God of War

Eight long years we had to wait for a full-fledged continuation of the adventures of the butcher from Sparta, who, after gutting twenty-three representatives of the Greek pantheon, holed up in a small hut in the far north to find the peace he desired. Kratos for a long time managed to avoid any problems, but as it is in his sad life, trouble found him alone. This time, however, there were no suspicious pacts, betrayals and divine intrigues. Our protagonist, cheerful as a concrete pole, got into conflict with the natives only because he wanted to fulfill the will of his recently deceased wife and to scatter her ashes from the top of Midgard's highest mountain. This seemingly simple task, of course, turns into a bloody festival, which the ice-covered lands have not yet seen, and have seen - believe me (tology) - a lot.

boy

The new God of War puts fans of the series in an extremely interesting position, serving at the start a whole bunch of different questions. We know that somehow Kratos avoided death in the "three", but the authors do not explain the circumstances of the journey to the north, leaving this white spot to be discovered in the comic that is to accompany the premiere of the game. We do not know the identity of the mysterious wife of the spartiata and we do not know much about Atreus - the only son of the butcher, whom he takes under his wing after the death of the woman. We can only guess that our hero was not at home for a long time, and he did not participate in the upbringing of the child. This is evidenced by the fact that Atreus cannot take care of basic goods needed for life, such as food. The boy undergoes quick training under the watchful eye of his father, and immediately uses the skill of sewing with a bow in battle .

The constant company of his son makes God of War a product much deeper than the previous parts of the cycle. Huge emphasis was placed on the plot and simple relationship of the ice-cold father with a son in need of love. Kratos is not a kind-hearted uncle who always has a warm word on his hand. He doesn't praise, killing the boy's enthusiasm, and rebukes him all the time, demanding full concentration. The dictatorial tone can be felt even in the manner in which the butcher addresses his child. We hear the formal 'boy' more often than the child's name.

The distance that Kratos creates is tangible and I am very happy that, with few exceptions, the developers have maintained its image to the very end. Dad loves the firstborn in his twisted way - there is no doubt about it - but by the way the scriptwriters did not falsify the image of the aggressive bleak who outlined the previous scenes so well. Kratos is simply Kratos - he is irritated mercilessly, but in good faith, and we feel his intentions are sincere. Our hero gains tremendously in the new God of War , it is impossible not to like him, despite the fact that he does a lot to arouse permanent dislike.

The story is one of the highlights of this game. There are as many allies here as the cat cried, but each of them was given enough time to gain some attitude towards them. Despite the extremely serious atmosphere, the authors also managed to cleverly entertain several funny things in the story. First of all, the show steals Sindri - a dwarven blacksmith, who disgusts everything and, therefore, often vomits him , and yet he is responsible for the creation of the most distinguished weapon found in nine worlds.

They are not intrusive and non-foolish as in the new Far Cryu . Developers just allow themselves a little slack at times, and because Kratos is the type that never smiles, it leads to quite funny situations (the scene with an apple is a world championship). I will add that God of War is a well-organized and complete game. Everything sticks together, the ending is extremely satisfying, and although the gate was left ajar in the event of a possible sequel, we do not get the impression that the story breaks at the most important moment.

It is worth mentioning that all this was associated with old Norse legends. The game bombs us with various information about the old beliefs of the peoples of the north, and the events known from myths are very cleverly woven into the scenes viewed on the screen. If your knowledge of this mythology is limited to the next installments of the Thor series, then you will lose a lot. Helium is in the details here and it is extremely satisfying to capture these details by yourself. Thanks to this knowledge, the real names of people can be recognized long before the game reveals them, the craftsmanship of the authors in the skillful adaptation of known facts to the alien in this universe Kratos will be appreciated. I think even that the knowledge of Norse mythology is more valuable in the case of the new God of War than the knowledge of previous installments of the cycle . There are many references to Greek episodes (including one after which fans of the series will get orgasms), but the enormity of work put into this product will be appreciated mainly in the first case.

Don't be sorry, be better

You can long deliberate on the modifications that have been made in the game itself, and as is usually the case with radical reboots, not all lovers of the brand will like such far-reaching corrections. Changing the camera changes everything. We have been deprived of a broad review of the battlefield, so when there are more than three opponents, you need to have eyes around the head so as not to get hit on the head.

Mobility in God of War still remains in price, although it is now primarily associated with the need to avoid back blows. The Bestiary is full of monsters that have completely different ways to kill Kratos, so in the second half of the campaign - where the groups of non-boys are heavily mixed - it gets really interesting. We must immediately recognize what monsters we are dealing with, remind ourselves of their strengths and weaknesses and react on a regular basis according to the situation. I wouldn't say that God of War is a game that is especially difficult compared to the previous installments of the series, but you just have to get used to some solutions. If we are not successful in dealing with the hostile noise, we can forget about the final success. Adventure adventure, but the fight is definitely in the foreground.

Kratos Croft

The game also surprises with a huge amount of environmental puzzles that can confuse the Tomb Raider and Uncharted series , taken together. There are not many chests here that you can approach and just open them. Usually you need to do something more - blow up the boulders defending access to them or neutralize the poison, pave the way for yourself or do a lot of other things. You will get to some of the treasures only after destroying the boulders containing runes, others will only open again if you hit the ax with a crafty bells quickly enough, there are even "maps" that allow you to determine the location of valuable objects on the pictures contained on them. God of War in this respect resembles the Batman: Arkham series, because some of the finds become available only after obtaining the appropriate gadget.

Here we come to one of the biggest changes that have been made in the series. Although the beginning of the adventure does not indicate this, God of War is an open world game . We choose the places we want to go to, we move between key locations using the fast travel system, and in addition to the main tasks, there are optional side quests.

Not only that, Kratos' journey does not end at Midgard itself. The game also provides other worlds, and two of them - Muspelheim and Nifelheim - are completely omitted in the story. As a result, only players with a passion for exploration will learn everything that developers have prepared, and there is really a lot of it. You need to spend about 20 hours on the main plot itself, and probably the second is how much it will take to discover all the secrets in subsequent regions . This game even has an endgame! After ticking off the story itself, new boss battle options open up, and all lands can be visited without any restrictions just to count them one hundred percent.