. The game will apparently take a mission based format with plenty of titan murder and the occasional rescue of NPCs, probably both civilians and fellow soldiers. At the very least, you’ll be able to play as the core three of Eren, Mikasa, and Armin, though Eren and Mikasa are the primary characters outside Story Mode.

Squad combat with others sounds fun. Rescuing NPCs sounds like it could be a real bitch. Rescuing fellow teammates in a multiplayer session sounds like a good idea, but also like a good way to piss off your friends if you’re having a rough time with the game. There’s no word on whether or not there will be non-town environments as those have been the only ones shown in screen caps, but if there’s a distinct story mode following the anime probably, then there should also end up being field and forest environments. I could see battling the Female Titan being a climactic final boss for Eren’s story, though it sounds like they’re going full 3DMG without any going titan mode. And that’s where it all comes down to. If they manage to make using the 3DMG as fun as it looks to be in a video game and lets us screw around flying along buildings, then rescuing people can be as annoying as it wants. Can’t hear your death screams, NPC. Too busy launching myself into the sky at 300/mph.

The game is set to launch on December 5th. If the anime does well here, we may even get it.

(Thanks to Yaraon for their post on the game)

Titan Game and Visual Novel #2

And they just keep coming down the pipe. When I said that Titan is a good venue for games, I wasn’t really putting much thought into them being used for visual novels even though there’s precedent for it. Well, for those of you waiting on the ones coming with the Blu-rays, you may now have a different recourse if we don’t end up getting those. This new Titan game is coming out for the 3DS sometime this year. This image is the only real detail we have on it until a further announcement is made in October, but I know that it’ll be a visual novel because it’s being developed by Spike Chunsoft who you probably know as being the people behind VNs like Dangan Ronpa and 999. Spike has developed a few games in other genres, but the two companies together have primarily made VNs.

As for the subject matter, this is being developed as a full on game. We can only speculate, but it’s likely to be more developed than the bonus games coming with the blu-rays in a little while. If they manage to pack in some of the writing prowess the main series has, it could be a fun read.

Titan Online “Wings of Counterattack” Beta Launch

Titan’s a pretty good venue for games. The 3D gear lends itself to a fun movement system that can be used for combat. One of my favorite things to do playing the Unity 3D Titan game was climbing to the top of the barrier and launching myself off at high speeds to see the whole map for a second only to catch a building and fling myself through a titan’s neck. And there’s also the possibility for squad based combat. There’s a lot of thought put into how groups like the Scouting Legion gets around, like what you saw in the last episode with the explanation of their anti-encounter formation. This new game is going with the second one.

At least I guess you could call it that. These are screens from the beta of Attack on Titan Online “Wings of Counterattack.” The game, as you can take it from the numbers all over the place, is an RPG where you take command of a Scouting Legion detachment. You will be in the command position where you giver orders to you units in the runs against titans. Based on the look, in this mode, you’re running on a 2D plane, so I’m not sure what sort of orders you’d be able to give, but you can see that there’s horseback combat against the lesser known log titans and 3D gear movement all using standard equipment and uniquely crafted items.

But that’s not the only type of combat. There are also these grid based boss fights against notable titan types. This is the Armored Titan, of course, but there are probably also plans for the Female Type and, of course, the cute and cuddly Colossal Titan. With the way it looks, different attacks with probably hit different amounts of squares on the grid, and you hop along them to avoid them. Sounds like Mega Man: Battle Network, but I’m only guessing based on the way it looks. There are also the dramatic cut-in attacks which will probably be used on both play types as a screen bomb or other various effects.

And, of course, alternate costumes. You can see a few in the game play screens, easiest on who I’m pretty sure is Eren. Jamming more types of military uniform onto the characters is sure to bring in the fans, but that doesn’t seem to be the limit. Christa has that very weird take on the boob plate, Eren’s got his other, more foppish outfit with the feather cap, and we have these more traditional Japanese like clothes as part of unique classes. They come from which way you choose to play the game. Eren’s is if you decide to play via the GG Online Game Portal, and Mikasa’s comes from if you use the NicoNico App. They’re mentioned as “unique avatars,” but I’m sure they’ll end up as character sprites as well.

This is all a bit off. This announcement is only about the game being in closed beta. However, beta testers have not been chose, and you can sign up. If you’d like to, you can sign up here. There are 10,000 total slots, and the testers will be chosen from who’s signed up by lottery. I don’t think this game is likely to get any sort of official English version at the moment, but the game is open online, and if a number of westerners try to get into the beta, they might just throw one out there. Or you could wait for an English fan patch. Consider this a chance to see if the game is worth that effort.