God of War Review

9.5 / 10.  AKA Dad of Boy. A fantastical, Norse mythical, mixture of story line, open world and hack and slash *MINOR SPOILERS*

God of War is an epic action-adventure PS4 game developed by Sony’s Santa Monica Studio. The eighth installment in the God of War series.

The new God of War is set in ancient Norway and the realm of Norse mythology. Kratos, the former Spartan warrior, has been living a quiet existence with a wife, Faye, and their son, Atreus.

Following a tragedy, Kratos, his magical axe and Atreus embark on a perilous journey throughout the nine realms, encountering Norse gods and monsters of legend, and also bonding with each other. Kratos is the main playable character but Atreus can aid in combat at certain points. Christopher Judge supplies an appropriately booming voice for Kratos.

God of War is an impressive, immersive game. The gameplay is smooth with a detailed mythical storyline incorporating addictive and varied side quests and treasure hunting for completionists. Kratos and Atreus’s relationship emotionally develops throughout, providing this action filled story with a heart. Although Kratos does prefer to call Atreus 'boy'.  A lot.

Whilst not as open a world such as Far Cry and Fallout games, there are open world elements that provide some autonomy, and portals open to brave new worlds as you traverse the game. Your progress through the game and new portals allow you to backtrack to previously locked areas.

Your quest through the realms of Norse mythology encounters different foes, including ogres and dragons, and the forging of new alliances along the way.  By the time you get your chaos blades back, they are welcome.

By far the hardest part of the game was the Valkyrie battles. Whilst not part of the main story completion, these battles are infuriating! I only managed to defeat two, and got no where near defeating the queen.

The main story ending features a twist, but did end a little abruptly, hopefully another installment will follow. 

Following upon some research it seems Santa Monica Studio are already working on a follow up, promising “bigger and better things.”