God of War: 5 Things We Didn’t Like

Beware: the below has some story spoilers. Maybe swerve reading this until you have completed God of War.

Let me preface this by saying that God of War is my favourite game of 2018 so far and ranks highly in my picks for the best of this generation. It’s a wonderfully deep and rewarding game with changes that seem like the perfect progression for the series while also blowing the door wide open for future instalments. It’s been a week since the credits rolled and I can’t stop thinking about it.

But it isn’t perfect. Nothing is. Even though I might have awarded it a near perfect score in my review, there were a few things that I didn’t get along with in the game. None of it was particularly enough to pull me out of the game entirely, but if we’re going to approach God of War in a balanced way, we have to acknowledge that it has some faults. Even Citizen Kane and Apocalypse Now have some drawbacks.

 

1. The early gear grind is totally perfunctory

As already mentioned in my God of War tips, upgrading or getting attached to any of the gear found early on in the game is a fool’s errand. God of War does a fine job at providing many different options for players, but it’s not worth investing time into it for at least ten hours.

This is because as soon as you find armour that you aesthetically like or provides you a welcome stats boost, a new one will come along either through exploration or in the shop. Granted, this is a common element of games with RPG leanings, but God of War is especially frivolous with its gear and their usefulness. The endgame is where the gear becomes invaluable and you will genuinely benefit from finding and using the best.

 

2. Padding

God of War has a very simple but effective storyline: a father and son more or less discovering each other on a grand journey to the highest mountain. How do you keep such a straightforward narrative interesting for over twenty hours of gameplay, though? The answer: pad it out.

I wanted to play as much God of War as I could before I morosely scaled the mountain, but the constant nature of collecting A to open Z but actually you also need B became fairly predictable. I never really believed that completing one objective would lead to proper progression. It’s understandable, however, and all of the padding was as finely made as the rest of the game so maybe that’s more of a nitpick than a major flaw.

 

3. Atreus’s sudden turn

Atreus is a good boy (BOY), someone who is almost too pure of heart for the world around him, which is reinforced time and time again by his naively positive outlook. He’s the ideal ying to Kratos’ incredibly grumpy yang and the perfect tool to inspire empathy from the player.

It’s a little weird and contradictory, then, that Atreus turns into a little monster almost immediately after discovering that he’s a half-god. Power corrupts, but Atreus doesn’t even have that much power, just the knowledge that he could harness his power. It never really convinces and just kind of puts Atreus across as a spoiled brat. It’s a shame that it took him a trip to Helheim to realise that.

 

4. Disappointing mini-bosses

As good as the bosses are in God of War (particularly the very first one), the appeal of its mini-bosses loses its sheen rather quickly. Whether it’s an ogre or an ancient, they all play out very similarly without much in the way of variety save for a different colour palette.

Granted, God of War is a massive game with a lot to do apart from taking on ugly bastards, but a bevy of side-missions all point towards taking down these identikit enemies at some point. Particularly in the case of the ancients, it’s just a case of figuring out their attack patterns and going to town. It’s a big undertaking on top of everything else God of War brings to the table to expect different encounters each time, though.

 

5. It ended

I’ve been trying to rack my brains for something else to ding God of War down on and I really can’t. If I was really stretching, maybe Kratos says “boy” a bit too much? Wait, no, that’s very much a positive and shows off how versatile Christopher Judge is.

There’s far more to love about God of War than there is to critique as it’s one of the most technically marvellous games of this generation with the gameplay to match. It’s captivating with hours of your time disappearing without you even realising, as well as offering a lot of content to keep you coming back for more. Once you’ve done everything there is to do? Well, I guess it’s time to get this thing called sunlight.

Played God of War yet? Here’s an excerpt from our review:

“While the changes brought around for God of War may rankle some, it feels like the natural evolution for a series that you wouldn’t believe is now seven games deep, judging by just how re-energised it feels in its latest incarnation. Kratos is back, and so too is one of PlayStation’s least heroic heroes with great aplomb.”

If you’re after more PlayStation, you should probably check out our picks for the PS4’s best games and also its greatest exclusives.