God of War 4

The day has finally come. I have been waiting months to review this game, and it just so happens to be on the exact launch day.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on this just in time for this review, and in all honesty I have only spent about just over two hours playing this so far. My first impression is that it is a visual masterpiece of gaming awesomeness, I remember now why I have always had a special space on my gaming shelf just for God of War. The series has always been the type of game that pushes the boundaries of story telling and game play, with the perfect balance throughout. I have played every main title of the series and have loved it, maybe this is due to my fascination with Greek mythology or any ancient mythology for that matter.

The driving force behind the series is our protagonist Kratos himself, it is a very sad story about an unlikely hero who is looking for nothing more than vengeance. They say that when any man decides to travels down the road of revenge he should make sure he dig two graves, but what happens when not even death can tame such vengeful rage? You get Kratos. The story works because the writers have stuck to the fundamentals of The Hero's Journey a popular form of structure derived by Joseph Campbell, which is why stories like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars are so loved.

All that we know is, many years have passed since Kratos took his vengeance against the Greek gods of Olympus, destroying everything and reducing it to a myth.

Kratos survived a long journey that brought him face to face with all the the gods and finally, to his victorious battle against Zeus. Our story begins with Kratos now living with his young son Atreus in a strange new world, seemingly far away from where it all began. A now single father and mentor, he must teach his son to survive these wild, unknown lands.

The game begins as Kratos takes the boy on a deer hunt to test his skills. As they venture further into the cold wilderness we are given small clues as to where they might be. The hunt is interrupted when an over zealous Atreus ignores his father's instructions and tries to shoot a deer. Kratos takes away the boy's bow until he can prove he is capable of taking instruction from his father. They are then suddenly ambushed by some very strange looking undead warriors, as Kratos fights his way through these minions. The mystery of the origins of their whereabouts are finally revealed when a huge horned monster appears, vowing to send them to Valhalla.

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This time round the we enter a Norse mythology-inspired world with a familiar but thoughtfully re-imagined Kratos.

The unstoppable pure rage filled character has grown up and grown older, there is a feeling that he has in some way found peace and love, but the rage is still very much just below the surface. It's the small details like this, where he subtly controls the anger with his son that makes the story so gripping. It is almost like only you as the player knows his past and what lies on the inside, bottled up, waiting to explode. The relationship between father and son and how it develops is one of the most captivating parts to the story.

One of the really amazing new features of the game is the one continuous camera shot that never cuts away, I can't explain how this gives the game a natural real feeling. Unlike the very linear world of the previous games, this game opens up after some play time to a more open feel were you can end up going down some pretty dangerous paths, be sure to watch out for monsters with a purple health bar, they can take you down pretty fast. The world and surroundings are spectacularly beautiful and the tiniest of details were thoughtfully added to bring the environment to life. What I really am loving is the fact that the developers have integrated some of the Norse mythology into the game, which you experience through Kratos who is living it.

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"Before the age of the twilight set upon the gods, a legend rose to take his place among them. And even though Kratos sat on the throne as the new God of War, he was haunted by visions of his family - a family he himself murdered. But the Hands of Death could not defeat him. The Sisters of Fate could not control him. And on this day, the man, the legend, Kratos, will have his revenge."

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The experience so far in the game has been only the tip of the iceberg, I pretty much want to turn off the world and spend the next few days playing this.

I went into this expecting it to be a battle from the start, much like William Wallace when he stood mooning the English on the battle field. What I really didn't expect was an emotional roller coaster focused on the relationship between father and son, both struggling with an unbearable grief. Many games that force you to stick with a sidekick mostly end up being a huge hindrance in the game, but in God of War it just works.

When it comes to the fighting there is loads of it, but this time with no Blades of Chaos, his go to weapon of choice is his trusty Leviathan Axe, which is one of the best weapons I’ve used in any recent game. The weapon feels similar to that of Mjlonir, the hammer which belongs to the god of thunder, Thor. I have a suspicion that I might be running into him somewhere in the game. The game is nothing like any of the previous titles in the series, and the whole new style of playing sets this far above the rest. So far this is probably the best game I have played in the past two years. I should first finish the game before making crazy statements like that! I highly recommend everyone with a PS4 to go out and get this game, you can't possibly go wrong, it is a masterpiece. I should probably go phone my dad and tell him I love him.

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God of War is a third-person action-adventure game developed by awesome folks at Santa Monica Studio, who were responsible for the entire series, as well as a few other games not really worth mentioning.

The game was officially released today, on the 20th of April, 2018, worldwide. There is unfortunately a major downside to this release, it is a PlayStation 4 exclusive game, so only those on the PS4 console will have the pleasure of playing this. The folks on Xbox have their exclusive Gears of War, which comes no where close to this in my opinion This is the eighth God of War title in the series and is the sequel to the 2010 game God of War 3. The developers have said that this is more of a reimagining than a reboot, and the play style has had a well deserved overhaul.