God of War (2018) is a really good game but it’s hard to not be cynical, disappointed, frustrated and annoyed. This is what happens when you put presentation and story above gameplay and player experience.
First of all I have to say that anyone that ever said anything like ‘God of War is grown up now’ or ‘God of War is now mature’ has a bad memory, didn’t play the older games or is being dishonest. Second, why is this a God of War game with Kratos? I get that using that name and character brings some history, depth and built in fan base but this could have been its own new IP with new characters. We all know how much the AAA gaming industry likes to take risks so of course they are rebooting something instead. Third, why the hell is this being considered as one of the greatest games of all time and getting such high praise? God of War is the perfect game to pair with popcorn and soda. It is a blockbuster game – big budget, fun, highly polished but kind of shallow and not really special, amazing or interesting. If God of War is peak gaming then are good super hero movies peak film?
Let’s get the obvious out the way this game has really high production values. It looks and sounds excellent and made my PS4 Pro roar like a jet. The voice acting, sound effects and music is great. Everything is highly polished but it’s not that interesting. I’m not a big fan of the games art direction, a lot of the environments feel very similar and level design is kind of bland. It mostly loses the original God of War trilogy’s personality, variety, epicness, scale, over the top action and gore.
The story is fine but left me a bit cold. It starts off okay, although too slowly, and it ends well. However the majority of the game is just meh. I didn’t connect with things at all and wasn’t interested in the characters. Don’t get me wrong there were some good moments, humour and I liked seeing their take on the Norse mythology, unfortunately though it’s mostly forgettable and this why the ending probably didn’t hit as it was intended to for me. Also Atreus is annoying.
The game play has some problems and choices I just don’t get and didn’t enjoy. The commitment to the camera and the close over the shoulder view just doesn’t work for the gameplay. Not being able to see what you need too isn’t fun and it gets even worse in close spaces or near walls. Why can’t Kratos jump? It removes verticality from level design and combat and means platforming is just put in the bin. Kratos climbs so slowly too. Puzzles are underwhelming. The difficulty curve is poor with spongy enemies at first and then things just get too easy. There is all this different stuff to find and so much for Kratos to equip. Why is this crap even here, what does it add other than monotony and padding? I do like the way combat feels. The axe is fun and it hits hard. Everything feels like it has great weight and momentum to it. It doesn’t reward you for playing well though and starts to feel like you’re just going through the motions before the games end.
I think the original God of War trilogy is better than this and enjoyed those older games a lot more. It’s sad to see God of War lose its personality and uniqueness and become another big, homogeneous, cinematic, story driven, single player experience like the others by Sony. For me God of War (2018) is kind of forgettable and doesn’t have any replay value. Of course it is a delight for your eyes and ears. Of course it is impressive. Of course it is enjoyable, worth playing and I recommend it. But it is definitely not top shelf gaming or deserving of a place next to the all time greats.
7.8/10
First of all I have to say that anyone that ever said anything like ‘God of War is grown up now’ or ‘God of War is now mature’ has a bad memory, didn’t play the older games or is being dishonest. Second, why is this a God of War game with Kratos? I get that using that name and character brings some history, depth and built in fan base but this could have been its own new IP with new characters. We all know how much the AAA gaming industry likes to take risks so of course they are rebooting something instead. Third, why the hell is this being considered as one of the greatest games of all time and getting such high praise? God of War is the perfect game to pair with popcorn and soda. It is a blockbuster game – big budget, fun, highly polished but kind of shallow and not really special, amazing or interesting. If God of War is peak gaming then are good super hero movies peak film?
Let’s get the obvious out the way this game has really high production values. It looks and sounds excellent and made my PS4 Pro roar like a jet. The voice acting, sound effects and music is great. Everything is highly polished but it’s not that interesting. I’m not a big fan of the games art direction, a lot of the environments feel very similar and level design is kind of bland. It mostly loses the original God of War trilogy’s personality, variety, epicness, scale, over the top action and gore.
The story is fine but left me a bit cold. It starts off okay, although too slowly, and it ends well. However the majority of the game is just meh. I didn’t connect with things at all and wasn’t interested in the characters. Don’t get me wrong there were some good moments, humour and I liked seeing their take on the Norse mythology, unfortunately though it’s mostly forgettable and this why the ending probably didn’t hit as it was intended to for me. Also Atreus is annoying.
The game play has some problems and choices I just don’t get and didn’t enjoy. The commitment to the camera and the close over the shoulder view just doesn’t work for the gameplay. Not being able to see what you need too isn’t fun and it gets even worse in close spaces or near walls. Why can’t Kratos jump? It removes verticality from level design and combat and means platforming is just put in the bin. Kratos climbs so slowly too. Puzzles are underwhelming. The difficulty curve is poor with spongy enemies at first and then things just get too easy. There is all this different stuff to find and so much for Kratos to equip. Why is this crap even here, what does it add other than monotony and padding? I do like the way combat feels. The axe is fun and it hits hard. Everything feels like it has great weight and momentum to it. It doesn’t reward you for playing well though and starts to feel like you’re just going through the motions before the games end.
I think the original God of War trilogy is better than this and enjoyed those older games a lot more. It’s sad to see God of War lose its personality and uniqueness and become another big, homogeneous, cinematic, story driven, single player experience like the others by Sony. For me God of War (2018) is kind of forgettable and doesn’t have any replay value. Of course it is a delight for your eyes and ears. Of course it is impressive. Of course it is enjoyable, worth playing and I recommend it. But it is definitely not top shelf gaming or deserving of a place next to the all time greats.
7.8/10