Phew boy, I managed to get a review copy thanks to a friend just few days early and no am not afiliated with the publisher. I managed to finish the game but not entirely since I skipped side missions, trophy hunts and epic battle sequences. My eyes need sleep and my PS4 needs cleaning too. It sounded like a turbine engine in the room running this game the entire time.
Now you've read the raving reviews, heard the praises. Exclamations that this game is a masterpiece. But positive words sound good and all, let me explain to you why God of War has redefined the whole new meaning to a masterpiece when it comes to video games.
Btw If you've already bought the game, word of advice is you clean up your PS4. That includes opening the upper part of the casing to remove all the dirt through the ventilation. I didn't take such a risk and I experienced framerate drops. The game is very demanding since it pushes the console to the brink.
Ok with all being said, let me get down with the review:
Story:
So after you launch it, the game begins with Kratos tearing down a tree right after pressing new game in the menu transitioning to the prologue. Him and his son Atreus are tasked by their mother as her dying wish to spread her ashes in the highest peak of the nine realms within Norse land. Going from point A to point B to point C, really this loops continues(in stretch of the word) within the game as you encounter gods, monsters, trolls, dieties, undead, dragons and all manner of threats while father and son journey to understand each other as well as developing their relationship.
This story is more broader and intense than the previous trilogies. Kratos is still the God of War inherently but he's more collected and centered, with the focus of mentoring his son against threats of any being. Atreus being a child becomes a small torn on your side from one instances to another, he eventually grows on you. He's Kratos counterpart yet entirely opposite and much naive to his beliefs of the world around him. After the 2nd act, their relationship takes to newer levels as the son slowly learns who is father is and what of the correlation to his own identity itself. It beautifully encompasses the dynamic between the two. Kratos also grows on you as you see how much he has transcended from his previous self, who was a difficult person to relate to considering his circumstances. Yeah you can say, he just "Logan'd" up on me.
The biggest stand-outs are the supporting characters. You stumble upon two dwarf brothers who seem to have dispersed their unified smithing business based on ridiculous squabbles. An all-seeing seer who is basically an encyclopedia with a Scottish accent, will at times go left field and bring funny banter one point to another. What am trying to say is, these characters have a lot of charm, humor, depth and novelty. Not to mention, a lot of dialogues. GoW usually has good stories and notable characters but they essentially are designed to sort of taking a back seat while you immerse yourself mostly in the action. In here, the scope is much, much broader.
This is still a God of War, so it's going to heavily rely a lot on mythologies and we have Norse mythology on buttloads. The ending while it eventually gets you to your destination, it also eludes ominously to the future prospects of the next installments(yes, I can confirm from here on out there's going to a sequel for this). Let's just say Ragnarok is coming soon, it will get only worse from this point on out.
Gameplay:
(Excuse my way of playing the game, I was facing framerate hiccups)
The 8th chronological game in the series is now played in third person view instead of fixed camera, it's a good thing that doesn't diminish the fun of the game because the camera movements are smooth with fluent controls and mechanics. There are arrows with different markings to perceive nearby enemy attacks, combat is well efficient but if you just want to smash buttons for fun as well, have at it. There are only three difficulty modes, I played it from medium difficulty because well...my system was having a hard time maintaining it's framerate.
At first you start off with a pickup axe imbued with frost powers(Leviathan Axe) which like the lightsabers of Jedis, will return to the palm of your hand after thrown; without any disruptions. This is actually the best part of the game, why?Because there's so many usage for it in adding to its purposes are the intricate puzzle solving and item hunting. God of War had puzzle set pieces, but here its multiplied to 5 folds. You have your light attacks(R1 button) and heavy attacks(R2 button). You can string them together in combos based on the skills you've unlocked. For defense, you have your shield(L1 button) which you can use to also break enemy shield blocks, parry or other offensive attacks. You can also throw your pickup axe by aiming(L2 button) with either light throw(R1) or heavy throw(R2). Runes on your weapons allow you to dish out special abilities by pressing L1 in combo with R1 or R2.
Atreus also helps, by pressing X he'll fire arrows, jump over then choke his enemies and sometimes incapacitating them from shots. Holding X activates his runic abilities. As the game progresses, unlocking his skills will make him useful in almost every situation.
There's another weapon I could disclose but that would ruin an essential plot of the game so I'll hold my tongue around that. Trust me, it's going to blow you away. Though I'll drop a hint; it comes back to Kratos again.
Combat in this game is menacing sometimes downright intense and difficult, there are couple of enemies types going from drones, grunts, heavy tanks to giants. You'll even face multiple of them as the game progresses including the big guys. They all don't wear the same colored coating. Each has their distinctions, sometimes you'll fight Draugrs who are basic, while others are spitting either poison or flames with damaging passives once they struck you. You'll even fight enemies that are frozen and can outstand your frosty axe so you either fight enemies bare-handed or with the other weapons.
I played in all variation of combat, even the hand-to-hand is just superfluous. Kratos just knuckle-sandwiches his enemy like cream. Now that's a GoW game you could love.
There are RPG elements plastered in this game though, I would admit at first I wasn't attracted to this part of the game. But then I started exploring the levels one place to another, fighting tougher enemies and to mee the end goal were the loots. Yes, this game has the Destiny loot design where you get common>rare>legendary>epic items. As in descending order, as you progress through the game finding or purchasing power armors and upgrading your weapons, you level up. Yes there's a leveling system too, upto max 8 I think. Enemies can also have higher levels, their health bars change color based on how formidable they are against Kratos. Purple means you're screwed, it'll take a lot out of you to beat that enemy. Runes for your weapons give you abilities but they're only found from either hidden areas or fighting boss battles. You can upgrade each to a max level of 3 with additional attributes while improving on its combat feature. Same thing with your son. Adding runes to 3 different types of armor, either one has upto 3 sockets that adds passives and increase to few of the 7 attributes of Kratos.
From your journal, you have your main goals, requests, treasure hunts and
I didn't mind this part of the game, though if you're just there to play for the story and combat alone. I would say you can just go for higher level items easily and play to your wish. Though these items are essential part of the game and against tougher enemies including Valkyries, Realm battles and bosses; you'll need to find a way to assert your gear based on your playstyle and Kratos's strength.
Don't let anyone tell you otherwise by the way, this game is fully open world. Just not letting you have all the fun until you complete a certain chunk of the main story branch which kind of puts this game in linearity. Once you do, there's so much you could do around. In here, you can traverse around 6 different realms. The main one where your home is called Midgard. Oh yes, you'll bet there are side goals and errands to do too, most are even intertwined with the main story with captivating cinematic moments and creating different plot threads. I think they took quite more than a few notes from The Witcher 3.
Oh I also forgot to mention, you can even platform like you did in Uncharted 4....that's it.
Graphics, Sound Design and Voice:
Of course this is a Playstation exclusive, graphics are always upfirst. What do I have to say about this? well it's pretty looking? I mean am not surprised, however there are some key moments where you're just moving half of a landmark with your bare hands while your son observes you, monologuing with the immaculate view in the background with water and fog right around the center of Midgard. Such intense moments brings tears to my eye, am also kind of a visual nut. But am going to be honest as well, the engine they've used is the one most likely from Uncharted 4 or Lost Legacy. The resemblances are sort of uncanny, the visuals look impressive but once you put your eyes upfront of the monitor or TV screen, you'll notice the objects infront are rendered around 80-90 percent. I could tell because I've noticed jaggies and lack of polish in certain areas. It's imperfect, fine I mean I don't it being not a stunner or even technically proficient. Even then, there's so much going on in here. The art design, color palette and graphical effects do push boundaries. The level designs in this game are outstanding, reflecting on the Norse mythology as if you're really in one, capturing that sense of immersion.
Character designs are also spot on, each enemies look and feel different. Appealing to showcase what kind they are, drawing these distinctions essential for playing the game. But the best parts of all, are the giants, serpent and of course Kratos, Atreus themselves. I take my figurative hat off to the design team.
Sound design is also well done, with various tones of sound of all kinds in the game. Being against trolls felt menacing even though I was powerful enough to kick its ass because of the how their presence felt by each thumbs or groan, very immersive. Opening different sorts of crates with different effects even though they look the same, brings distinction of their stats. Even old man Kratos couldn't break a sweat with his fiery rage thrusting his fist or slashing his blades upon his enemies. Oh they felt satisfying to hear as they captured this sense of realism yet being provocative at the same time.
Oh I forgot to even mention the music score. That one is just phenomenal, not exaggerating.
The voice acting in here is incredible thanks to a good ensemble cast of talented people, including the kid playing Atreus. Christoper Judge brings the best of Kratos, his low tone voice just brings this kind of maturity in Kratos I haven't seen from the other games, to top it off he also adds other dimension to the character.
In summation:
God of War is a game unlike anything I've played besides a few of my nitpicks. Sure it took a few tips from The Witcher 3, the RPG elements from Destiny and some gameplay aspects from Tomb Raider (No surprise there, thanks to Cory Barlog). But I had a blast playing this game, there were so many battles I was enthralled in and so many great moments from the plot itself. Cory Barlog has outdone himself; the creative director behind this game and the hit success that was Tomb Raider reboot. He even worked in the 2nd God of War game for the PS2.
This entry was beyond impressive from the previous titles. It has surpassed it further than I've imagined and with the ending inciting that there's more to come, am stoked. God of War 2018 isn't just a masterpiece, it's a masterclass of the Action-Adventure genre that redefined what it means to be a great game. Goes above other PS4 exclusives like Bloodborne, UC4 and Horizon Zero Dawn. It should be hold to merit to the likes of Red Dead Redemption.
For over 2 days, over 20 hours of playing it, am not even done with entirely. Just finished the main story, still have some achievements to seek. Wish me luck, I can't wait to dive in again. If you own a PS4, don't wait just get it. It's a must buy. I would give it a 9.5/10 score or an A+ rating.
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I worked really hard on this review. Please give your support by upvoting, I would appreciate it. I was enthusiastic about doing it for this game, the first PS4 game I managed to give review and probably will do a full content overview for it in the near future.