Welcome back to Ash’s regular Pile of Shame series, where he talks about his forgotten and unplayed games and you all judge him for his bad choices, in life and in video games. At least, that’ll probably be the case in this instance.
Last week, Ash talked about his experience with the phenomenal Hellblade, and promised he would either play Resident Evil 7 if his Xbox turned up from the repair shop, or launch straight into an article about God of War. With his Xbox turning up mid-week and review deadlines piling up, he’s chosen the path of least resistance. Can you blame him?
Yes. Yes you can.
This article is going to be a little bit different from your usual “I have nothing interesting to say before I play the video game” Pile of Shame articles, because I’ve actually played God of War. I’ve played it a fair bit actually. Not loads, but enough.
As of right now, my journey with Kratos and the BOY– I mean, Atreus, has taken me to Alfheim and back, with roughly around 8 hours or so of playtime under my belt. I’ve retrieved the Light of Alfheim and returned to Migard to clear out that weird black stuff and carry on my journey up the mountain, and that’s where the two leading characters have been sat waiting for the past couple of months.
It’s not that I don’t like the game. I do, even if I’ve only played it twice. Yes, I can feel you judging me regardless. Still, those two sessions were so engrossing that I lost track of time, staying up until the wee hours to follow some angry Spartan prick and his son on their personal journey. If anything, God of War was the victim of expectations, both from others and myself.
We all remember the tsunami of praise that was thrown towards God of War when it launched a few months back. Even Cultured Vultures got in on the action, with our glorious leader giving the game that fabled 10/10 score. High praise indeed, and one that the majority of gamers agreed with, forcing that contrarian side of myself to rear its ugly head. “Surely it can’t be that good, right?” From what I’ve played, yes it can be, just nowhere near often enough.
I was never initially sold on God of War but the first encounter with Baldur, then under the more mysterious guise of The Stranger, changed that. Stopping by to watch our Twitch stream of God of War around the time the game launched, I was blown away by how cinematic the fight was. A super-powered brawl between two gods that destroyed anything unfortunate enough to be caught in its wake, it was enough to convince me to buy the game there and then.
Foolishly though, I believed that fight to be a few hours into the game, sort of like the climactic culmination of the end of Act 1. Just like how I thought God of War couldn’t be that good, I thought that Santa Monica Studio wouldn’t go that hard that early, but no. By the end of the first hour, that diminutive bastard is knocking on Kratos’ door, and the game begins in earnest as our two leading characters begin their arduous quest. For me, that was incredibly disappointing.
It felt like Santa Monica Studio showed their hand a little bit too early, demonstrating how “epic” the game can be without giving it a chance to shine on its own merit. I’d grew attached to the brutality and carnage displayed during that sequence before I had a chance to really connect with the characters and their struggles, or got a taste for how the combat would be in between the bigger moments.
For reference, the best comparison I can think of would be if Devil May Cry 3 opened with the first Vergil fight. Vergil was Dante’s brother and an equally skilled rival, making every fight with him during DMC 3 an intense and difficult encounter. The initial skirmish with him closes out the first act, and it’s one of the most memorable battles in gaming; an opinion that would likely change had it been the first boss fight in the game.
It’s a question of pacing. God of War is a thirty hour plus experience, making the game a marathon instead of a sprint. In this instance, it came out of the starting block too early with an impressive burst of momentum before getting tired and settling into a routine, leaving the following combat sections and main storyline feeling tedious and boring as a result.
That’s particularly where the problem lies, with the combat and quests, as the quiet moments are just as good as the intense moments. I especially enjoyed Kratos’ attempts at bonding with Atreus by butchering different fables and mythological tales in an attempt to teach the boy important life lessons, even if Atreus uses some logic to question the story’s teachings.
It’s the moments in between that those two extremes where the game seemingly settles into monotony. Travelling to Alfheim to get some special mcguffin that’ll get rid of the generic evil ooze blocking my path up the mountain so I can continue with my quest just feels like busywork by comparison.
Then again, perhaps God of War was doomed to fail for me. I bought it at the same time as Yakuza 6, and I’ll take the cool Japanese Crime Dad over the Angry Spartan Father any day of the week. As much as Yakuza is known for going hard during boss fights and cutscenes, they’re all nicely spaced apart so you’re never too far away from some insanity. Eight hours into God of War and that first Stranger fight remains unbeaten.
Knowing my luck, the next cinematic boss fight is right around the corner, so perhaps I should give God of War another go. They do say that the third time’s the charm, after all. I’ll let you all know how it goes next week.
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