First Impressions | God of War

6yquel5ks7k01Language: English
Developer: SIE Santa Monica Studio
Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment
Format: PS4
Type: Action Adventure
Demo Box: PS4 Pro

Synopsis: His vengeance against the Gods of Olympus years behind him, Kratos now lives as a man in the realm of Norse Gods and monsters. It is in this harsh, unforgiving world that he must fight to survive…And teach his son to do the same. This startling reimagining of God of War deconstructs the core elements that defined the series-satisfying combat; breathtaking scale; and a powerful narrative-and fuses them anew.

Kratos is a father again. As mentor and protector to Atreus, a son determined to earn his respect, he is forced to deal with and control the rage that has long defined him while out in a very dangerous world with his son.

From the marble and columns of ornate Olympus to the gritty forests, mountains, and caves of Pre-Viking Norse lore, this is a distinctly new realm with its own pantheon of creatures, monsters, and gods. With an added emphasis on discovery and exploration, the world will draw players in to explore every inch of God of War’s breathtakingly threatening landscape-by far the largest in the franchise

So for the last 8 hours I’ve been in what I can only describe as a gloriously brutal interactive movie!

I don’t normally do this, but, if you’re on the fence over this game, get off it go and buy it! This game is frankly, pretty much Game of the Year. I honestly don’t see any other game rivalling it this year.

The start of the game is one of the most heart wrenching experiences I’ve watched in a game and genuinely had me shedding a tear. However it didn’t stop there! As the game progresses we get to see Kratos try and learn how to be a father, and he’s not doing a good job!

Atreus Takes Crap from no one

Atreus, his son doesn’t take crap from anyone, including his own dad. The banter between these two is amazing. What’s more we have some perfectly done voice acting, and an even more amazing script. Coupled with a mind blowing soundtrack it all makes for one of the best games of all time.

Now, let me stress this first; I have never played any of the previous God of War games, this was my first. That being said I have to admit i’m now inclined to go play the others!

Playing this game put me in mind of a couple of other games that I love, Horizon Zero Dawn and the Recent Tomb Raider games. This is most noticeable In the way the game looks and plays. This for me was amazing as I loved those games to death!

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Now lets talk combat, all I can say is holy hell this is awesome!

The combat is by far the best I’ve ever seen, and thats after loving the Arkham style of combat. The combat here is meaty as hell, visceral and has one hell of a lot of oomph. Beating the crap out of things is satisfying as hell!

However I will say that one of the early boss fights ended up being one of the most frustrating and tedious fights ever. The boss had a crap-ton of health, and when you finally got him down he fully regenerated. Rinse and repeat three times, this was not a fun fight.

the son of a God

 

The game uses checkpoints for saves, which are pretty generous. If you die you’re not going to be sent back too far. Which for me was a blessing, you also have access to normal saves when you’re not in combat. Which makes for nice easy saves, especially if you need to quickly exit the game!

Now admittedly I’ve not experienced a lot of the game yet, but after 8 hours I can honestly say this is not a game to skip over! Pick this up now, it’s well worth buying!