God of War 4

 Developers : Santa Monica Studio, Jetpack Interactive

 Publishers  : Sony Interactive Entertainment

 Platforms   : PS4, PC

        is the sequel and soft reboot of the God of War franchise taking place in an entirely new mythology that hasn't been explored by the franchise so far. God of War was revealed in 2016. He free and was met by tons of praise and impress many including myself. axes were flying, enemies being decapitated. The visuals were gorgeous, rivaling Sony's own exclusives.  It feels like the right step forward for a franchise like God Award and the narrative pretty much nails everything it needed to be. I do have some occasional pacing issues with places like oh fine, but this review is trying to be spoiler free.

                 Well, apart from that God of War is focused on Kratos and his son his friends so when that was first revealed at the demo, he free my firstborn was great. This looks great. But is my ass gonna have to protect this little thing we call a child. Luckily even from a narrative standpoint, Atreus can hold his own shows straight away if your main concern is the trailers Do not be worried. The kid handles himself most the time and is arguably the heart of the game. Honestly, I never expected to make a review for a game like God of War that is so focused on narrative. I'd honestly say this is almost perfect deconstruction of the character of Kratos breaking him down bit by bit or remaining true to his ability to just get back up and get the job done, but no longer in the way we saw in previous games like murder and murder, and some more murder but in a way that feels more grounded and is done with realistic motivations like having to protect your son. I kind of prefer that but at the same time, the murder murder murder thing for the previous games, you can't die that is a fun gameplay mechanic. You know, just murder everyone just because you know, it's fun. It's fun.

            You spend the whole game trying to get to the top of the highest peak in the rounds to spread someone's ashes. That's about it. The pacing takes a hit because of that lack of overall plot making sections feel like all fine feel more like filler rather than adding something substantial to the narrative apart from one grade. See now you could argue against this because the narrative is much more about the characters rather than the block and that's fine. But if the developers want to make the sequel better, the overall plot needs to have a bit more depth in my opinion and from the looks of it Ragnarok so you know I don't think you're gonna have an issue with that parent is ever great writers and a tracer. 

               Obviously the standouts were other characters like prayer and older have some great scenes throughout even if they only appear occasionally. I do wish we got more screen time for the characters but I completely understand why it was simply not really possible without the game there's a one shot by the way. That is absolutely insane to even attempt a one shot game. I never really heard of that before and then I found out it was gonna be one shot. I was just I was like, I was so hyped for it. There are more characters, but I'm not going to spoil who turns up but fryer and bolt are easily the most important characters and have some great scenes. At the end of the day. This story is about Kratos and Atreus and it's written so damn well exploring both characters in depth showing their flaws. And triumphs while building each other up trying to accept where life has taken them. I can't say much more than that. But the narrative of God of War is almost a masterpiece and that camera work is some of the sexiest stuff I've ever got to look at, combined with a breathtaking soundtrack that makes your ear orgasm, but you can't buy a game solely on the narrative. 

            Let's go into gameplay. Let's just say the change of gameplay direction was a massive risk and was polarizing the sun but damn did the developers pull it off magnificently. I really expected the combat to like any real depth and to get repetitive and boring but by the halfway point Wow. The system is more in depth than it first appears and must have been a pain in the ass to develop carnivores gameplay that is beyond satisfying offering something new around almost every corner whether that's a giant dragon or snake or the simplest combination of enemy types that keeps things fresh. The world that's been created is incredible. It's not quite overwhelmed. You can still explore at your own pace the world sucks you in and immerses you in this beautifully crafted epic world that was made making sure every location is memorable so you can navigate it without a map and it works so down well. enemy variety is great, especially towards the end of the game when everything is being thrown at you from dead people to giant ogre looking people to giant werewolves and each of them have their own unique abilities so they don't just look different, but feel different and it works. However, there is one issue and that is a trace. He's genuinely overpowered. Once you level that little guy or p becomes more useful than Kratos himself at times, but it's rarely distracting. I'm only bringing it up because I can barely think of anything to criticize here. 

            Customization is lacking slightly but it's not bad. You have different armor sets that you can level up and even craft offering different looks for both characters as well as changing their stance to reflect how the player plays if you enjoy axe robbing level of that range. But if you're all about going in there and cutting stuff up level of strength and health so you can take a beating. The developers didn't need to add this but they did it and it adds a much more personal feel to your playthrough and while this whole game is technically about connection, and the things you do because of it, so I think it works for magically but it could have been implemented a little bit better in gameplay. Yeah, the X rays and your face without spoiling too much and all gameplay options are flushed out and off player creativity while still being efficient. So it's rare you choose between looking cool, or actually getting the job done. Now there is one major negative in my opinion and that is the boss fights don't get me wrong. There's a lot worse out there.

            Previous fights a while visually stunning, really, really like in the gameplay department. The final boss in the game does attempt to really switch things up with all the things you've unlocked over the game. But at the end of the day, it's still it's still the normal combat system just with an enemy that lasts a bit longer which is unfortunate. So I'm open in the sequel, now that they've mastered this camera movement that that they kind of wanted to go with behind the shoulder one take all the time. I'm hoping they can really switch it up and have some incredible boss fights, especially if we're doing Ragnarok that's one of the only major negatives I can really think of overall God of War is an incredible game and deserves those perfect reviews a god it may not be perfect for me as far as my own personal wants for customization.