Developer: Sony Santa Monica
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Platforms: PlayStation 4
Tested on: PlayStation 4
God of War – Review
God of War was first released on the PlayStation 2 back in 2005, a game that sold mostly for its over the top gore and violence. Parents thought that Grand Theft Auto was bad, but then Kratos came along and laughed in those games’ faces. God of War, which isn’t technically a reboot, with the game building on the lore, looks like it because of the use of the title, is equally as violent, yet not mindlessly so as the first trilogy.
Story
God of War only had one staple when it came to the story, it was killing everything because Kratos was on a quest to kill everything because he had killed his wife and daughter while killing everything opposing him. The latter made him vow to kill Ares, and then Zeus, and then some other gods tried to intervene, and they were all slaughtered, and the Titans that got between Kratos and Zeus were also massacred. With the end of the Greece as they knew it as a conclusion. Naturally it would seem that would be the end of Kratos, especially after having shoved a blade right through himself at the end of God of War III.
Sony wasn’t done with the tale of Kratos just yet, and Cory Barlog decided to revisit the tale of vengeance once again. There is however a tiny twist. Where Kratos used to be a ball of anger issues and screaming, he now shows restraint, and this becomes very obvious right out of the gate. He fell in love with another woman, having forgiven himself for his deeds in God of War III and Kratos and Faye had a son Atreus. Faye however, dies, and it’s up to Kratos and Atreus to spread her ashes on the highest peak in the land. So the trek starts, but before long, things go awry and Kratos and Atreus are hunted down and pulled into a feud much like the one in the original God of War games.
Without spoiling too much, the writing of this iteration is really, really well done. There is a point in the game that could have been improved upon and it’s where Atreus loses his calm. Atreus rightfully loses his shit, but after couple of lines this tapers off, and he just acts belligerent, which doesn’t make sense, because the conversation before really came at the player like a bull charging. The player sees what Kratos sees and the reaction of Atreus and the sight make for a very emotional scene, but this loses its potency as the fight is cut short. It’s done so Atreus would still help out Kratos in the upcoming scraps, but still, it could have been done that he outright refuses to fire another arrow until at one point the fight comes to a point and father and son butt heads and clear the air that way. It would make for a more natural transition between moods. This is just once, as the other scenes really hit the nail on the head writing wise.
Graphics
When talking about the graphics of the game it should be said that the game looks absolutely stunning. Then again, it’s a first party title, so they know the system inside and out, so this shouldn’t come as a surprise. There is however a slight, just a slight amount of pop in when it comes to the textures, mainly the textures of the chests. When you stand a little distance away from them they don’t show off their detail, and their blurred lines only come into focus when Kratos shifts the lid to open it and takes the contents.
The animation of God of War is really fluid and this first becomes apparent when the second boss fight starts, it’s like you’re watching a high octane scene from a Marvel movie and it’s just breath-taking to watch. It’s absolutely amazing. During cutscenes the facial animations are just hypnotizing. A lot of detail has gone into making the conversations look so natural, especially the eyebrows and eyes, which, without the proper care, can often turn a very animated cutscene into a dead fish-eye staring contest. This isn’t the case, luckily.
Sound
God of War is how every AAA title should sound. From the music to the voice acting everything is just fantastic. The voice actor for Kratos has changed however. It used to be Terrence C. Carson but this has changed to Christopher Judge, also known as Teal’c from Stargate SG-1. This isn’t a bad choice, because he certainly sounds more aged and less violent than the Greek Kratos. There is however one little niggling annoyance when the game refers to an older scene from the previous games, and uses the newer voice. It’s like the developers where ashamed of the previous voice actor. They could’ve used the old voice and then Atreus could comment on how he sounded more terrifying and now he sounds more calm, more collected. At least this way the developers would still tip their hat to the older voice actor while still honoring the new voice one. Then again it’s just a minor thing that only fans might notice so it’s nothing too obscene of an oversight.
Gameplay
God of War is an action/adventure hack n slash game. Where you’ll be doing a lot of hacking and slashing to get to where you need to be. The combat is the biggest innovator in the series as the combinations aren’t tied to the face buttons, with square, square triangle basically breaking the game, but tied to the shoulder buttons, and to be fair, the change might throw older fans for a loop, if they call themselves gamers, they will surely embrace the change and roll with it, as the system now in place is quite decent. R1 for light attacks and R2 for heavy attacks. Long ranged attacks can be done with L1 and L2. The Rage meter also makes an appearance. When this is filled you can press R3 and L3 and enter a state that will let you pummel the enemies into paste. As you battle enemies you’ll gain experience which will let you buy more moves for your weapons. The weapons can be upgraded and every level will let you unlock new moves. You’ll also gain currency to buy armour with, armour that you can mix and match to cater to your play-style. Whether it’s armour that boosts your strength, your vitality or gives you lower cooldowns so you can do more special moves.
The game is long, if you do a minimal amount of side quests, which is hard, because the side content is equally decent as the actual main campaign, you’ll clock in at around 25 hours of gameplay. That’s playing on the easiest setting, because even then the game doesn’t mess around. If you do choose to go for the second to highest difficulty, you’ll rage. Should you do go for the: Give me God of War mode, then you best coat your walls with pillows and put your screen behind a bulletproof glass wall, because you’ll probably burst a vein in your brain when you try this difficulty, all the while having you smash controllers into walls or shove your fist through your screen, it is teeth grinding. It makes Dark Souls look like a joke.
Enemies can be staggered as you wail into them, When you do press the button prompted, it’ll do a very satisfying execution. God of War feels like Devil May Cry as you juggle enemies with your weapons, your skills and the Rage meter. It’s just fun to try different combo’s and see the effects on the enemies.
Conclusion
God of War is definitely the game of the year 2018, hands down, if you are looking for a fantastic story with great narrative and amazing gameplay then you will most certainly not be disappointed when you buy and play this game. If you don’t like action/adventure games then this won’t win you over, other than that, there shouldn’t be a reason to not play this game. Except if you have something against Sony/PlayStation/having fun.
God of War - Review,
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