Hey now everyone, hope you're all having a great day, and welcome to my review, and discussion, of the new God Of War for PS4! It's no secret by now that the latest God Of War title is simply amazing. There have already been so many reviews of this game that are almost unanimously positive, with nearly perfect scores, so I'm not going to go into great detail here. Instead I'm just going to touch on some of the things that stood out to me, and what aspects of the game that I was surprised by. This is a series that has been around for a long time now, with a bunch of titles under it's belt, and up until now, every single game in the franchise has followed the same structure, with the same gameplay mechanics. So to see the developers take things in such a drastic new direction was pretty shocking for everyone, and I wasn't sure, at first, if it would pay off.
Creative Director, Cory Barlog, has been in charge of the God Of War series since it's early days. He was responsible for the success of the first few games, but then left the company to go work on the most recent Tomb Raider. Now he's come back after his years away, and has decided to reinvent the concept of God Of War. A lot of people doubted him, he even doubted himself at times during the development process, but he stuck with his vision, and saw it through. That took a lot of guts, especially since the main gameplay mechanics didn't work right until December 2017, and the game's release was only 4 months away at the time. Luckily for us, the team at Santa Monica Studio pulled it off, and we got one of the best games ever made.
Cory Barlog, and the entire team at Santa Monica Studio, deserve all the credit in the world for the huge risk they took. I only wish more developers would have the courage to do things like this, instead of just following trends, and playing it safe. From the first time I saw the game in action, years ago, I noticed so many glaring differences from what I expected. Kratos is no longer dealing with the gods on Mount Olympus, but instead wanders through the snowy forests of the Norse gods. This was a welcome change of pace that I was excited for. The whole Greek gods thing had been done to death already, but there were some other changes to the usual formula that I wasn't so sure about.
For one, the camera angle is now placed right behind Kratos' shoulder, like Resident Evil 4. After playing the game I now know why they went with this, and I'm glad they did, because the camera work in this game is some of the best I've ever seen. From beginning to end, the entire experience, the camera never cuts away from Kratos. The whole game plays out in one gigantic take, that gives it a unique, seamless, cinematic feeling. There's not a single loading screen, no matter where you go, and whenever there's a, "cut scene", the camera never actually cuts. Instead it just pulls out a little bit, away from Kratos, and moves around dynamically as the scene plays out. That's an amazing accomplishment, and something I don't think I've ever seen before.
The next obvious change is the new Axe Kratos is using, instead of his signature chain blades. In an effort to forget his past, and leave everything behind, Kratos has put his chains away, and instead is using an axe that works in the same way as Thor's hammer. You can cut down your foes with it, turn around and throw it at someone else, beat some enemies with your bare hands, then suck the axe right back to your hand no matter where you are. This is such an awesome gameplay mechanic to mess around with, and gives the player so many options in combat, that I'm amazed no one else has ever thought of doing something like this before. The combat in general has made such an improvement, different combos, special attacks, elemental attacks, ranged attacks, everything feels so smooth, and never gets old.
Finally we have the biggest change of all, and the one that scared me the most, the Boy. I've played so many games that feature a companion character, and almost all of them end up being incredibly annoying. They are usually completely useless, get in the way, and have to be constantly monitored so they don't die or get captured. The Boy, Atreus is his name, is none of these things, and is actually one of my favorite parts of the game. He helps you solve puzzles, in combat, and even when exploring the world. He will automatically help out in battle, but can also be controlled by pressing square when you want him to shoot. He's basically like Kratos' magic, another special move that can be extremely helpful. Not only is he useful, but he makes the game so much more interesting.
The dynamic between him and Kratos is so much fun to watch, and something I'm sure a lot of people can relate to. The whole story is so well done that it kept me engaged from start to finish. It's definitely not what I expected, but it's so high quality, the plot, the graphics, the motion capture, the acting, the music, the setting, the game world, it's all just so amazing I don't know how they pulled it off. Not only is the main quest an incredible story to play through, but there are a bunch of fantastic side quests, hidden all over the semi open world, just waiting to be found and enjoyed. Dragons, Giants, other Realms to explore, hidden high level weapons and armor, so much content is packed into the world of Midgard that you will be busy for 40 to 50 hours if you want to find all of it.
I went from being highly skeptical, as I usually am, that this would be any good, to so incredibly hyped up for it I bought the special Stone Mason Edition. Which I'm glad I did by the way, because it came with some pretty awesome collectible stuff in it, as well as a bunch of in game content. This game totally blew me away, especially with how they completely changed almost everything, while somehow tying it in seamlessly with the previous entries in the series. This is a masterpiece of gaming, setting the bar way higher then before, and solidifying the fact that single player narrative driven experiences, if done well, are still the best that games have to offer, and will always be the main reason so many people love this medium. If you haven't yet played the game, do yourself a favor and pick it up as soon as you get the chance. I'm going to give God Of War PS4 a grade of..........................................
A+
Thank you for checking out my review of God Of War, I hope you enjoyed it!
