Finally lah, 8 years (Ascension not counted) is a long wait and now that I have finally played the new God of War, I have to say, like all the previous GOW games, it was well worth the wait. Kudos to Cory Barlog the director, Santa Monica for all their hard work and Sony for releasing this gem. After all this time, I am still in awe. So thank you for this.
What I really love is a good story and nowadays not many games have that. You really don’t see much games that solely focus on single player mode. Most games hop on the online multi player bandwagon and do not focus much on the single player mode. This is why I am a huge fan of the God of War franchise cause they always have a fantastic story to tell and it captivates you till the very end. The first God of War trilogy will always be an unforgettable experience for me. It was one of those games, where I played them several times. Some more the story revolved around Greek mythology which I loved reading and watching movies like Jason and the Argonauts, Clash of the Titans( the stop motion one, not the lanjiao Sam Worthington shit) and many more. So when Kratos said that classic line, “The gods of Olympus have abandoned me” together with the dramatic soundtrack, it was one of the many things that got me so hooked to God of War. Kratos who is the main character, is a very angry, doesn’t give a f**k about anyone, dude whose only focus is to kill all Greek gods. He wants vengeance for the death of his wife and daughter. Which is why he is my all time favorite gaming character ever. All… time. That booming voice by TC Carson was the shit lah and not to forget the look of him and his weapon, the Blades of Chaos! So when I played GOW 3, I thought it was a fitting end for such an iconic character like Kratos. I knew he had to die but it was a little bittersweet for me cause back then I knew there was never gonna be another God of War game. Even though after the end credits of GOW 3, Kratos’ body disappears, I thought to myself, maybe he didn’t die after all. Fast forward to recent times, when I found out that there will be a new God of War game coming out. Of course I went apeshit. When I first watched the trailer, I almost cried. Almost…. cause Kratos doesn’t f**king cry.
Now when I did a little research about the new game, I realized that there were a number of changes and I was very skeptical to all of them. Going into Norse mythology, that was a good change cause Norse mythology is just as interesting as Greek. Kratos’ weapon has changed from the Blades of Chaos to the Leviathan Axe. I was a little put off by that. Then I found out TC Carson, the original VO for Kratos was replaced by Christopher Judge. Ok lah this fella is quite muscular and does look the part but my skepticism was raised. The very angry, doesn’t give a f**k about anyone, Kratos is now replaced by a quiet, aged, bearded Kratos with a son? I was like WTF is going on lah? Still, I told myself, never mind… Santa Monica has not let me down so far (Ascension not counted), I have faith in them. They won’t f**k with my beloved God of War. 20th April 2018 (GOW release date) came, I went to my friend’s shop and bought my copy of God of War. I went home, played the game and never looked back since. What ever doubts and skepticism I had, were all erased in the next few hours of game time. Bear in mind, I refused to watch any gameplays online or read early reviews. I wanted to experience God of War just by myself.
This game just moved me as much as the very first one did for me. Yes, the changes were massive but I understand why it had to be done. I didn’t want to play the same shit over and over again. If my game evolves, I would like my character to be evolved as well. New place. New gods. New Kratos. Well not exactly new, but a more wiser war torn Kratos. The only thing he gives a shit about now, is his son, Atreus. Now the son can be a tad bit annoying in the beginning, but like all kids, I did get attached to him after awhile even though he becomes quite a cb when he discovers he is a god. The whole father and son thing always gets me lah. I also felt the VO for Atreus by Sunny Suljic was good and the chemistry between Sunny and Christopher was simply fantastic.
Now when I first started playing, it really did take me a while to get used to the new gameplay, the camera angle and the fighting. I felt damn weird when Kratos can walk backwards now. But the good thing now is you don’t jump to your death. That was a good change because sometimes all you need to do is jump from one spot to another and you don’t have to die about 5000 times, trying. The Leviathan Axe did take me awhile to get used to. I didn’t like the original controls for attacks which was R1 and R2 so I switched it to the “classic” controls which was Square and Triangle. That really helped a lot. Characters and their VOs play a very big part in all GOW games. Not to forget boss fights and cut scenes.
Now the first boss fight in every GOW game is massive. My all time favorite is kicking the shit out of Poseidon and gouging his eyes out in GOW 3. This first boss fight with Baldur is a close second for me. This fella, Baldur really looked and sounded damn familiar. So when I found out who was the VO for him, I had a good laugh. It was Jeremy Davies. If you can remember watching Saving Private Ryan, Davies is the pundei who was running around with the ammo, he got scared and sat crying at the staircase while a Nazi soldier was slowly stabbing his friend. Yup. That’s Baldur. hahahaha. But I have to say Davies was the perfect VO for Baldur. I hated him in Saving Private Ryan and I hate him now in God of War. That’s good acting.
Cut scenes as usual, were spectacular. You really feel for Kratos and Atreus as you put in more hours of gameplay. Halfway through the game I understood why the need for Kratos to be what he is now. You can’t have the young angry Kratos anymore. Fella maybe a god and all but he got old. Lao liao. You can see he gets really tired after big fights. Physically and emotionally and that kinda got to me. And then there was an unforgettable cut scene where the boy got ill and oh yea… Boy! Confirm Kratos kenna ” Father of the Year” for this. Fella always calling Atreus, Boy! Boy, come here. Boy, read this. Boy, don’t run so far. You would think that Kratos might be Asian for that. hahahaha. Anyway, back to the unforgettable cut scene where the kid got ill and you have to go to Helheim to get the Bridge-keeper’s heart. Freya would mentioned that Kratos’ Axe would not be good enough to use it there as the place is too cold and he would need another weapon. Something more of heat…. and Kratos looked at his arms. At that moment, I was like, “Oh shit… please … please let it be… please.” Kratos goes back to his house and gets his old friend out. THE BLADES OF F**KING CHAOS!!!! I was cheering and clapping so loud till my girlfriend thought I had gone mad. Now Kratos has 2 weapons, bitches!
And that’s just one cut scene, one part of the story. As you go deeper into the story, you will definitely feel very attached. And once you end this amazing journey with Kratos, you will just sit back, heave out a sigh of relief and let it soak in that you have just played the greatest game of 2018.
God of War is available only on PlayStation 4.
