God of War (2018)
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This article is about a 2018 reboot. You may be looking for 2005 game of the same name. |
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God of War is an action-adventure video game developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It is the long-awaited sequel to God of War III and the eighth chronological installment of the series.
Why It's Godly
- The game is a reboot of the series, but it also acts as a sequel to God Of War 3, the reason why this game is also known as God of War 4, and despite the huge changes, it still feels like a God of War game.
- Absolutely beautiful, and realistic graphics with exceptional levels of visual detail. You would even want to look at them for so long by just playing the game for long hours, or even watching videos and stopping them on YouTube just to look at them and it is one of the best-looking games ever made for PlayStation 4.
- Epic story which has Kratos learning to be human, and control the rage that has driven and foreshadowed him for many years during his time in Sparta and Greece in the first 4 games.
- The game also teaches a good lesson about how no matter how terrible or old a person is, it's never too late to do something good; the game's success also shows that rebooting a series can be good (If done right).
- Amazing voice acting, especially Christopher Judge taking over for Terrence C. Carson as Kratos, and Sunny Suljic as Kratos's son, Atreus.
- Brutal new combat system and it is just as visceral as ever. Instead of button mashing, enemies require more strategy to defeat them.
- Awesome boss fights that are challenging, but satisfying.
- A brand new setting based on Nordic mythology featuring lots of Norse creatures from ogres to draugr.
- The game is longer than all previous games combined clocking in at 51 hours.
- Kratos and Atreus have a unique father-and-son bond which deepens as the game progresses.
- The cutscenes look impressive and are done in only a single shot. On top of that, there are no loading screens whatsoever, and you're thrown straight back into the game after dying.
- Great musical score, composed by Bear McCreary whose entire score is powerful with his all his tracks, such as the fights with The Dragon and The Stranger, the emotional scenes around Faye, and Kratos' regret, perfectly fitting and enhancing the game's story.
- Atreus is beneficial in combat and he can be improved as well during the game.
- Kratos is shown now as a person who wants to leave his past behind and start a new life; and where he was a deep character whose characterization was mostly put in the background, it is now put up front showing him to be a stern father and mentor to his son, while trying to control his anger. That said, he is just as badass as ever.
- A new fully controllable camera that provides a more up close experience, while still maintaining the essence of the series.
- A Photo Mode was released in an update, and it's great.
- The game's PC version is very impressive due to how seamless the transition was from console to computer. Playing up to 1440p at 90+ frames per second, Nvidia DLSS, ultra-wide monitor support, and lots of graphic options certainly helped it. Even then, the shadows and lighting were improved further from the console versions, all with nearly no reported crashes. But it also runs well on lower-end PCs, can be framerate-locked if needed, and the mouse/keyboard controls were also slated as very good.
- Instead of the linear design of the previous games, this game goes for a 3D Metroidvania design, which allows you to explore nearly every inch of the areas you visit.
- The game also introduces many RPG elements like damage numbers and loot, which is used to up Kratos and even Atreus' stats.
- Because of the Metroidvania approach, there are 6 realms to explore.
- Midgard, which is the starting area and the largest of the explorable regions.
- Alfheim, home of the Light and Dark Elves.
- Jötunheim, home of the ancient race of Jötnar and the final destination of Kratos and Atreus' journey in the game is the smallest since it can't be explored like other realms.
- Helheim, the Realm of the Dead - and the location where those who die a dishonorable death are forced to tread through the icy lands where no fire can live.
- Muspelheim, a volcanic realm where the player can participate in The Trials.
- Niflheim, a fog realm, where the player can try to get as much rune before the fog kills them.
- A lot of memorable villains like Thor's brothers, Baldur, with his sons, Magni, and Modi, are less sympathetic.
- Valkyries, which are optional but hard bosses that are great for those who want a challenge, each one has their own move sets making each Valkyrie fight different and unique, defeating them unlocks goodies and shows more about the game's new lore, they're heavily inspired by the first Zelda game since there are 9 Valkyries but you can fight 8 of them anytime, with the 9th one available once you defeat all of them.
- The game takes the time to deconstruct the Feel No Pain trope. Baldur was blessed with the ability to feel no pain and is invulnerable to all threats - physical and magical. But because of this, he cannot feel the most mundane stimuli such as pain, temperature, taste, or pleasure. This lack of sense drives him insane, as well as destroying any level of empathy he possesses. He even flat-out said he would rather die than not feel anything.
- A New Game + was added a few months after release that allows players to keep all equipment and enhancements.
- The pre-order bonuses were given away in December for free.
- It's sequel, God of War: Ragnarok was even better.
Bad Qualities
- Fans of classic God of War have not been nearly as receptive to this game as the influx of newer players for this reason. In particular, the loss of the hyper-violent focus on gameplay that formed so much of the series' identity in favor of a slow-paced, character-driven plot has resulted in shellshock for people who happened to like it the way it was.
- Niflheim can get pretty repetitive. It's covered by a cursed fog that will eventually kill Kratos if he stays too long in it. The goal of the Niflheim side quest is to see how much loot you can get before you have to bail. Not only that it's a semi-randomly generated dungeon with different enemies, puzzles, and treasures every time the player comes through, meaning you'll have to grind to get enough materials. This isn't a waste of time, however, the armor you can get by collecting enough material is the strongest in the game.
- When Atreus learns that he is part god he becomes quite arrogant to the point where he kills Modi because he believes "gods can do whatever they want". While this could be an interesting conflict between Kratos and Atreus for the rest of the game as Atreus learns what it means to be a god, he almost immediately snaps out of this arrogance after he and Kratos are sent to Heil which in turn makes this change rushed.
- An exploit with the Talisman of Betrayal allows players to slow time down indefinitely, allowing you to pull off full combos with all your weapons in the time it takes an enemy to perform one attack. This can even be used to make the brutal boss, Sigrun, a cakewalk.
- While many of the boss fights are great, there are some issues.
- The most obvious is the lack of variety in bosses. overuse of the Troll mini-bosses. They're are 10 of them and they are all the same bosses with little difference in attacks and just have different skins. Fans have pointed out how similar they are to the Minotaurs or Juggernauts of the previous games, which would've been better if they were simply a strong enemy that showed up every once-in-awhile like the Orges instead of as a mini-boss.
- All of the Valkyries are brutal, though optional, even on the lowest difficulty. But Sigrun stands among them as the absolute worst. Compared to other Valkyries, she has significantly more health, deals more damage, is noticeably faster, lacks the scream that telegraphs the aforementioned dive-bomb attack and has the combined abilities of almost all other Valkyries, except Kara's ability to summon Draugr to aid her. It should also be noted that, because of the sheer amount of attacks she possesses, Sigrun is also the only Valkyrie who can, and will, cancel her moves mid-attack to switch to another move.
Trivia
- Kratos' phrase "boy" to Atreus would become a meme.
- The game was originally supposed to be a complete reboot of the series with Kratos not appearing at all, however, Santa Monica Studios changed their mind and decided to keep Kratos as they claimed that Kratos is an iconic PlayStation character and Iconic to the God Of War series like how Link is to The Legend Of Zelda Is.
- An official novelization of the game, written by Cory Barlog's father, James M. Barlog, was released on August 28, 2018, by Titan Books. An audiobook version is also available, narrated by Alastair Duncan, who voiced Mímir in the game
Reception
Although there was concern about the game (even by Sony themselves) because of Ascension's reception, the game's departure from the core gameplay and how many compared it to The Last Of Us, God of War received "universal acclaim" according to review aggregator Metacritic. With a Metacritic score of 94/100 (plus a 9.1 user score), it is the highest-scoring game in the franchise. It has the fourth highest score of all-time for a PlayStation 4 game (behind The Last of Us Remastered, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Grand Theft Auto V), and the second highest score for an original, non-remastered PlayStation 4 game. It is the second highest-rated PlayStation 4 game of 2018, the joint highest-rated game in the series, and tied with the Xbox One version of Celeste as the second highest-rated game of 2018 across all platforms, both behind Red Dead Redemption 2. Praise was given to the game's art direction, graphics, presentation, new combat system, story, characters, music, and the use of Norse mythology.
Santa Monica Studios themselves have received many messages of congratulations from many other established studios in response to the critical acclaim the title received. They were congratulated by the likes of Guerrilla Games, Naughty Dog, Sucker Punch Productions, Insomniac Games, Media Molecule, BioWare, CD Projekt, Yacht Club Games, and even head of Xbox Phil Spencer.
The game is also a commercial success, with Sony announcing on 25 May 2018 that it sold 5 million copies worldwide in its first month, and won the Game of the Year, Best Direction, and Best Action/Adventure Game at the 2018 Game Awards, while the other awards lost to Red Dead Redemption 2, and was nominated for "Ultimate Game of The Year", but (ironically) lost to Fortnite. As of January 2022, the game has reached 19.5 million units sold, making it the best-selling game in the series as well as the best-selling PS4 game.
Cory Barlog (the game's director)), even uploaded a video thanking everyone for the praise and support, as he wasn't expecting the game to be a success.
Gamers and game journalists are seeing God of War's success as complete proof that the narrative of "single-player games are outdated" is completely false, and that a single-player game can thrive without resorting to greedy anti-consumer practices.
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