God Of War – Review

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Kratos is back and with a bang in this new instalment of the franchise, however, it is different…very different. Kratos is now a father and is settled and has left behind the life that made him a feared adversary in Greece.

Now settled with his son Atreus the story is based on the Norse mythology with myths like Odin and Thor. Based in Midgard with other realms for you to explore the game is huge compared to the others you have the freedom to roam to areas how you like unless you lack the required tool to unlock it which will be unlocked as you progress through the story.

The main story is based on Kratos and Atreus heading to the highest peak in Midgard to scatter their loved one’s ashes as her last wish was to do so. You don’t see Kratos’s lover or Atreus’s mother the only portion of her you see is the opening where she is cremated.

Unlike previous games, the weapon of choice in this outing is an axe named the Leviathan Axe which was made by the dwarves to overcome Thor if he became too powerful. The axe is a handy object for you wield as you can hack and slash as your heart desires and you can also throw is like a javelin and summon it to return to you like Thor does in the Marvel movies. Its frost power is a helpful addition you can also enchant it to hold lightning power too. You also have a shield which you can parry attacks to counter. The only adjustment in God of war apart from the free roam is the combat, now you use the R1 and R2 to attack and L1 to shield and parry and L2 with either R1 or R2 to use your powerful runic attacks.

You get little flashbacks and small backhanded stories by Kratos as he is entertaining his son in the canoe boat which is the only route of travel across the sea of the nine in Midgard. Midgard is filled with enemies that spawn to defeat you from Dragons (different forms), Trolls, Elves & Witches and many more. The hardest enemy you will face are the Valkyries there are 9 you must rescue by defeating them and then comes the Queen which in my opinion is one of the hardest bosses I’ve faced. If you can defeat them they drop legendary loot that can make you stronger and also allows you to upgrade your apparel.

The upgrade system is quite confusing at the start I found the menu text was too small and had to be amended in the settings. With the upgrade system, you earn experience but this doesn’t affect your overall level, your level is based on the power of your equipment (armour & weapons) the XP is used on skills to make you better in combat and is also used on your runic attacks to increase the stats on them. The main source of currency in God of war is Hacksilver which you earn from missions, favours and also just finding it. There is no shortage of it so keep playing to earn more.

God of war is one of the most stunning games I’ve played, I’m just gutted that I didn’t play it on a PS4 Pro to get the best visuals for it…maybe that is for another day. From the visuals that I saw I was in awe of its truly stunning look, even in fast based combat, the framerate doesn’t drop. The sound is beautiful, it reminded me of the first time I played Halo way back in 2003. In these types of games the sound makes it truly remarkable, you know you’re controlling a god in this game with Kratos’s roars and the slashing of his axe through the flesh of his opponents.

Given the game is called of God of war I was a little disappointed that I didn’t really fight too many bosses and the final boss was a bit of a letdown but I refuse to make that a huge error in the game as the rest makes up for it. Once you upgrade all your skills the XP is pointless I have completed it about 97% and I have about 300k to use up but nothing to use it on. I’d like it if you could use that to upgrade armour maybe.

One breath of fresh air for me with God of war is the lack of content on release, they didn’t charge you an extra £30 for a season pass and have also expressed that there may not be any DLC, which is upsetting but I feel they did this to make players focus on the full game, there are so many unanswered questions that could be answered in DLC or even a follow up game.