Unfortunate Son
HIGH The gorgeous vistas of Alfheim.
LOW The near-endless series of plot-mandated fetch quests.
WTF Jeremy Davies, giving his most Jeremy Davies performance.
The idea of a small-scale, character-centric spin on the God of War franchise should sound just a bit silly to anyone familiar with its main character. Kratos has thus far only manifested as a scowling, bellowing whirlwind of stabs and death. His rage brought about the death of his family, and let’s not forget that he responded to this news by, uh, not changing in the slightest. He’s not exactly the prime subject for an intimate character study.
As it turns out, Kratos feels similarly about his former self. Having taken up a life of exile in the forests of Midgard – Greek and Norse mythologies are like neighboring countries in this universe, I guess – this new bearded and funereal Kratos is keenly aware of what a maniac he was back in Sparta. When his son goofs up during a hunting trip early in the campaign, Kratos very nearly loses his temper before stopping himself mid-sentence and uttering his remaining words in a calm, measured tone. This Kratos is determined not to repeat his past mistakes.
When God of War opens, Kratos’s second wife has just died, presumably of natural causes. That leaves their child, Atreus, exclusively in his care. As a father, it’s not enough for Kratos to quell his own violent tendencies – he needs to ensure that his worst characteristics don’t live on in his son. When Kratos observes the boy getting a little too gleefully savage during an early boss fight, he sees himself, and it haunts him. We wouldn’t want Atreus accidentally murdering his family in a fit of primal rage, would we?
The question of whether a solemn, introspective Kratos can exist is challenged continuously throughout God of War. The once-frenetic action series has been rebooted as a slow-paced character drama, and the evolution is felt beyond the cutscenes. The over-the-shoulder camera pulls us in closer to Kratos than we’ve ever been, and the absence of the iconic Blades of Chaos means we can no longer effortlessly slice through entire hordes of enemies at once. This is the most vulnerable Kratos has ever been, in more ways than one.
There’s also a newfound heaviness to God of War’s combat. Kratos has taken to fighting with a battle axe, and while it’s a fine weapon – one that returns to his hand after he throws it – this is far less power and range than we’re used to. By default, attacks are mapped to the shoulder buttons so players can better manage the camera, a handicap they’ve not had to deal with in this series before. Enemies are meticulously picked off one at a time, rather than chopped down by the handful.
There’s still no shortage of gooey finishers, but Santa Monica Studio finds power in restraint – they’re more rewarding because they don’t trigger when every draugr hits low health. In particular, Kratos has one spectacular move wherein holding R2 launches a downward swing that bifurcates anyone who’s on their last breath. It’s brilliant to watch, and all the more invigorating due to the precise timing required to land the blow uninterrupted. We’re actually working for it this time around.
It probably goes without saying that God of War is gorgeous. It seems like every year Sony is putting out the new Prettiest Console Game Ever, and while Santa Monica Studio too-frequently clings to quick-time events and on-rails climbing sections for the sake of showing it all off, I’ll be damned if it isn’t stunning to look at. Also, since the game is presented as a single, unbroken take with no visible loading, setpieces can erupt at any time. One of the best examples is the World Serpent from the game’s early marketing, and while his towering majesty is captured in screenshots, I can’t overstate how awe-inspiring it is for him to just appear and fill the screen with the game never missing a step. However, for the first time in the series, eye-opening moments like that take second fiddle to character development.
God of War is at its best when it explores the father-son relationship at its core. As someone who generally dislikes children, it’s a credit to the writers that I never once found Atreus annoying, especially given the fact that he’s constantly talking. He’s as overconfident as someone would be when they’re too young to understand how dangerous a world like this is. We, like Kratos, worry about how maturely Atreus will treat the inevitable revelation that he is half-god.
Their relationship even benefits God of War’s frequent detours into puzzle-solving, which feel a bit like bonding exercises. Atreus turns out to be the brains of the duo, and his verbal processing of each obstacle makes a lot more sense than when, say, a normally-sullen protagonist blurts out a solution to himself for fear that the player isn’t grasping it. But while I could point to numerous individual character beats as examples of strong writing, the actual plot is a thin, meandering mess, and it’s where God of War becomes continually more frustrating.
From the beginning to the end of this 20-ish hour game, our lone objective is to spread the ashes of Kratos’s deceased wife on the peak on Midgard’s highest mountain, and this straightforward task is prolonged by a seemingly endless succession of setbacks. Kratos and Atreus can barely take a handful of steps before being told they need to run off to some distant realm to retrieve X object required to overcome Y obstacle, and the lack of steady progress becomes almost malicious after a time.
For example, at one point, players go on an hours-long fetch quest to recover an item that will open a portal, only for said portal to be destroyed mere seconds after they finally activate it. No matter how solid God of War’s core mechanics are, it’s hard to see something like that and not feel like one’s time is being wasted.
It’s not even until the end of the game that we’re told why this task was so important to Kratos’s wife. Even disregarding the fact that the eventual answers are unsatisfying sequel hooks, it’s bad story structure to yank us around for so long without communicating what it’s all for. If we’re going to screw around on all of these arbitrary errands, we at least deserve to know why. All we have to go on is the dying wish of a character we’ve never met.
Thanks to these detours from the objective, God of War is just too damn long. It outlives its visual splendor, its enemy variety, and the time it takes for players to fall into a comfortable groove with the combat. Worse yet, it lays the groundwork for fascinating character arcs only to settle for a single, underwhelming twist and the promise of a new trilogy. I enjoyed the game, but there’s nothing so groundbreaking about it as to justify all of the wheel-spinning it does.
It’s ironic that a story about the value of discipline and restraint would feel like it needs more time in the editing room, but that’s the new God of War – promising but aimless. I like the new Kratos, but I hope his next adventure is more focused than this, and I pray that it actually gives him something interesting to do.
*Editor’s Note: As it states in the disclaimer below, this game was completed. Part of Sony’s embargo rules when accepting a review copy was that we were not allowed to spoil certain events. Mike has intentionally omitted certain aspects of the game in order to avoid spoiling things for people who haven’t played yet.
Disclosures: This game is developed by Santa Monica Studios and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It is currently available on PlayStation 4. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PlayStation 4. Approximately 18 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.
Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated Mature and contains Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, and Strong Language. Though it’s not as gratuitous as its predecessors, the new God of War is still full of graphic dismemberments and salty language. No sex mini-game this time, at least.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: Subtitles are available and sound cues don’t play a vital role in the game, particularly since there’s a visual indicator as to which direction enemy attacks are coming from. It’s fully accessible.
Remappable Controls: Several different button presets are available.
Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available in the options.
He was born and raised in Amish country and has yet to escape, despite a brief stint in Philadelphia, where he attended Temple University. He took a one-credit course there called "Career Opportunities for English Majors," which painted a bleak picture for prospective writers. Mike remains steadfast in his ongoing role as a video game critic, however, and has recently written for GamesRadar. Most of his work can be found on HonestGamers, where he has contributed over 200 reviews to date.
When not playing games or writing about them, Mike is a rabid indie music fan and ardent concertgoer. He doesn't read as much as he probably should, but his current favorite author is Alastair Reynolds.
- This Is Not A Review: Dead Ink - July 13, 2023
- Elden Ring Review - March 22, 2022
- Elden Ring Review-In-Progress - February 23, 2022
Hey all, this thread has run its course and most of the comments we’re getting now aren’t publishable, so I’m locking it.
It’s almost laughable how predictable you guys are with this type of thing.
Post review with lower score than anyone else. Followed by comments from people saying stuff like “Finally an honest review”. Reject bad comments and of people disagreeing with you.
Get clicks. Profit.
After getting ten thousand comments similar to this one, I wanted to take a second and ask you — and all the others — how exactly do you think we “profit”? You’ve probably got ad blockers on, but if you turn them off for a second, you’ll see that we’re 100% advertising-free. We have no banners or ads anywhere on the site. People clicking here gives us absolutely nothing because we’re a non-profit site. Additionally, running negative reviews often gets sites kicked off of lists that PR people keep when they send review copies out, so we probably won’t be… Read more »
just a thought, maybe post the average score between all your reviewers that played the game and keep the authors score as its own thing labeled on the site in the future. that way you wont have to deal with backlash and can continue to get free games from Sony.
biggest problem when you review or play games with friends is that you can let one person’s toxic opinion affect your enjoyment of the game.
If impressions aren’t clicks, then why are you guys listed under ads vendor that get revenue by CPM ( cost-per-thousand-impressions )?
Do you see any ads at the site? Any ads at all? Any banners? Any commercial links? There aren’t any here.
Our traffic might be tracked by various entities online — you can look up traffic for ANY site — but we have no advertising, no partnerships, no sponsors of any kind. Just take a look and see with your own eyes.
So you are telling me, this entire website is paid with nothing, all your writers and editors have no salary and works on volunteer basis?
Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. It’s been that way for the better part of 20 years. There’s simply no money in games writing, so doing it because we love it is the only real reason to do so.
Do you expect ads from companies to honestly qualify the games?
Sorry, I have no idea what you mean by this.
@Letrico Did you do background research on this website because you didn’t like their review? That’s creepy and sad
It was a good, honest review, I thought. I’m only about 4 hours into the game, but I am enjoying it so far. And I appreciate you guys blocking all of the uncivil comments. I would be bothered if this was a political discussion and you were blocking comments, but, for a game review it makes perfect sense.
Keep up the good work. I appreciate the time you all volunteer to review games and write articles.
Quick PSA to everyone: we do see visitors’ IP addresses, so trying to post the same rejected comment under a different name isn’t going to work.
Hey folks. I’m not going to explain why I consider Breath of the Wild to be a considerably better game than God of War, because the two have almost nothing in common and BOTW is only being brought up because it’s an exclusive for a rival platform. But just to shed some light on our rating system, we don’t start at 10 and then statically deduct points for each of the game’s flaws. No game is perfect, but it can do enough things right to still earn my highest recommendation regardless. You’re welcome to label me a fanboy, though considering… Read more »
Couldn’t you level the same criticism at BOTW? It’s long, the enemies are super redundant, the story line is pointless to non-existent. It has annoying game play elements like the perpetual rain, weapon breakage and plenty of back tracking.
The only logical explanation is that he’s a closet mountain climber, that’s about the only leg up BotW has on GoW.
I’m not understanding. The two games have almost nothing in common, yet you don’t feel you need to explain why you think one is better than the other?
That’s counterintuitive, to say the least.
It’s called “read the review text”.
I hope not to be too offensive, but this is one of the worst reviews ever read in my life. I do not context the vote or some arguments, but the omission of essential elements for a review: zero insights on the skills that deepen the combat system zero details on the characterization of the equipment zero insights on endgame (which is not properly shortly) no mention to the sound field and the soundtrack without counting the silence on the second very important secondary weapon, which greatly changes the approach of the game. Needless to say it was for sony… Read more »
Not the sort of person to usually comment but just reading through the comments, particularity the ones about how this is a non profit passion project you guys do, just wanted to say nice work caring enough to put your opinions out there. Shame you guys need to put up with so much negativity and that people can’t just be ok with having a different opinion on a subjective artistic work. But keep it up!
God Of War was one of the best games I’ve played since Batman Arkham Knight.
If only a third of these pissed off folks send messages to their congressmen about the real issues that actually affect their lives, then we would live in some sort of an utopic society.
Haha. Exactly.
where the hell is the score?!
Look at all these snowflakes who got triggered because some random guy on the internet happens to say that he doesn’t love their sacred video game as much as they do…
What the hell is wrong with you people?
I personally feel that you guys are hating the world to give this game such a good review that you had to give it little less… Everyone is giving this game 9/10 or 10/10 for only one reason… Because it is deserving. Think about people who spent day and night developing the game, staying away from families for 5 years… Would you sacrifice your time with family members just to write reviews (dedicate your life to work). According to your previous reviews i think you guys don’t like story element in games. But please give a thought to hard work… Read more »
I’m sorry, but I call bullshit on your comment.
1> If you think we don’t like story in our games, then you don’t know anything about this site.
2> If scores were based on the amount of effort put in by developers, then every game would be a 10/10. Making games is hard. Every developer pours months and years into every game they make. It makes NO sense at all to grade a game based on the amount of time put into making it. That’s just ludicrous.
Is what he saying bullshit though?
so metal gear survive, a game that’s made in 2 years without its director, has the same amount of effort put in as god of war?
The issue is of ‘how much time was put in’ is entirely beside the point. What matters is what the game is when it’s delivered.
A great game can be made in six months. A terrible game can be made in two years. Some fantastic experiences were made by one person. Some awful experiences are made by teams of 100.
A good critic does their work based on what’s in front of them — not based what they heard somewhere, or on what Reddit said, or on beseeching from a sob-story dev blog.
a critic is suppose to have vast knowledge ontop of their opinion, otherwise they are just a regular person.
knowledge means you research the subject you are critiquing. you understand the efforts it took to make it or why they made the decisions that they did… or at the very least the goal of what it was trying to achieve.
‘a good critic does their work based on what’s in front of them’
I don’t think that’s what makes a good critic lol.
Your response gave me a great laugh, thank you. It’s clear you didn’t even understand the point, but the chuckle was worth it.
Well, that’s a rude response.
I have beat the new God of War and I have to say that it’s awesome. I’m cool with having to go back and forth. I enjoy games that last longer than a day to complete. One of my favorite games on ps3 was Dragon Age Origins. It took around 70 hours to complete, then they had the addon of Awakening and I got about 30 more hours out of it. I feel that games that you can beat in a day are a waste of money. And with games being $60-$70 a pop then I feel that I’m getting… Read more »
Andrew, I’d like you think about what you just wrote for a second here. It’s click bait just to get people to read what you wrote since your view seems so much different than everyone else reviewing this game. So what you’re saying here is that since our experience is different than your experience, we MUST be making it up for attention. It’s not possible that we have different tastes? Different things we value in games? Different life experience in games (and otherwise) that contribute to what we enjoy and appreciate? Essentially what you’re telling us is that since we’re… Read more »
Jeez, give it a rest people. It’s just a game. You like it? Great, I’m happy for you, keep playing it. Not everyone has to agree with your assessment however. If I love a game, I’m still interested in dissenting opinions – it’s called having a thoughtful dialog.
I actually agree with the review. I tried to put more time in but still found it boring.
For 2,411 reviews, this publication has graded:
35% higher than the average critic
4% same as the average critic
61% lower than the average critic
Your stats on metacritic. that says it all
Thank you sir!
You have revealed that gamecritics.com is conspiring to take over the word. I bet they are taking orders directly from Putin!
You should pursue a career as an investigative journalist.
At least one review has to be different than the rest. Out of 5 million rave reviews a couple people aren’t going to like it as much. Honestly a 75 you’re trying way too hard to knock the game. I haven’t seen a better game out there.
The amount of polish oozing from every aspect of this game alone warrants a minimum 8.5, add in the superbly told story and character growth and anything less than a 9 is criminal. In the style games are churned out nowadays with few innovations, little to no single player content, and paid dlc…this game is a breath of fresh air. I’m truly baffled by how you could justify a 7.5 on this. I’d fetch quests as you call them were like this in every game we’d just be calling them quests, because that’s what they felt like. Sure you are… Read more »
This is so off the mark it’s funny. This is the best game of this generation, better than Dark Souls it Bloodborne in my opinion
This game to me is the best game ever made. Not a single aspect of it is imperfect. I feel sad for people who found this game unsatisfactory.
Thank you for your review. I played about half the game and gave up. I hated the combat, repetitive puzzle and slow pacing.
Looking at all the reviews of 10/10 I feel like everyone’s been brain washed by beautiful graphics and pre game hype.
Here are some of favorite games of all time.
Uncharted 4, Bloodborne, Dark Souls 3, Resident Evil 4, Mario 64, Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart, Guitar Hero, Fire Emblem, and Stardew Valley.
Never owned an Xbox.
You love Dark Souls 3 but hate the combat? Seems like you didn’t get it so far as the combat can be very complex and combo-based. Combos are essential on higher difficulties and button mashing sends you to the game over screen as fast as in Dark Souls
Appreciate the review, so I decided to comment. As videogames become larger and larger productions, it’s not uncommon to see ambitious gameplay let down by non-sensical storytelling or an intimate character portrait losing its emotional impact because the developers pad it out with 30+ hours of gameplay. Sometimes, the gameplay isn’t deep enough to keep the player immersed for 50 hours, which is a problem I had with the Witcher 3. My philosophy towards storytelling in videogames is “less is more”. Start with fun, challenging gameplay and keep the storytelling in the background. Let the player write their own narrative… Read more »
7.5??? Ugh….Another botched review by GC
Uncharted 4 5/10
God of War 7.5/10
Persona 5 6.5/10
Oh and yeah
The Great Metal Gear Survive: 7/10.
SOLID!!!
yup, i dont understand the number with their reivew
Lol.. a soulless game by a pachinko maker scores higher than all those games and close to matching God of War. Now that’s funny.
WHAT? THEY GIVE UNCHARTED 4 A 4.5???
First time I have ever seen ANYONE that states they are a avid gamer but then also states that “God of War is just too damn long”….
I felt the other GoW games were too long, for the amount of content they offered. I haven’t tried this one.
what i wanna kno is how you guys gonna give BOTW a 100 and GOW 75…
breath of the wild is twice as good as god of war.
i’ve beaten both. i’ll be playing breath 5 years from now.
Played BotW, except for world scale, not a single thing is worse in god of war and other aspect are leaps and bounds better.
In terms of longevity some people still play tetris today, but it doesn’t make its score 200.
twice as good… Please explain to me how? You mean the washed out cell shaded graphics? The repetitive story that has been rehashed for over twenty years? The generic combat? I enjoyed Zelda, I actually like that weapons break, I love the climbing aspect. But let’s be honest that game is rated based off its name and name alone. There is no way a game like that (based of its score) is better than Skyrim, Witcher 3 or even GOW…. Come on now.
It has a 97 Metascore, though, which means its greatness is a stone-cold fact, if what God of War fans have spent the last week and a half howling at me has any merit.
so youre saying that alot of different media outlets are judging games too high based on fanboyism , yet zelda’s score is because of that exact problem you guys are pointing out.
i assume you also saw the player score of BOTW, seems alot more accurate imo. but hey when its a game that you personally like no need to question the 10 out of 10s right?
It was… a joke, Tom.
a joke is suppose to be funny thou.
my names not tom, tom yum koong is a name for a soup.
Please accept my apologies, soup.
This the review of the game God of War as if the game was released on the Xbox One.
Zelda gets a 10/10 and God of War gets a 7.5. From the same person reviewing it, no less. Mike, way to ruin any credibility you could have had. The inconsistency in those scores just underlines how no one should take you seriously. I would like to see an article in which you try to justify how Zelda is (as objectively as possible) a 10 while God of War is a 7.5. Really? There’s some disparity there. If you are not going to stay consistence and abide by the full scale with every game in the same manner, maybe you… Read more »
sorry to burst your bubble, but breath of the wild is the best game ever made and everyone had voted on that. i loved the new God of war, but i’ll be playing breath for th next 5 years.
“Best game ever made”
That’s why your weapons breaks every 5 hits or so :/
Core combat being annoying weapon management instead of just having fun beating the enemies.
You guys didn’t put a score on this review yet you upload a score on Metacritic. B8 over 9000.
Highlight the end of the review, homedog.
I’m so dissapointed with the review of this. One of the worst I have seen in a long time. What u describe here for the game shows u have no clue what r u even talking about. U even give the game 18 hours to complete. Even a pro player like me needed 25+ hours to complete n still so many new quest I found my second d time. Even some of the new boss I found. What r u even try to say here. Did u play any old GOW game. Those games has quick times. U find here… Read more »
man your comment is more informative than this stale review
Yeah, I have to agree with this review. After finishing God of War last night, I’m rather baffled as to how many 9s and 10s it’s getting (it’s a solid 7 or 8 to me). It’s gorgeous and plays alright but just feels so familiar and formulaic (same problem that Horizon Zero Dawn had last year) and doesn’t really bring anything new to the table. I had to force myself to keep going through the game to the end because it just bored me in several parts.
i don’t see review scoreposted
Thank you for being critical, though it seems that you’re going through the game like accounting work instead of art. The near-endless series of plot-mandated fetch quests? Aimless? This about character development and the journey, not going from point A to B. “Plot-mandated fetch quests” and “Aimless” is something men say when they are breaking up with their girlfriend for looking around when shopping. If you think life is about getting directly to your goals, you probably should rethink what life has to offer. The goal of all life is death, if the journey is less important than end goal,… Read more »
I’m not completely annoyed that you gave this game a 7.5. I’m far more annoyed by the actual content of the review! Do you even know what fetch quest means? Cause I have felt almost no repetitition at all in this game and I’ve played 40 hours! Even backtracking doesn’t feel repetitive because the areas in the game change over time. Did you even notice that in your 18 hours of gameplay. And I’m so sorry that you had to play a game to review it. Mr. “The game is too long”. Did your thumbs get tired? Did have to… Read more »
I remember Cory when asked how many hours take him to complete the game and he answered: about 20 Hours and I knew everything from scratch, for some reason these guys are better than the game director-designer who knows every nook and cranny about the game! LOGIC
100% this, this, this.
This was my first read review by him, and disagreements are okay, but the fact that he sounds like he didn’t even play the game blows me away.
I can’t believe this is the response to a 75. That’s high praise, whilst still acknowledging the experience has the ability to improve.
But he was clearly biased the moment he started playing this game. Giving Zelda a 10/10 while even admitting in the comment section of having mayor issues. Giving God of War 7.5/10 and even his points are inaccurate. This one as an example: “our lone objective is to spread the ashes of Kratos’s deceased wife on the peak on Midgard’s highest mountain, and this straightforward task is prolonged by a seemingly endless succession of setbacks. Kratos and Atreus can barely take a handful of steps before being told they need to run off to some distant realm to retrieve X… Read more »
The quote you’ve taken from the article doesn’t specifically mention returning to previous areas. That quote criticises the use of numerous roadblocks that force the narrative-arc to divert and focus on something other than Kratos’ and Atreus’ lone objective. Their quest is too often halted by some obstacle that they need to collect some random, narrative-worthless object to overcome. I would point to the moment when you finally reach the mountain summit in Midgard, and as a player you expect nothing but a touching moment as they come to peace with {INSERT NAME HERE}’s death and some higher calling to… Read more »
SpringStingray: “The quote you’ve taken from the article doesn’t specifically mention returning to previous areas.”
I suggest you to learn and read.
I quote in his review(the same is also listed in my previous quote):
“Kratos and Atreus can barely take a handful of steps before being told they need to run off to some distant realm to retrieve X object required to overcome Y obstacle”
Tell me how often this happens?
“he was clearly biased the moment he started playing this game”
I don’t understand in what way he was “biased.” Because he’s played and enjoyed other games before? Are you suggesting the only people who liked God of War never played or enjoyed video games before?
The review was alright and the criticisms were I guess, valid. But that score screams “CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE!” If you guys don’t want to get accused of baiting people with scores that stand out, maybe just remove them? The review was a good read but that score felt forced as hell. Either way, video games journalism is a joke career, regardless if that “journalist” praises or craps on a game.
exactly
Only read this review exactly due to the low score
Just a heads up, you probably have ad-blocker on but this site has no ads, there is no benefit to you coming to their site at all. But hey, I am sure they were glad that you came.
Finally a real review, I’m glad there’s journalists with some integrity left and don’t fall for the blind bandwagon of everyone else. Will be getting my reviews here from now on.
This isn’t a real review at all.
If you want to know if you’ll enjoy GOW, you just have to answer one question:
Do you enjoy playing video games?
Yes? Then it’s INEVITABLE that you’ll have a blast with this game. Simple as that.
Sea Of Theifs is his GOTY probably if you know what i mean
“Do you enjoy playing video games? Yes? Then it’s INEVITABLE that you’ll have a blast with this game. Simple as that.”
You know there are other people in this world with different opinions, right?
I’m not gonna say anything about it. All I can say just play the game first then judge it urself
Criticize a game when you can’t take criticism yourself. Your not just filtering people who are just straight up hating on you, but also people who see your opinion of the game and are just putting their own two cents on how they view the game. Which I’m sure at that point they must be a “fan boy” and who must love Dark Soul esk games (this comment is not a stab at the reviewer, but towards at some of the comments further below). If you can’t take criticism you shouldn’t be reviewing a game, but on the same note… Read more »
If you can’t take criticism you shouldn’t be reviewing games, 1000Like
“Criticize a game when you can’t take criticism yourself. Your not just filtering people”
They’re filtering comments that include spoilers they intentionally tried to omit.
The fact that you only took 18 hours to complete the campaign and didn’t play more speaks miles about this review’s reliability.
He completed the campaign. Why does he need to keep playing in order to write a review of the campaign?
Because the campaign isn’t all there is to the game.
Lol, when I looked at this review yesterday, there were no comments. I really can’t see any problem with what the writer’s said though, every criticism is valid. Is it really just the score that is causing the fans to make so much noise?
Literally yes. If the review didn’t include a score, none of this would be happening.
Mr. Suskie,
Could you please provide a list of the games and scores you gave so far to other games?
not upset but shaken. (mistake i’m french sorry for my bad english)
this game must be a model and inspiration. great game ever
I think a lot of journalists and players sites will score below 90 to stand out and by the way attracted the attention and the public. and I even saw comments from a friend who has only one xbox put 0 to god of war on a site jeuxvideo.com (French). this will unfortunately hurt the narrative games. it will not be necessary to come to complain later when all the publishers will start to develop games like fortnite. if you really took the game in hand, you will be upset, it is beyond the subjectivity it is like a man… Read more »
Very fair review. As mush as I love the game there were some major design flaws that brought my experience down. I for one liked the story, combat, characters and world. But man does it feel the game is sometimes stretching out. Especially in the third act, they just kept throwing waves after waves of enemies just to get few more hours. I would have much preferred boss battles at those times. Speaking of boss battles, here’s my major gripe with the game. The boss battles are lacking, not unique, have very simple mechanics and are mostly re-skin (mini bosses).… Read more »
I am disappointed
Best Review.
It was honest to God of War fans and fair to all readers. Congratulations!
I’m still trying to figure out what in this review was worth taking 25 points off? Also what even bring up other reviews in a review?
No Sea of Thieves review???
This review lines up relatively well with my own thoughts so far now that I’m 12 hours in. I LOVED God of War 1 through 3. I really was expecting another exciting game, but I get bored often when playing this one. I just don’t care for many of the characters and a lot of the gameplay mechanics are repetitive.
Previous God of War was more repetitive tho. This is why the joke square square triangle started to exist, because that was the tactic the mayority of the fanbase was using.
Thank you for this honest review, Mike. I thoroughly agree with the issues mentioned here and find it bizarre that other critics have not mentioned these things at all.
Mais um que não quer largar o osso da antiga geração 6°-7° com abordagem, de fórmula já, ultrapassada, se esse novo God Of War repetisse a mesma fórmula já cansada que desde 2005 permuta a série, esse mesmo tipinho aí viria com a mesma nota, é triste saber que existem analistas atrasados e não comprometidos com a evolução de IPs, são esses mesmos aí que não incentivam a mudancas de jogabilodade, e quando algo muda ele vem com umas 30-50 linhas de incentivo e taca na testa do desenvolvedor seu 7.5 de incentivo por mudanças! ????????????Parabéns para esse jovem analista… Read more »
Google translate was reeeeeeal rough on this one, so gonna cross my fingers and hope for the best here. ^_^
His portuguese is just terrible!
But I understand what he said. He didn’t like the review. XD
No, there’s nothing terrible about his portuguese. Only if you don’t speak this language, of course. PS: I’m Brazilian.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. There are a lot of games that people have given perfect scores to that I wouldn’t consider to be close to perfect. People have different tastes at the end of the day. With that being said, I have to wonder if the reviewer actually played through the whole game because something that was stated in this review was very false. Don’t want to spoil anything at all for anyone that hasn’t played it yet, but I was just wondering why one statement in particular was made if the reviewer actually completed the whole… Read more »
Please read the top post in this comment section, we address that issue there.
Hey folks, we’re filtering out all of the comments that are calling Mike out on (SPOILER). He finished the game, we know what the campaign holds, and we were asked by Sony to not spoil things. Don’t assume he didn’t play the game, we are intentionally not spoiling anything in his review.
God of War is the Game of The Year 2018!
* Amazing combat
* Amazing graphics
* Amazing Story & characters
* Amazing Atmosphere
* Amazing Unique Weapons & upgrades
* Best exclusive of 2018
* The Best Reboot of All Time
Mark My Words… Please
Brad, I have listened to your podcasts and I certainly agree that the issue of people messaging you calling you “Clickbait bullshit” is pathetic and I appreciate you being honest and the hardwork you guys put in. But saying that other review sites score too highly isn’t fair, especially when you have said yourself that everyone is entitled to their opinion. Literally everyone from critics to users and Youtubers think this game is fantastic and had none of the problems you had, are we supposed to believe they are just flat out wrong now? Furthermore, you could easily reverse it… Read more »
Hey Kieran, thanks for your comment and thanks for listening to our show! You ask a qood question here. I definitely believe that everyone is entitled to their opinion, and if folks love GoW (and clearly, MANY do) I have no problem with that. The issue as I see it is that game reviews, historically, skew very high. Score inflation is a big problem, because not only does it mean that people start to perceive only 9/10 as “acceptable” scores, at the same time, it means that almost nobody ever uses 1,2,3,4,5,6,7. And when people (like us) do go below… Read more »
People get way too crazy over review scores. I find it kind of funny because the majority of games I end up truly enjoying usually score between 7 & 8!! Many of the recent (past couple of years) games I played (I won’t name names because I don’t want to start a war of words) that scored 9 or better, I didn’t enjoy & didn’t finish (if I’m not enjoying it, I’m not going to waste my time playing it).
Thank you very much for your reply Brad, was certainly clear and made perfect sense. I completely understand what you mean and it does seem that people do not understand rating scales nowadays. I just don’t understand why people get so shitty at critics who give a game a good score but one that is lower than everyone else. But as you said it is people who don’t understand a rating scale. I agree that critics should be more firm and make use of the entire rating scale likr you guys do. Regardless, I thoroughly appreciate your honesty and what… Read more »
Hey Kieran! No worries, all good. I appreciate the chat!
You should have said the same for Zelda. But wait, you were the ones that have given that overinflat game a perfect score. Where are the 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7 back then ?
We did a second opinion for Zelda here:
https://gamecriticsdotcom.wpcomstaging.com/brad-gallaway/the-legend-of-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-second-opinion/
And as others have observed, we have no issue giving out scores lower than a 10, so it’s inevitable one will sneak out here and there.
The problem is not a 10, the problem is a 7,5 for a game like Gow,.If you against overinflated notes, you should hate perfect score, since no game is perfect.Not even Zelda.
The Zelda review made no sense. Mike even admitted it had mayor flaws in the comment section. Yet he gave it a 10 because he acknowledged himself as a Zelda fanboy. Biased people shouldn’t review a game.
Even though some points of him was valid in this review, the score makes no sense if we take into consideration how he reviewed his BotW. If BoTW received a 10 with many flaws, why should GoW receive a 7.5 with flaws based on an opinion instead of technical/mechanical flaws like BoTW
I didn’t expect a 9. I expected a 10.
It was like Jim Sterling giving BOTW a 7/10. Truthfully my opinion on BOTW is it is an above average game and for myself deserved around a 6/10. For myself I found myself dosing off a lot during that game and when I wasn’t even tired. Whereas with Horizon Zero Dawn I played for close to 28 straight hours without dosing off once and had to force myself to go to bed only to not be able to go to sleep and getting up 2 hours later and playing for another 9 and a half hours without nodding off once.… Read more »
Brad, I can’t tell you how many game reviews (even a couple on this very site! which I like and visit often!) that were almost wholly neutral or even negative, only to get to the bottom and have to laugh when the score is 8.5/10. The scoring in games journalism is beyond out of control, between the defensiveness of gamers who see even the most measured dissenting opinion as a personal attack, and, the nature of games as an industry being perceived as a 24/7 hype machine for all publishers and platforms by some gamers. If you read games reviews… Read more »
Vert good. We need more critical down-to-earth reviews. Giving universal praise to a game that downplays series’ Devil May Cry-like action origins is just ridiculous. Fair review, don’t bother with fanboys and newbies who have no idea what the series’ origins are or can’t be bothered to care it unless it changes into a Dark Souls/The Last of Us/Senua’s Sacrifice… mix… of action game trends.