Aragami 2 is a sequel with some very curious design choices and a decent attempt at expanding the original, but ultimately falls flat and well into the average territory.
The graphics are the most obvious difference. Aragami 1 had a nice cell-shaded style that made it instantly recognisable, like the main character from Journey had become a deadly ninja. It wasn't anything particularlyAragami 2 is a sequel with some very curious design choices and a decent attempt at expanding the original, but ultimately falls flat and well into the average territory.
The graphics are the most obvious difference. Aragami 1 had a nice cell-shaded style that made it instantly recognisable, like the main character from Journey had become a deadly ninja. It wasn't anything particularly new but it worked well for the purposes of the game. Aragami 2 has taken the bewildering approach to go for slightly more realistic graphics that you would find in Dynasty Warriors. The downside of this is that it all becomes painfully bland and showcases only the budget that the developers must have lacked, unlike Aragami 1 where the graphics likely had even less of a budget but capitalised on this creatively using cell-shaded approaches.
The gameplay of A2 has evolved, mostly for the better. What they are trying to achieve is very good, however this often also falls flat on its face, sometimes literally for the player. The option of direct combat is a welcome addition instead of insta-fail for being discovered/hit, but this combat is a bit luck-based; when I bash an enemy with my sword, I can get the option to finish them in one blow and other times this won't happen despite stamina levels etc. remaining identical.
Speaking of stamina, A2 continues the trend popularised by Dark Souls of the dreaded stamina bar, and I rarely found it to be a welcome game mechanic. For a ninja, Aragami has terrible cardio, doing only two dashes/rolls before gasping for breath. There are options to improve this as you progress, but like much of the game it could do with more planning; Dark Souls use attributes to allow you to customise your stamina use as well as various weapons etc, while A2 has almost none of this.
Unlike A1's linear and sequenced levels, A2 brings you to a Hub after each mission where you can upgrade and select your next mission. At first this was nice but the Hub is largely an empty space and I think again DS did it better by either doing everything at the bonfire or in a refined Hub, which A2 could have learned from; if you're going to imitate others, imitate the best parts!
Speaking of which, Aragami's gameplay boils down to missions, mostly assassinations. This is fine at a glance, but I spend as much time fighting the game mechanics as I did my opponents. Aerial assassinations look ridiculous - you basically teleport to the ground and assassinate there, bewilderingly. Controls are slippery; quite often I'll hit square to assassinate only to thump my opponent, alerting him and everyone nearby. Levels lack checkpoints, meaning that are very unforgiving if you chose the time-consuming methodical routes. Eventually I discovered you could spam your way through a lot of levels by double-jumping above your opponents for an unglamorous 'aerial' assassination.
Finally, the lack of a map may be my biggest grip with A2. I understand a ninja's job is to spy, but a half-decent spy would want to know the layout and location of enemies before attempting a mission. Added to this is that mission targets do not usually appear until you are close to them and press L2 for 'ninja vision'. This made for incredibly painfully slow progression on levels with obscure targets such as "Collect 3 xxxx" or whatever.
It pains me to say it, but A2 could have learned a lot from Assassins Creed games. Although they suck in recent years, their game mechanics work really well, such as climbing and fighting.
The story of A2 I didn't get far enough into the game to become invested in. When I saw how many chapters there were on the trophy list I got sick of it after Chapter 2, as the game boils down to the same handful of missions. It looks like a good 25 hour game when I think 12 hours would be plenty since the missions encourage replayability.
Overall, Aragami 2 is a bewilderingly blandly designed sequel that takes two steps forwards and another 2 back. The gameplay has evolved but still plays like something from the PS3 era, while the graphics don't help this impression, taking away the uniqueness of the first game. Unfortunately there aren't many competitors for the glory days of Tenchu so this will have to do for any of you looking for Tenchu.… Expand
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