God of War Review PS4

God of War PS4 Review
PlayStation 4 Exclusive Title

God of War for the PlayStation 4 is a third person action adventure games but it also has some great open world RPG elements. It has a lot of the same gameplay style as Horizon Zero Dawn and The Batman Arkham series but it is a steep departure for the previous God of War games. We were skeptical about the changes at first but it is a welcome change to the series. Most if not all of the Gods of Olympus are have been wiped out. Kratos has moved on discovering a new world to call home and a new family. But his wife has died and now he sets out to spread the ashes of his second wife. Kratos is not alone in his quest this time his son Atreus joins him as they put this wife and mother to rest.

God of War has never really made a bad game and the first venture onto the PS4 is no exception. Kratos is still an overpowering bad ass but now he has been tempered with wisdom. A bit of a reminder of his history, he has lost his family twice already. His brother Deimos was kidnapped when he was very young and later killed shortly after Kratos found him years later. His mother Callisto was held captive in Atlantis turned into a monster and Kratos was force to kill her in an act of mercy. And, finally his wife Lysandra and daughter Calliope both accidentally killed by his own hands. Now he has buried his second wife and his young son Atreus is his only motivation. Kratos is cautious and protective. He is trying to teach his son about the world but he has yet to tell him about his family history.

God of War also changes the gameplay style and everything is flawless. A new weapon is introduced, an axe named Leviathan. It is offensive, defensive and a projectile weapon all in one and it is the main and only weapon early on in the game. The Blades of Chaos will always be part of Kratos. Even with the gameplay changed there is no learning curve using the Blades. Several of the button combos from previous games still worked while swing around the Blades of Chaos. Combat is so good and so smooth that we went looking for things to fight over and over. And you can switch between the blades and the axe weapons so fast it makes fight multiple enemies easy. There is also the old fashion beat down with his fists. So throw your axe at something then punch it in the face a few times, strike it with the blades and then recall the axe to you hand as it hits everything in its path. We had zero game mechanics issues.

Platforming and puzzle solving is very different since Kratos has Atreus with him. Sometimes Kratos is at the mercy of how fast you can figure things out with Atreus. Many times it is a two person system and sometimes you have to solve the whole thing while you are getting hints from Atreus or even while he is accidentally mocking Kratos. The dialog between them is never forced. Kratos tells him stories about the world, small little teaching moments when they are between fights. It never got old. At times we would just sit there and wait for the story to end. It deeply helps with the character development.

God of War for the PlayStation 4 took us almost 25 hours to get through the game and it has one of the highest replay values of any game we have played. 25 hours is a lot of gameplay but remember there is some open worldness here and instead of orbs you have experience points making you want to do more. There are sidequest like finding all of the Valkyries, missions that fallen souls have ask you to do and a huge maze to figure out. We put another 50+ hours just figuring out side missions, so God of War is a 75 hour or more game and that is outstanding and a first for this series. We have no complaints!

God of War for the PlayStation 4 is an easy buy at a new game price. Hell, go out and get the season pass because this game so good you are going to want the DLC. Any price under $40 is a MUST BUY PRICE! There is clearly a path figured out when it comes to upcoming game and we can’t wait for more.

10 out of 10
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