God of War and I have a history. Back when the first game came out a new service had appeared online called Gamefly. This service was basically old school Netflix for video games. For a monthly fee you could have games sent to you off a list you customized, you kept the game for as long as you wanted or needed and then sent it back, once you sent it back they sent you the next game on the list. Additionally if you really liked a game and wanted to keep it, they would sell it to you at a steep discount and then send you the next game on your list.
The first game I got from this service was the original God of War on PS2. Ten minutes into the game I skewered a hydra on a broken boat mast and uttered the words, "I'm never sending this back." And I bought the game from game fly for like 20 bucks.
After the original game, I continued to play every GoW since. I became a fan of the visceral combat, and grand locations. No other game was quite like GoW, although the quick time event quickly became like a plague across the gaming industry. One thing GoW games were, was consistent, they were always grand adventures in crazy locations, filled with awesomely brutal combat and incredible bosses. However they never told great stories and Kratos wasn't really a character as much as he was just a screaming asshole who killed anything and everything he came across, (except women who he banged and discarded).
This God of War is nothing like the original games. God of War (2018) is not a reboot, it is a sequel and really should be called GoW4. While it is a direct sequel to the previous games, it is also completely different. Everything about the previous God of Wars are almost completely flipped on their head.
Let's start with the story and Kratos himself. Kratos for the first time is a real character, with real purpose, drive, and humanity. He still remains a bottle of anger, you can feel this guy struggle to control himself as he attempts to lead his son on the game's adventure. He is free to rage against the enemies of the game, but there are several times when he almost rages at his son and you feel Kratos swallow all of it like a painful pill. For the first time we see growth in him, in the years since we've seen him, you can feel how much of himself he has tried to bottle up and throw away, while being unable to completely remove himself from his previous nature. It's great to see him continue to progress along this path and further develop as you proceed through the game.
Next is the world itself. This isn't your PS2 era GoW for sure. The maps and area are far more open, though are still mostly linear, filled with secret areas and puzzle to solve to open chests, find collectables, and power-ups. The world is grand and incredible, just like the previous games, but also they manage to be a lot more "open" without being too open. I feel like they got the balance just right between funneling you on a path while still having plenty for you to find and discover. Like a lot of these games, you will find yourself coming back to areas in order to open doors or solve puzzles you couldn't originally due to not having a certain power at the time. This aspect is by far the best part of the game for me. Roaming around, breaking shit, collecting things, solving puzzles, I love this part of the game far more than I've liked it in any other game. Probably because Kratos still does things with a heavy brutallity, he doesn't open chests he punches through them and takes whatever is inside. He doesn't move switches he throws his axe into them. So on and so on.
Much of the game's early footage and media gave the impression that this was God of War meets The Last of Us, and that's kind of right. The whole game you are taking your son on a mission. You lead the boy through these pitfalls, puzzles, and boss fights, but like Ellie in TLOU, you aren't protecting him. In fact you rely on him. See Kratos doesn't read the language, or understand the local Nordic Mythology as he comes from a different pantheon obviously. But his son knows most of it and, with a few collectibles, can learn what he doesn't outright know. So you use this kid to read runes and messages around the world which offer tips on how to solve puzzles, or warn of upcoming danger. Additionally the son is also useful in combat. You can use him to shoot arrows at annoying targets, which make them easier for Kratos to finish off, and he'll also fight automatically, sometimes jumping on a monster to distract it and allow you free hits. There is also a consumable that you can buy which will allow your kid to bring you back to life if you die, though its use is limited.
Sadly the combat is the worse part about God of War for me. Not because combat is poor, but rather because it isn't what I want from a God of War game. GoW has always been a kind of spectacle fighter along the lines of Devil May Cry, chaining together crazy combos and moves, using different weapons, magics, all to defeat chains of enemies. God of War 4 is not that. It's not even close to that. God of War 4's combat is heavy and slow. Kratos uses a big axe and a shield to defeat enemies, and the constant over the shoulder camera plus the emphasis on blocking and dodging....well Fuck man, it's Dark Souls now. Attacking is on the right triggers and blocking is on the left bumper, dodging is on a face button, and if that control scheme seems familiar, well...
The combat is still very brutal though, and you feel every hit on the axe as you cleave through enemies. It feels good. Kratos' axe is also Thor's hammer because you can throw the axe and recall it to you with a button just like Thor. This can be used to hit ranged enemies and you can actually go bare fisted in combat if you want or need to fight after throwing your axe. The combat has a lot going on, combos and tricks are everywhere and as you use experience to learn moves and combos, your combat menu continuously expands.
However there is a problem with combat. They've done an awful lot to slow down the combat, making everything Kratos does deliberate and heavy, but also powerful and satisfying to connect with. Though it seems to me that the developer didn't quite know how to embrace this new combat system and still stuffs the game full of enemies that are just annoying to fight. Because your swings are slower and Kratos doesn't have the range of the Chains of Chaos, it makes flying enemies annoying as you have to stop and aim and throw the axe to hit them (your son can shoot them but he does do enough damage early on to make this viable), nor does Kratos have a lot of chance against rangey and slippery fast enemies. There are a lot of enemies that attack from ranged, but also slip away off screen before you can hit them. Again this is annoying, and you have to hope to catch a monster with a luck swing, or shoot it with your son's arrows to stun it long enough to get some hits in. This doesn't make the monsters that do this challenging, it makes them slow and annoying to fight. Slow and annoying are the last thing you want to feel about GoW combat right?
For the most part combat is fine though, it's just the sections that throw shitty monsters at you that can ruin it. Otherwise when fighting a boss, or a bunch of normal non-scummy mobs, it is a blast to cleave through them.
Frankly I'm having the least amount of fun in combat, which is awful for a GoW game. Yet the exploration and puzzle solving is so much fun I get giddy when I find a secret area. I'm still very early in the game, and as combat evolves my position on it might change (also I might just get better at it). Like I said combat isn't bad, it just isn't what I wanted from GoW and as a result it doesn't feel as good as I had hoped. Everything else is fantastic.
The first game I got from this service was the original God of War on PS2. Ten minutes into the game I skewered a hydra on a broken boat mast and uttered the words, "I'm never sending this back." And I bought the game from game fly for like 20 bucks.
After the original game, I continued to play every GoW since. I became a fan of the visceral combat, and grand locations. No other game was quite like GoW, although the quick time event quickly became like a plague across the gaming industry. One thing GoW games were, was consistent, they were always grand adventures in crazy locations, filled with awesomely brutal combat and incredible bosses. However they never told great stories and Kratos wasn't really a character as much as he was just a screaming asshole who killed anything and everything he came across, (except women who he banged and discarded).
This God of War is nothing like the original games. God of War (2018) is not a reboot, it is a sequel and really should be called GoW4. While it is a direct sequel to the previous games, it is also completely different. Everything about the previous God of Wars are almost completely flipped on their head.
Let's start with the story and Kratos himself. Kratos for the first time is a real character, with real purpose, drive, and humanity. He still remains a bottle of anger, you can feel this guy struggle to control himself as he attempts to lead his son on the game's adventure. He is free to rage against the enemies of the game, but there are several times when he almost rages at his son and you feel Kratos swallow all of it like a painful pill. For the first time we see growth in him, in the years since we've seen him, you can feel how much of himself he has tried to bottle up and throw away, while being unable to completely remove himself from his previous nature. It's great to see him continue to progress along this path and further develop as you proceed through the game.
Next is the world itself. This isn't your PS2 era GoW for sure. The maps and area are far more open, though are still mostly linear, filled with secret areas and puzzle to solve to open chests, find collectables, and power-ups. The world is grand and incredible, just like the previous games, but also they manage to be a lot more "open" without being too open. I feel like they got the balance just right between funneling you on a path while still having plenty for you to find and discover. Like a lot of these games, you will find yourself coming back to areas in order to open doors or solve puzzles you couldn't originally due to not having a certain power at the time. This aspect is by far the best part of the game for me. Roaming around, breaking shit, collecting things, solving puzzles, I love this part of the game far more than I've liked it in any other game. Probably because Kratos still does things with a heavy brutallity, he doesn't open chests he punches through them and takes whatever is inside. He doesn't move switches he throws his axe into them. So on and so on.
Much of the game's early footage and media gave the impression that this was God of War meets The Last of Us, and that's kind of right. The whole game you are taking your son on a mission. You lead the boy through these pitfalls, puzzles, and boss fights, but like Ellie in TLOU, you aren't protecting him. In fact you rely on him. See Kratos doesn't read the language, or understand the local Nordic Mythology as he comes from a different pantheon obviously. But his son knows most of it and, with a few collectibles, can learn what he doesn't outright know. So you use this kid to read runes and messages around the world which offer tips on how to solve puzzles, or warn of upcoming danger. Additionally the son is also useful in combat. You can use him to shoot arrows at annoying targets, which make them easier for Kratos to finish off, and he'll also fight automatically, sometimes jumping on a monster to distract it and allow you free hits. There is also a consumable that you can buy which will allow your kid to bring you back to life if you die, though its use is limited.
Sadly the combat is the worse part about God of War for me. Not because combat is poor, but rather because it isn't what I want from a God of War game. GoW has always been a kind of spectacle fighter along the lines of Devil May Cry, chaining together crazy combos and moves, using different weapons, magics, all to defeat chains of enemies. God of War 4 is not that. It's not even close to that. God of War 4's combat is heavy and slow. Kratos uses a big axe and a shield to defeat enemies, and the constant over the shoulder camera plus the emphasis on blocking and dodging....well Fuck man, it's Dark Souls now. Attacking is on the right triggers and blocking is on the left bumper, dodging is on a face button, and if that control scheme seems familiar, well...
The combat is still very brutal though, and you feel every hit on the axe as you cleave through enemies. It feels good. Kratos' axe is also Thor's hammer because you can throw the axe and recall it to you with a button just like Thor. This can be used to hit ranged enemies and you can actually go bare fisted in combat if you want or need to fight after throwing your axe. The combat has a lot going on, combos and tricks are everywhere and as you use experience to learn moves and combos, your combat menu continuously expands.
However there is a problem with combat. They've done an awful lot to slow down the combat, making everything Kratos does deliberate and heavy, but also powerful and satisfying to connect with. Though it seems to me that the developer didn't quite know how to embrace this new combat system and still stuffs the game full of enemies that are just annoying to fight. Because your swings are slower and Kratos doesn't have the range of the Chains of Chaos, it makes flying enemies annoying as you have to stop and aim and throw the axe to hit them (your son can shoot them but he does do enough damage early on to make this viable), nor does Kratos have a lot of chance against rangey and slippery fast enemies. There are a lot of enemies that attack from ranged, but also slip away off screen before you can hit them. Again this is annoying, and you have to hope to catch a monster with a luck swing, or shoot it with your son's arrows to stun it long enough to get some hits in. This doesn't make the monsters that do this challenging, it makes them slow and annoying to fight. Slow and annoying are the last thing you want to feel about GoW combat right?
For the most part combat is fine though, it's just the sections that throw shitty monsters at you that can ruin it. Otherwise when fighting a boss, or a bunch of normal non-scummy mobs, it is a blast to cleave through them.
Frankly I'm having the least amount of fun in combat, which is awful for a GoW game. Yet the exploration and puzzle solving is so much fun I get giddy when I find a secret area. I'm still very early in the game, and as combat evolves my position on it might change (also I might just get better at it). Like I said combat isn't bad, it just isn't what I wanted from GoW and as a result it doesn't feel as good as I had hoped. Everything else is fantastic.
