I fancy myself a gamer who likes a challenge so diligently picked “Give me a challenge” and headed out into the world.

Initially there was very little storyline and I guess that’s OK, I had a simple mission to achieve so off I went. The game felt great as I got to grips with my weaponry; slashing, throwing, rolling and dodging through an increasing level of enemy difficulty. The game does well to slowly introduce you to different challenges so you learn your skillset in an organic fashion and that meant everything leading up to the first boss was fairly easy to get through. The first boss was an immediate step up in terms of difficulty so readjusting and learning the abilities and timings was a necessity. It was challenging enough, requiring a few attempts to pass and the game felt fresh and exciting. I eagerly anticipated what laid ahead.

By this point nothing much had opened up in terms of storyline and I probably had more questions than answers handed to me. I had been picking up collectibles along the way, all of which felt fairly meaningless but now I knew they existed I wasn’t going to let a blade of grass go untouched without checking whether I had missed something. I had also been warned that there were collectibles and upgrades that when missed, would not be able to be recollected until much later in the game, so instead of being a great adventurer I now found myself plodding through the game to ensure nothing was left behind.

The second and final great challenge I experienced, came when entering a pit of enemies. Completely surrounded by foes, coming to life and spawning in waves. This really tested my basic character progression and as the fight sequence was so long I really could only make a few mistakes before I’d have to try again. I must have attempted this 30+ occasions before defeating it in a great sigh of relief and accomplishment. It felt great to finally hone my skills until I could take this on with enough perfection to get through unscathed.

My character had equipped some new gear and had some skill upgrades; all fairly standard stuff, but I had decided to stop upgrading further so as not to spend points in the wrong places if a later encounter required a specific strategy, after all most things had been fairly easy so far with a couple of places where this was not the case, however I did upgrade my axe wherever possible.

After continuing through caves, mountains and lakes, killing and meeting trolls, dragons, world serpents and more, all the while exploring every part of every zone and unlocking more of the story I realised I wasn’t having much fun. I hadn’t encountered anything challenging and had 44 thousand unspent experience points so there was no real reason to upgrade further and learn new skills and ways of fighting. The collectibles didn’t offer much feeling of satisfaction upon clearing a zone 100% and just proved to annoy me if it was any otherwise. I had hit a point of stagnation and instead of taking on the next realm with excitement I just sort of stopped playing the game.

Conclusion: The game started well offering beautiful asthetics and polished gameplay but ultimately the story is told in a very linear railroaded world that didn’t offer any real reason to progress after a certain point. Given the very slow or non existent character dialogue I wasn’t invested in my character. I didn’t identify as Kratos and I was no longer being challenged so the game just fizzled out. Perhaps a replay on the hardest difficulty mode is in my future to make the game feel like more of an accomplishment. Perhaps when doing that I should ignore all the meaningless collectibles and sidequests that only prove to upgrade my character too much. Perhaps I should just spend my time on playing another game… Hopefully one day I’ll understand why I’m missing the point with this game and come back to change my 6 to a 10.

I have played all the previous God of War games and I did not expect this addition to the series to be as great as it is. The story was extremely compelling and suspenseful. I was in love with the character and plot development, this is a reflection of my love for single player games, but it is hands down one of the greatest single player stories I have ever encountered. Although I was a little bit let down with how the ending turned out, I hope a sequel to this game will unravel it better. However still an amazing game.

Throughout the years, Santa Monica Studios has improved with their technology but fell behind in narrative. That was set to change with the new title in the ‘God of War’ series; simply titled, ‘God of War’. With this new entry, Cory Barlog and his team set out to reinvent the franchise by focusing on a new style of gameplay, and a larger focus on narrative. After completing the game one-hundred percent, I can safely say that “God of War” is a technical and narrative masterpiece. Sure, it has its issues, but in the grand scheme of things this game accomplishes everything that it set out to do.
We once again play as Kratos as he takes his son to the highest point in all the realms to spread his mother’s ashes. It was a basic plot with not many twists or turns. However, the way it was executed was well done to say the least. The whole game was one continuous shot, always keeping you with Kratos and his son Atreus. Since the camera never cut, pacing was a key element to making this technique not feel like a hindrance. Luckily the game was pretty much perfectly paced. The story progressed in such a natural way, it never felt like it stopped or halted. Dialogue and characters were also key to making a story like this successful. This was where the game faltered a bit. Don’t get me wrong, the dialogue wasn’t bad, but sometimes characters repeated things that we had seen visually. Overall, however, the dialogue was pretty good and kept my engagement level high. Character wise the game was limited. You have Kratos of course who felt more like a fleshed-out person. He goes through a personal journey in this game, but not one of revenge or anger. But a journey of bondage and knowledge. A journey that would improve not just himself as a father, but help his son become a warrior. Atreus seemed reminiscent of Kratos’ old personality. He used anger to defeat his enemies, but he never knew how to control it making him go off the rails a few times. These two characters learned off each other in such an organic and fun way. In fact, there was quite a bit of humorous banter between them. This was elevated by the great side characters such as Mimir, who was also quite funny. But this humor never felt out of place or forced, which help kept the tone consistent from scenario to scenario. What also elevated these characters and narrative was the gorgeous visuals and performances. Some of the best this generation. In general, the game felt very fluid in pacing and tone, effectively giving us a great narrative. However, although narrative is important, it’s up to gameplay to make or break a game.

Previous games in the series revolved around hack-and-slash gameplay with a fixed camera angle. With ‘God of War (2018)’ Santa Monica decided to go a with a more traditional over-the-shoulder camera angle, and a more nuanced combat system. Gone are the linear levels, as exploration is now a key element. The central hub in the game was pretty expansive with plenty of small islands and caves to delve into. These areas usually contained useful components to upgrade your gear, and plenty of treasures to sell for currency. Along with these areas came side quests. The side content never felt as engaging as the main narrative, but they were a good enough distraction for me to go through them. Plus, you were also given useful items, such as new armor to upgrade. But these areas and side quests also contained plenty of combat challenges and encounters, but these encounters wouldn’t be fun if the combat was bad. So, how is the combat? Excellent in my opinion.
Although the game presented us with a limited arsenal of weapons, what we were given was still fantastic. The ‘Leviathan Axe’ is the Nordic weapon that Kratos possesses, and it was extremely satisfying to use. The first time I threw the axe and called it back was one of the highlights of the game for sure. It was surprising how this single weapon never got repetitive to use. It helped that you could choose different special attacks in the ‘Rune’ system. Each ‘Rune’ had a special attack like stated, making combat more varied. You could also customize your axe’s handle to change some of the stats for it. Back to combat, it’s probably some of the most visceral and epic combat this generation has gotten. Every blow with your axe felt brutal and oh so satisfying. Plus, the enemies you do encounter had great AI. I was constantly challenged at every combat situation, never making the game boring or dull. Sadly, the enemies you fight, although nicely designed, did get over used. What I mean by that was that there wasn’t much variety in the enemy types. On many occasions the mini boss was just an elemental creature, a troll, or a giant. The smaller enemies had the same problem which was a shame. This didn’t detract from the game that much, but it was an issue I thought I’d address. Other than that, the game-play loop and systems were addictive to say the least.

As a whole package, ‘God of War (2018)’ is defiantly up there for best game this generation. It was visceral, engaging, and most of all; fun to play. I commend the folks at Santa Monica Studio for not only maturing, but for taking a risk that could have ended horribly without the dedication and talent they have. I hope we get more AAA, story-driven, blockbuster games like this one. As this game has shown, once again, that story-driven games are most certainly not dead.

My first God of War game and I must say it was amazing. I was hooked on the story and I do not easily get pleased with the story. I loved the mechanics and quirky yet relevant dialogues you have with the NPCs and your son throughout the game. All in All a job well-done SMS.

The presentation and characters in this new iteration are AMAZING. This has to have the most depth of any God of War game, and also is BY FAR the hardest God of War, AND on top of that also is the longest and has the most to explore. It really feels like almost a different franchise altogether but has so much tied to it from the original games that it still feels right. Can’t wait to see what the next one’s like, only thing surprised by was that the ending just kind of happened, no epic Boss battle at the end really. Either way, it was an awesome ride.

Score Breakdown

“The Tale”
Story- 8
Pacing- 8
Characters- 9
Originality- 10
Linearity- 10
Length- 8
Epicness- 8

“The Presentation”
Visuals- 10
Display- 9
Music- 9
Sound FX- 10

“The Mechanics”
Ease of Use- 6
Innovation- 10
Replayability- 8