Over each generation there's always a trend around certain game design aspects and 2023, the year this review is being written, feels like the ultimate result of the "cinematic vs arcade design" debate. There is no such a thing as a consensus; looking at the Hi-Fi Rush reception, "a game that just wants to be a game", the new Zelda with its extremely emergent mechanics and FFXVI focusing on spectacle... all of these games are being compared with "the PS2 era", regardless of whatever this means. And I have a problem with that.
That's why I don't blame "cinematic games" too much– they're experimental, even if overwhelmingly safe– "PS2 era games" aka "gamey games" trend is a punk reaction to the success of such games as The Last of Us and Red Dead Redemption, which is, on paper, a good thing! But in my books, this is both a bless and a curse.
And that leads us to God of War II; an interesting and ironic case of being "too much cinematic" and "too much gamey" at the same time. While it's an admittedly result of japanese inspirations (see: Onimusha, ICO, Devil May Cry), it's also one of the most influent series of PS2 era: cinematic setpieces and quick time events being the most notorious components; it has a lot of arcade design in its DNA as well.
It's a good adventure with a great combat design, well-crafted enemy encounters and some cool setpieces, but I can't help but go back to the line "I don't blame cinematic games too much", because hell, the cinematic component in this game is, unfortunately, more welcoming than the gamey one. And I say unfortunately because the spectacle in God of War is not my kind of thing.
The Wonderful 101 trying to be as gamey as possible: good
God of War II trying to be as gamey as possible: bad
For every cool fight in GOW2, there is a "push the box to the next switch" kind of puzzle; it feels like the game is afraid to develop its progression further to an extent of being even more cinematic, but it doesn't... for the sake of the "gamey design". And I also don’t like most of the puzzles; I remember that in the beginning of the first God of War, there was a part where the game teaches you that you need to push the box to point B and use it to platform to the next section, while you’re defending yourself against enemy archers WITH the box! That's neat, that’s creative, and I’m disappointed that a lot of GOW2 puzzles/platforming are boring and repetitive.
So, yes, the game wants the player to be pressing buttons all the time with different tasks in the most artificial way possible. It embraces a kind of design that I despise a lot; an action game afraid to impress the player with a non-stop corridor of enemy encounters; God Hand was released a year before, mind you.
I have no problem with an action game being an… action-adventure. God of War II has literally the exact same structure as the first GOW; but that one was a much more consistent adventure, with cool puzzles and platforming, cutscenes, fights, everything was on point. And I say that being very indifferent about those things; is just that GOW2 turned something neutral into annoying. It feels artificial this time, and that’s part of the gamey games, they’re always trying to look, feel, sound, smell and taste like a videogame, and sometimes they disregard the entire experience for the sake of interaction.But sometimes, they don’t!
God of War II problems reflect this trend to this day; Hi-Fi Rush with its bad platforming sections, Resident Evil 4 Remake with that stupid sidequest design, Elden Ring with the busy and exhausting open world… Those are just some examples of, in my eyes, games infected by the gamey trend, in a thoughtless sense.
Back to the God of War, I always wondered “why am I so indifferent about this game?” when I played the first one: it’s a consistent, charming, very thoughtful adventure with a good combat system but I was never interested in talking about it and labbing/replaying it.
In the second God of War, as you may have noticed, I realized part of my problem: I don’t like the structure, the puzzle design and the aesthetics/kinesthetics are not “my kind of thing”. Not to mention the story, which sucks (sorry)
But what about the combat?
I admit I played GOW1 in bad faith because I thought the normal difficulty was too easy; but in GOW2, I played the game with “how about exploring the combat nuances and possibilities this time?” mentality. And now I get it.
Big focus on crowd control and enemy manipulation (collision damage, grabs and ring-outs) results in the most efficiency-based action series in the market besides probably Ninja Gaiden. It’s really cool to see how many interesting quirks and interactions the combat system has based on moment-to-moment decision making (killing normally X finishers, magic management and positioning play), such as petrification damage values and slow effect, how some enemies can only be grabbed mid-air which rewards launchers, roll canceling, the different kinds of parries, etc. Good toolkit, arenas, enemy AI, hit reactions, control – just a great combat system overall. It also has a good camera, and that's unironically very impressive since most of action games cameras tend to be bad.
I’m interested in replaying it on higher difficulties just for the combat – because I still dislike the gamey structure. At some point I stopped feeling that I was playing as Kratos in a greek adventure, because the organicity of the game’s progression was gone – and unfortunately most of my good memories of the second God of War will be about the combat.
That's why I don't blame "cinematic games" too much– they're experimental, even if overwhelmingly safe– "PS2 era games" aka "gamey games" trend is a punk reaction to the success of such games as The Last of Us and Red Dead Redemption, which is, on paper, a good thing! But in my books, this is both a bless and a curse.
And that leads us to God of War II; an interesting and ironic case of being "too much cinematic" and "too much gamey" at the same time. While it's an admittedly result of japanese inspirations (see: Onimusha, ICO, Devil May Cry), it's also one of the most influent series of PS2 era: cinematic setpieces and quick time events being the most notorious components; it has a lot of arcade design in its DNA as well.
It's a good adventure with a great combat design, well-crafted enemy encounters and some cool setpieces, but I can't help but go back to the line "I don't blame cinematic games too much", because hell, the cinematic component in this game is, unfortunately, more welcoming than the gamey one. And I say unfortunately because the spectacle in God of War is not my kind of thing.
For every cool fight in GOW2, there is a "push the box to the next switch" kind of puzzle; it feels like the game is afraid to develop its progression further to an extent of being even more cinematic, but it doesn't... for the sake of the "gamey design". And I also don’t like most of the puzzles; I remember that in the beginning of the first God of War, there was a part where the game teaches you that you need to push the box to point B and use it to platform to the next section, while you’re defending yourself against enemy archers WITH the box! That's neat, that’s creative, and I’m disappointed that a lot of GOW2 puzzles/platforming are boring and repetitive.
So, yes, the game wants the player to be pressing buttons all the time with different tasks in the most artificial way possible. It embraces a kind of design that I despise a lot; an action game afraid to impress the player with a non-stop corridor of enemy encounters; God Hand was released a year before, mind you.
I have no problem with an action game being an… action-adventure. God of War II has literally the exact same structure as the first GOW; but that one was a much more consistent adventure, with cool puzzles and platforming, cutscenes, fights, everything was on point. And I say that being very indifferent about those things; is just that GOW2 turned something neutral into annoying. It feels artificial this time, and that’s part of the gamey games, they’re always trying to look, feel, sound, smell and taste like a videogame, and sometimes they disregard the entire experience for the sake of interaction.
God of War II problems reflect this trend to this day; Hi-Fi Rush with its bad platforming sections, Resident Evil 4 Remake with that stupid sidequest design, Elden Ring with the busy and exhausting open world… Those are just some examples of, in my eyes, games infected by the gamey trend, in a thoughtless sense.
Back to the God of War, I always wondered “why am I so indifferent about this game?” when I played the first one: it’s a consistent, charming, very thoughtful adventure with a good combat system but I was never interested in talking about it and labbing/replaying it.
In the second God of War, as you may have noticed, I realized part of my problem: I don’t like the structure, the puzzle design and the aesthetics/kinesthetics are not “my kind of thing”. Not to mention the story, which sucks (sorry)
But what about the combat?
I admit I played GOW1 in bad faith because I thought the normal difficulty was too easy; but in GOW2, I played the game with “how about exploring the combat nuances and possibilities this time?” mentality. And now I get it.
Big focus on crowd control and enemy manipulation (collision damage, grabs and ring-outs) results in the most efficiency-based action series in the market besides probably Ninja Gaiden. It’s really cool to see how many interesting quirks and interactions the combat system has based on moment-to-moment decision making (killing normally X finishers, magic management and positioning play), such as petrification damage values and slow effect, how some enemies can only be grabbed mid-air which rewards launchers, roll canceling, the different kinds of parries, etc. Good toolkit, arenas, enemy AI, hit reactions, control – just a great combat system overall. It also has a good camera, and that's unironically very impressive since most of action games cameras tend to be bad.
I’m interested in replaying it on higher difficulties just for the combat – because I still dislike the gamey structure. At some point I stopped feeling that I was playing as Kratos in a greek adventure, because the organicity of the game’s progression was gone – and unfortunately most of my good memories of the second God of War will be about the combat.
Podagon
10 months ago