God of War (2018) is a Action-Adventure game only for PS4, which was developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It is a sequel to 2010's God of War 3 originally released for PS3, and also for PS4 as remastered version.
Back in my old days in 2011 when I finally had finished my course from my college and then on my birthday, I had finally getting my hands on with the PS3 during a summer holidays where I can spent time playing several of titles that I am looking forward to play it, but there's one of the HD collection that caught my attention was God of War Volume 1 which included both the original God of War and God of War 2 that is originally released on PS2 getting a full HD treatment including full 1080p resoulution, running on 60 FPS, and improved visuals. Then I got finally to play God of War 3 on PS3, and also the two downloadable PSP games on my PS Vita such as Chain of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta.
I got to say I really loved God of War franchise because it is one of the most acclaimed action-hack 'n' slash series had won over several of game awards and sold over 32 million games with strong sales figures led the success into many sequels, spin-offs, and other media.
In 2018, I was looking forward to get a copy of God of War (2018) for my PS4 at day one release, but unfortunately it didn't happen till I finally got it for £10 in 2020 thanks to Playstation's Days of Play sales.
I been spent playing the game through single-player campaign just over 3 hours a day which I've already find out the game took 20 to 30 hours to beat depending on quests and explorations throughout the game.
After beating the whole game, I am very happy to say that I really loved this game. It is one of my number 1 favourite PS4 game that I ever played entirely, no bullshit because it is truly a masterpiece that is definitely a most recommendation to all PS4 owners will able to experience a such powerful storylines, incredible relationship between father and son, beautifully made presentation and visuals, and total non-stop brawling adventures filled with many fantastic quests and battles that what I consider the game as the enormous piece of art that proves the single-player gaming aren't dead in modern gaming putting the companies like EA and Activision into wall of shame for relying on bad practices of microtransactions and season pass, which Sony's God of War is all about a fully completed single player action with more content included in the game that is worth adding it to your gaming collection.
So without go further do, let's start the review.
Presentation
The game takes place in Norse mythology set in ancient Norway in the realm of Midgard, where as the previous game were loosely based on Greek mythology.
The story focuses on former Greek God named Kratos and his young son Atreus (aka BOY!!!) following the cremation of Faye (Kratos' second wife and Atreus' mother) who is sadly passed away.
Kratos and Atreus sets off their journey to highest peak of nine realms to fulfil her request that her ashes be spread.
Along with journey, Kratos kept his secret of troubled past from his son, who is unware of his nature, and battling against monsters and gods of the Norse world.
The story in the game is definitely what made the game so special that involves a long journey between the father and son made promise to free Faye's ashes at the place where gods rules the realms, while Kratos is avoid sharing his story to his son related to his past history that involve Greek war as a Spartan. You can really tell he is completely fed up being part of Greek God that brings him lot of his misery times which is the reason why he kept his past life private to prevent his son from becoming one, so this is what made the story so powerful that the former God himself will not make his same mistake from what he did in the past.
Kratos is one of the badasses that starting out as cruel and wicked spartan from previous game to becoming more matured warrior dealing with his past. He is one of the character making a connection with his son to getting to know each other during the journey. I really liked how Kratos calmly controls his son when Atreus had problem with his current situation that troubled him, so as you can see that he is trying to be a good father who cares his son's feeling what makes the relationship between the father and son quite important in the game.
I got to say Atreus is the BOY!!!! yes everyone, he is one of the most useful sidekick that really helps his father a lot to fight against the foes with bows and arrows, a clever with discovering the script messages, and asking the questions, but he also struggles with his cocky behaviour on some part in the story but not very much because he is still has the heart with his father for most part that made him quite special and I also liked how Kratos calls him BOY!!!! in every lines is kinda awesome.
There are some supportive characters that are also great in the game such as Freya who is a witch-doctor that helps Kratos and Atreus on their Journey. Then you will have the headless old guy named Mimir who is quite talkative in whole Journey which I finding him quite entertaining with his every humorous lines.
You have the dwarfs brothers such as Brok and Sindri, who are blacksmiths, are also quite humorous. Sindri is somewhat annoyingly class has perfectly delivered his joke and Brok is a foul-mouthed grumpy blue guy with comedic sense which I finding these brothers are sure funny bastards. I got to say the villain such as Baldur is sure one tough asshole always like interfering Kratos's Journey putting up a very best, but most brutally battle sequence between these two are actually quite awesome to watch and play at the same time. I wasn't expecting to see the skinny ass dude is quite strong with small muscle could take on big huge guy which is ridiculously insane and he is also quite a crackhead that threaten to kill not just Kratos, but also a small child that made Baldur a memorable villain.
Then you will also have Baldur's twin nefuews such as Modi and Magni who are also targeting Kratos, but I got to say I really liked their insulting jokes on Atreus's mother that kinda really pissed off the little kid that made me laugh the lot during the battles.
The whole presentation in the game is very well done for its choice of location that took place in Norway. I really liked the old fashion Scandinavian themes of these ancients places filled with tall huge statues, abandoned palace with broken man-made pillars, old scriptures written on stones, art style drawned on walls, and etc.
Each of locations has different environmental settings that fits really well in the game such as Alfheim has Lake of Light and Freyr's Temple filled with many trees and branches as well as sea lakes, Vanaheim filled with gardens and fields, Helheim is a nightmarish places with many dead creatures, Muspelheim are firey places with volcanoes and ashes, and Midgard is one of the largest regions with huge islands to explore such as woods, towers, mountains, and temples which I got to say I really liked the overall concept that is so different from the previous games.
Overall, it has perfect storylines, awesome cast of characters, and well made style of presentation.
Gameplay
In single player campaign, you take control of Kratos, while Atreus controlled as A.I Assistant, in third-person perspective with over the shoulder angle instead of the fixed camera from the previous game, so you will have a map locations with the 17 chapters in total and large chunk of side quests to complete.
Controlling Kratos will allow him to sprint through the area, jumping across the platforms, climbing up walls and chains, lifting up and breaking heavy objects, turning switches and interacting the objects to loot items like currency and materials.
Kratos has the Leviathan Axe as the primary weapon which you can attack in horizontal and vertical, but you can also throw axe in far range which can easily freezes enemies and objects, while it magically summoned back to his hand similar to Marvel's Thor's hammer.
Kratos can also use his fist to punch and throw enemies as well as lifting heavy objects, and you will have a shield that blocks the enemy's projectiles as well as parrying to deflect their moves too.
You will obtain the later weapon at the middle of the game such as Blade of Chaos which is a twin blades originally from older God of War games that allow you to perform a fiery spinning attack which is much more quicker compared with the slow, but powerful axe.
Kratos will perform a melee finisher when the icon appears while enemy are being weakened will allow Kratos to tear them apart in gruesome way such as ripping their heart out, opening up chest, stomping their face, and so many finishing animation.
Once you filled enough orange meter bar, you will be able to activate rage mode which makes Kratos's fists much stronger allowing him to attack enemies faster in limited time.
Kratos also commands his son to shoot arrows that kills or stuns enemies depending which arrows he uses during the battle.
There are a blacksmith's shop that Brok or Sindri can help you choose your own choice of armours, runes, pommel, and weapon upgrades as well as giving you an option to sell some valuable items and materials.
You can customise Kratos armours and slots in which you can see his list of stats that relying on health, strengths, runic, cooldown, luck, and defense. Each of chest and wrist armours including expansion slots will increase some of your stats that made him stronger, but there are some of them will decrease some stats depending what armours and slots you are using with to add on.
The Kratos weapons will have 2 slots that allow you to perform different variety of runes moves such as shockwave attack, spinning attack, charge attack, ice beam, activating power up, fiery blast of energy, and slam attack, while Atreus can summons a cast of spectral falcons, stampede, crows and elk.
Once you're beating the quest or defeating the enemies then you will be awarded with XP points that you can spend it on upgrades that improves your fighting skills such as frezzing burst, precision throw combo, returning whirlwind, grinding storm, Leviathan's fury, agile strike, countering strike, fury strike, spartan stomp, rushing chaos and so many moves that may requires the weapon upgrades from the blacksmith's shop.
Aside with the combat gameplay, the game are involved with exploration where you can able to discover the unvisited area, collecting loots such as power-ups and currency, talking with the people like Brok and Sindri for favours or question, reading on the script walls, and of course sailing with the boat.
The best part in the game is the puzzle aspects that involves opening new passage such as doors and elevators which requires 2 or 3 switches to be activated as well as evading the deadly traps like spikes, blades, flames, and any hazardous objects that gets in your way while finding way to unlock the new area in the game.
You have twin blade that uses for swapping the green light from first to second orbs, locking on cogs with axe to prevent bridge from moving, mix and match the rotation of script, breaking all the hives together without regenerating, matching the 4 symbols of season, stabbing the icy patterns with the special tool, and there's many more puzzle solving which I think the game did a remarkable job of having a riddled puzzle that unlocks a certain of places is what made the game quite unique.
The game is well executed for its combat system, puzzles, exploration, and numerous of quests that is perfectly well made without any of issues with the controls and gameplay design that feels quite flawless for most part.
I got to say I really liked the epic boss battles in each quests is quite satisfying for its overall difficulty and has it own battle strategy is what made the game quite fun.
It is a non-stop brawling action that never gets bored off easily with aggressive A.Is and responsiveness that couldn't stop you from fighting them is what made the game overly epic.
Overall, it has fantastic combat system, unique puzzles, great exploration with many quest, and epic boss fights.
Graphics
God of War definitely has the best looking graphics of all PS4 libraries. I was so impressed with the cinematic design feels very realistic on each sequences and I got to say the character model is looked amazing for motion capturing technologies feeling much more natural and more substantial than most of the PS4 games that you have ever seen adding the character's personality and development is the reason why it looked so amazing.
The environmental design on whole open area feels much authentic for its a opened level design, heavy textures on surfaces like runes, towers, walls, and houses, the draw distances on landscapes, the reflecting visuals and lighting effects, the animation sequences for gore, and many more designs that is almost feels like a next-gen than the current ones which I think it is the most graphically impressive of all PS4 libaries.
Overall, it has excellent cinematic design, amazing character model, and authentic environmental design.
Music and Sounds
The original soundtrack in the game is sounds incredibly stunning mixed with orchestral and folklore style that is so like Scandinavian culture that fits well at the set of the game that takes place in ancient Norway.
It was composed by Bear McCreary, who is responsible for composing some TV series like Battlestar: Galactica as well as some video games titles like Dark Void, did a such an incredible job of making one of his strongest works of all video game soundtracks.
The sound effect is quite perfect for most part in the game such as sounds design, ambient noises, and great use of sound technology for cinematic purposes, and then I got to say the voice cast such as Christopher Judge did a magnificent job on his role as Kratos as well as the child actor Sunny Suljic did well with his role as Atreus which is the reason why their performance is quite powerful.
Then you have Jeremy Davies did a role on Baldur, Alastair Duncan as Mimir, Danielle Bisutti as Freya, and best of two are Troy Baker and Nolan North did a role on Modi and Magni.
Overall, it has stunning original music, perfect sound design, and powerful voice role.
Special Features
The game has downloadable digital comic book, new game plus, digital art-book, and DLCs.
Overall, it's a great overall features.
Advantages
Perfect story
Memorable characters
Fantastic combat gameplay
Unique puzzles
Epic boss fights
Excellent cinematic design
Amazing graphics development
Incredible original soundtrack
Strong voice role
Disadvantages
None at all
Final Verdict
Presentation 10/10 - perfect storylines, awesome cast of characters, and well made style of presentation.
Gameplay 10/10 - fantastic combat system, unique puzzles, great exploration with many quest, and epic boss fights.
Graphics 10/10 - excellent cinematic design, amazing character model, and authentic environmental design.
Music and Sounds 10/10 - stunning original music, perfect sound design, and powerful voice role.
Special features 10/10 - downloadable digital comic book, new game plus, digital art-book, and DLCs.
Overall 10/10 - God of War is one of the Cory Barlog's biggest masterpiece that I highly recommend playing it on PS4.
The game featuring a powerful story between father and son, well built gameplay design with many combats and quests, quality looking visuals, stronger cast performance, and has replay values which is the reason why the single-player gaming never dies had finally proves everyone wrong.
God of War is the best example that is considered legendary in my opinion because it's one of the game that tries to redefine my top favourite PS4 libraries that you should go out and buy it from online or physical store for less than £15.
So I was hoping the developer team will consider making another God of War installiment for PS5 in possibly future perfect, so what are you waiting for BOY!!!!? just go get a God of War and play it on your PS4.
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