The God of War franchise is Sony's premier action-adventure series, one that has delivered over-the-top action, a free-form combo system, and inspiring fantasy settings for multiple console generations.
The series was never particularly technical in terms of combat, but the games offered enough abilities for players to fool around with without being too overwhelming or demanding.This new God of War entry reboots the series for Sony's PlayStation 4 line.
It streamlines the combat and controls, while also radically expanding the scope of the game world.
God of War doesn't reinvent the action genre, but its polished gameplay borrows elements from popular action-RPGs to create something unique, yet pleasantly familiar.
New Face for an Old God
God of War steps away from the vices of the older games and attempts to push a message of change through its narrative and gameplay.
It contextualizes the violence exhibited by the protagonist, Kratos, who is portrayed as older, quieter, and surprisingly somber.
He attempts to quell the rage within his own son, Atreus, while keeping his own in check, until pushed to the limits of his patience.
It is a pleasant change of pace, as the Kratos of past games was a virtually irredeemable bastard who murdered innocents, directly and indirectly, on his often-misguided quests for revenge.
It also does away with the nudity in older games, though it is unclear whether Santa Monica studios took this approach because of the change in setting, or to avoid controversy in these socially volatile times.
Previous games, which took place in a fantastical version of Ancient Greece, featured many prominent female creatures like gorgons, sirens, and harpies.
The games incorporated the mythos as a natural part of the world, and so these creatures were often portrayed nude.
The new God of War shies away from this entirely, and the few female enemies in the game are hidden away in the post-game content (and fully clothed to boot).
Realm of the Northern Gods
God of War uproots the murderous Kratos from his Greek homeland and drops him into Midgard, the realm at the heart of Norse mythology.
The game takes place some unspecified time after the move and picks up with Kratos' new life in the cold wilderness.
With the passing of his wife, Kratos and his son Atreus venture to the highest peak in the neighboring realm of Jotunheim to spread her ashes.
Unfortunately, the journey is wrought with dangers, and the Asgardian gods have taken issue with their misadventures.
Kratos and Atreus must fight their way through undead warriors, brutish trolls, feral beasts, and a handful of gods before journey's end.
The Norse wilderness is filled with treasures to find in addition to hordes of monsters to cut through.
Kratos is surprisingly social this time around, despite being older and more haggard.
He encounters several NPCs that offer quests to undertake across various areas in the world, all of which reward you with experience and new materials.
God of War is not an open-world game, despite being much more open-ended than earlier titles.
There is only one way to progress, but the path very often branches out to let you explore and undertake side missions if you so choose.
God of War strikes a fine balance with its optional content so that there is just enough to feel rewarding, but not so much as to feel overwhelming or padded.
An optional quest might have you explore an abandoned shrine in search of a person.
Along the way, you might, solve some puzzles, face off against hordes of monsters, and tackle a mini-boss.
These side quests are usually brief diversions that let you earn useful resources that make the next part of the game a touch easier to complete.
As a fan of Norse mythology, I adore developer Santa Monica Studios' take on the subject.
Some of the environments and creatures you encounter during the adventure are breathtaking, and the creative liberties the team took make for some refreshing twists to the classic epic.
However, God of War's story was clearly written with sequels in mind: in the grand scheme of things the game serves as a prologue.
A handful of the major players in the mythology are present in God of War, with the rest only mentioned in passing.
That's not to say that the game feels incomplete; God of War has a satisfying story arc and both Kratos and Atreus grow as individuals throughout their journey.
Still, I hoped to see more of the Norse pantheon and Ragnarök happenings, which isn't the focus God of War's story.
Fight Like a God
God of War strips away the arcade-like, beat-'em-up style hacking of the earlier games and delivers a more focused action-combat experience.
The camera focuses tightly on Kratos' back, giving the game a distinct, over-the-shoulder viewpoint found in few other games in the genre.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice and God Hand both come to mind.
In this way, every encounter feels intimate and intimidating, since you can only see what's in front of you.
Larger enemies can tower well above Kratos' head, and thus, his field of view.
This new camera system comes with its share of flaws, however.
As one can expect, it's frustrating to keep track of a large number of enemies when the camera's pulled up so close.
The targeting system is surprisingly sticky, so switching focus between enemies is not as smooth as it is in other games, like Dark Souls or Nioh .
Santa Monica tackles the camera issues somewhat by giving you a threat indicator around Kratos, which points toward the nearest enemy and flashes red when they attack.You can also press down on the D-pad, to spin around and face any enemies sneaking up behind you.
But managing the camera is more tedious than I would have liked, so getting nailed in the back was annoyingly common.
God of War changes up its combat and remaps its controls, resulting in a streamlined, yet familiar fighting system.
Kratos is decidedly more grounded than in previous games, so he cannot jump or perform aerial feats like he could earlier in the series.
Instead, Kratos has light and heavy attacks that you can easily chain together.
Light attacks deal damage quickly, while heavy attacks juggle featherweight enemies or stagger larger ones.
Kratos can also lob his ax at foes by entering a throwing stance with the L2 button.
He can toss the blade quickly or heavily, and with good timing, these throws can be chained into his melee strikes.
When unarmed, Kratos rains punches and shield-blows on enemies, and much like ax throwing, these attacks can also be strung together with his other attacks.
In terms of combat, the skills are quite satisfying, from the ground-bouncing juggles to the chunky ax throws.
Despite the lack of aerial combo craziness, Kratos can slap hapless enemies around with comical ease, so even the most vicious undead warrior can seem like a helpless rag doll when you chain your attacks together well.
In addition to Kratos' beefy selection of attacks, he can also call upon his son Atreus to shoot at foes with his bow and arrows.
Atreus is essentially Kratos' dedicated projectile attack, and he can be commanded to shoot in most situations with the press of the square button.
Repeated shots often distract the targeted enemy, giving Kratos an opening to attack.
Finishing moves return and they are as brutal as they were in older God of War games.
This time around, however, you need to put enemies in a stunned state before the grapple prompt becomes available.
Unarmed combat is best suited for finishing enemies, as Kratos' brutish fists inflict a high degree of stun damage.
Atreus' arrows can also be used to stun enemies, making them an ideal source of stun damage if Kratos is too far away to perform a melee strike.
With no lengthy combos to memorize, you can combine all of the previously mentioned skills reflexively and creatively, which retains the free-form spirit of the older games while giving you an all-new selection of skills to experiment with.
God of War features a fairly robust upgrade system that you use to purchase new abilities with experience gained through combat, or new gear with materials you scavenge from the environment.
But even with maximized abilities and equipment, the game remains simple to play.
Enemies Good and Bad
God of War incorporates RPG elements, such as stateand equipment upgrades.
Improving your weapons, equipping special charms, and swapping gear changes Kratos and Atreus' strength, defense, luck, and other statistics.
It is relatively easy to improve your stats, provided that you complete light side quests as you travel the realms.
Keep in mind though that enemies also organize themselves based on your skill level, which means you will face enemies that are tougher than Kratos' current rank.
Higher-level enemies have purple health bars and easily break through your attacks to get in some hits of their own.
They can also kill Kratos with a single hit, depending on the strength gap.
I appreciate the challenge that such tough enemies provide, but these bruisers shrug off enough attacks that your combos are ineffective.
Resorting to safe, boring attacks to dispatch them is most effective, even though it isn't exactly fun, and the enemies' high health pools make them a chore to fight.
God of War has a decent selection of enemies, including various armed warriors, poisonous witches, vicious wolf-men, brutish ogres, stone golems, and pillar-swinging troll mini-bosses.
But in my experience, there are only three real ways to tackle any given enemy, depending on how resistant they are.
Easily stunned, lightweight enemies can be slapped around and juggled to death with no real consequence.
Heavier enemies that resist Kratos' attacks require intelligent tactics.
You are best off throwing one or two of your strongest blows in between the enemy's own attacks.
The third enemy type is the gimmick foe, which is vulnerable to projectile attacks.
Encounters are plenty engaging, and mixing up your attacks while building up the stun meter for finishers doesn't get old.
With that said, I wish that combat was more complex than what God of War delivers.
Sure, the older games weren't particularly complicated; they were arcade-like button-mashers set in fantasy Ancient Greece.
I had hoped that the combat would have evolved into something more technical in this installment, with complex enemy patterns and an expanded combo list.
While God of War isn't quite up to snuff in that regard, what it does establish is a solid platform on which future installments can easily build.
Divine Beauty
God of War is easily one of the most visually impressive video games available on the PS4 ($403.99 at Amazon) .
Everything, from the stunning lighting and shadows, to the beautiful environments, to the impressive fantastical set pieces, is impeccably detailed.
On a standard PS4, the game is locked at 30 frames per second and displays at 1080p resolution.
On a PS4 Pro ($369.99 at GameStop) , God of War lets you select between Performance mode, which locks the game to 1080p and caps the frame rate at 60 FPS, and Resolution mode, which bumps the resolution to 2160p at 30FPS.
But even with a base PS4, God of War is candy for your eyes.
Worshipping a New God
Santa Monica Studio's God of War lays the foundation for an entirely new action series.
God of War combines spectacle, graphical wizardry, RPG development, and meaty melee combat into an impressive package that is sure to please fans of the genre, as well as curious onlookers alike.
While the camera isn't ideal and the enemies could have been a bit more interesting, the rebooted God of War delivers a premier action game experience.
God of War (for PlayStation 4)
Cons
Camera is clunky, especially when fighting multiple enemies.
Tougher enemies are more frustrating than fun.
The Bottom Line
God-slayer Kratos returns to intense, bloody combat in this action-adventure reboot that brings dramatic changes to the God of War formula.
The God of War franchise is Sony's premier action-adventure series, one that has delivered over-the-top action, a free-form combo system, and inspiring fantasy settings for multiple console generations.
The series was never particularly technical in terms of combat, but the games offered enough abilities for players to fool around with without being too overwhelming or demanding.This new God of War entry reboots the series for Sony's PlayStation 4 line.
It streamlines the combat and controls, while also radically expanding the scope of the game world.
God of War doesn't reinvent the action genre, but its polished gameplay borrows elements from popular action-RPGs to create something unique, yet pleasantly familiar.
New Face for an Old God
God of War steps away from the vices of the older games and attempts to push a message of change through its narrative and gameplay.
It contextualizes the violence exhibited by the protagonist, Kratos, who is portrayed as older, quieter, and surprisingly somber.
He attempts to quell the rage within his own son, Atreus, while keeping his own in check, until pushed to the limits of his patience.
It is a pleasant change of pace, as the Kratos of past games was a virtually irredeemable bastard who murdered innocents, directly and indirectly, on his often-misguided quests for revenge.
It also does away with the nudity in older games, though it is unclear whether Santa Monica studios took this approach because of the change in setting, or to avoid controversy in these socially volatile times.
Previous games, which took place in a fantastical version of Ancient Greece, featured many prominent female creatures like gorgons, sirens, and harpies.
The games incorporated the mythos as a natural part of the world, and so these creatures were often portrayed nude.
The new God of War shies away from this entirely, and the few female enemies in the game are hidden away in the post-game content (and fully clothed to boot).
Realm of the Northern Gods
God of War uproots the murderous Kratos from his Greek homeland and drops him into Midgard, the realm at the heart of Norse mythology.
The game takes place some unspecified time after the move and picks up with Kratos' new life in the cold wilderness.
With the passing of his wife, Kratos and his son Atreus venture to the highest peak in the neighboring realm of Jotunheim to spread her ashes.
Unfortunately, the journey is wrought with dangers, and the Asgardian gods have taken issue with their misadventures.
Kratos and Atreus must fight their way through undead warriors, brutish trolls, feral beasts, and a handful of gods before journey's end.
The Norse wilderness is filled with treasures to find in addition to hordes of monsters to cut through.
Kratos is surprisingly social this time around, despite being older and more haggard.
He encounters several NPCs that offer quests to undertake across various areas in the world, all of which reward you with experience and new materials.
God of War is not an open-world game, despite being much more open-ended than earlier titles.
There is only one way to progress, but the path very often branches out to let you explore and undertake side missions if you so choose.
God of War strikes a fine balance with its optional content so that there is just enough to feel rewarding, but not so much as to feel overwhelming or padded.
An optional quest might have you explore an abandoned shrine in search of a person.
Along the way, you might, solve some puzzles, face off against hordes of monsters, and tackle a mini-boss.
These side quests are usually brief diversions that let you earn useful resources that make the next part of the game a touch easier to complete.
As a fan of Norse mythology, I adore developer Santa Monica Studios' take on the subject.
Some of the environments and creatures you encounter during the adventure are breathtaking, and the creative liberties the team took make for some refreshing twists to the classic epic.
However, God of War's story was clearly written with sequels in mind: in the grand scheme of things the game serves as a prologue.
A handful of the major players in the mythology are present in God of War, with the rest only mentioned in passing.
That's not to say that the game feels incomplete; God of War has a satisfying story arc and both Kratos and Atreus grow as individuals throughout their journey.
Still, I hoped to see more of the Norse pantheon and Ragnarök happenings, which isn't the focus God of War's story.
Fight Like a God
God of War strips away the arcade-like, beat-'em-up style hacking of the earlier games and delivers a more focused action-combat experience.
The camera focuses tightly on Kratos' back, giving the game a distinct, over-the-shoulder viewpoint found in few other games in the genre.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice and God Hand both come to mind.
In this way, every encounter feels intimate and intimidating, since you can only see what's in front of you.
Larger enemies can tower well above Kratos' head, and thus, his field of view.
This new camera system comes with its share of flaws, however.
As one can expect, it's frustrating to keep track of a large number of enemies when the camera's pulled up so close.
The targeting system is surprisingly sticky, so switching focus between enemies is not as smooth as it is in other games, like Dark Souls or Nioh .
Santa Monica tackles the camera issues somewhat by giving you a threat indicator around Kratos, which points toward the nearest enemy and flashes red when they attack.You can also press down on the D-pad, to spin around and face any enemies sneaking up behind you.
But managing the camera is more tedious than I would have liked, so getting nailed in the back was annoyingly common.
God of War changes up its combat and remaps its controls, resulting in a streamlined, yet familiar fighting system.
Kratos is decidedly more grounded than in previous games, so he cannot jump or perform aerial feats like he could earlier in the series.
Instead, Kratos has light and heavy attacks that you can easily chain together.
Light attacks deal damage quickly, while heavy attacks juggle featherweight enemies or stagger larger ones.
Kratos can also lob his ax at foes by entering a throwing stance with the L2 button.
He can toss the blade quickly or heavily, and with good timing, these throws can be chained into his melee strikes.
When unarmed, Kratos rains punches and shield-blows on enemies, and much like ax throwing, these attacks can also be strung together with his other attacks.
In terms of combat, the skills are quite satisfying, from the ground-bouncing juggles to the chunky ax throws.
Despite the lack of aerial combo craziness, Kratos can slap hapless enemies around with comical ease, so even the most vicious undead warrior can seem like a helpless rag doll when you chain your attacks together well.
In addition to Kratos' beefy selection of attacks, he can also call upon his son Atreus to shoot at foes with his bow and arrows.
Atreus is essentially Kratos' dedicated projectile attack, and he can be commanded to shoot in most situations with the press of the square button.
Repeated shots often distract the targeted enemy, giving Kratos an opening to attack.
Finishing moves return and they are as brutal as they were in older God of War games.
This time around, however, you need to put enemies in a stunned state before the grapple prompt becomes available.
Unarmed combat is best suited for finishing enemies, as Kratos' brutish fists inflict a high degree of stun damage.
Atreus' arrows can also be used to stun enemies, making them an ideal source of stun damage if Kratos is too far away to perform a melee strike.
With no lengthy combos to memorize, you can combine all of the previously mentioned skills reflexively and creatively, which retains the free-form spirit of the older games while giving you an all-new selection of skills to experiment with.
God of War features a fairly robust upgrade system that you use to purchase new abilities with experience gained through combat, or new gear with materials you scavenge from the environment.
But even with maximized abilities and equipment, the game remains simple to play.
Enemies Good and Bad
God of War incorporates RPG elements, such as stateand equipment upgrades.
Improving your weapons, equipping special charms, and swapping gear changes Kratos and Atreus' strength, defense, luck, and other statistics.
It is relatively easy to improve your stats, provided that you complete light side quests as you travel the realms.
Keep in mind though that enemies also organize themselves based on your skill level, which means you will face enemies that are tougher than Kratos' current rank.
Higher-level enemies have purple health bars and easily break through your attacks to get in some hits of their own.
They can also kill Kratos with a single hit, depending on the strength gap.
I appreciate the challenge that such tough enemies provide, but these bruisers shrug off enough attacks that your combos are ineffective.
Resorting to safe, boring attacks to dispatch them is most effective, even though it isn't exactly fun, and the enemies' high health pools make them a chore to fight.
God of War has a decent selection of enemies, including various armed warriors, poisonous witches, vicious wolf-men, brutish ogres, stone golems, and pillar-swinging troll mini-bosses.
But in my experience, there are only three real ways to tackle any given enemy, depending on how resistant they are.
Easily stunned, lightweight enemies can be slapped around and juggled to death with no real consequence.
Heavier enemies that resist Kratos' attacks require intelligent tactics.
You are best off throwing one or two of your strongest blows in between the enemy's own attacks.
The third enemy type is the gimmick foe, which is vulnerable to projectile attacks.
Encounters are plenty engaging, and mixing up your attacks while building up the stun meter for finishers doesn't get old.
With that said, I wish that combat was more complex than what God of War delivers.
Sure, the older games weren't particularly complicated; they were arcade-like button-mashers set in fantasy Ancient Greece.
I had hoped that the combat would have evolved into something more technical in this installment, with complex enemy patterns and an expanded combo list.
While God of War isn't quite up to snuff in that regard, what it does establish is a solid platform on which future installments can easily build.
Divine Beauty
God of War is easily one of the most visually impressive video games available on the PS4 ($403.99 at Amazon) .
Everything, from the stunning lighting and shadows, to the beautiful environments, to the impressive fantastical set pieces, is impeccably detailed.
On a standard PS4, the game is locked at 30 frames per second and displays at 1080p resolution.
On a PS4 Pro ($369.99 at GameStop) , God of War lets you select between Performance mode, which locks the game to 1080p and caps the frame rate at 60 FPS, and Resolution mode, which bumps the resolution to 2160p at 30FPS.
But even with a base PS4, God of War is candy for your eyes.
Worshipping a New God
Santa Monica Studio's God of War lays the foundation for an entirely new action series.
God of War combines spectacle, graphical wizardry, RPG development, and meaty melee combat into an impressive package that is sure to please fans of the genre, as well as curious onlookers alike.
While the camera isn't ideal and the enemies could have been a bit more interesting, the rebooted God of War delivers a premier action game experience.
God of War (for PlayStation 4)
Cons
Camera is clunky, especially when fighting multiple enemies.
Tougher enemies are more frustrating than fun.
The Bottom Line
God-slayer Kratos returns to intense, bloody combat in this action-adventure reboot that brings dramatic changes to the God of War formula.
