God of War

It’s bravura game-making – a single-shot production that extends across 30-or-more hours, boasting some peerless direction and wonderful performances. The cinematic decision to keep everything in one continuous shot, the camera constantly in motion, means you never leave Kratos’ side. It’s a choice that makes for the most personal God Of War to date, perhaps the most personal game of its kind.

God of War is a staggering achievement in gaming -- the sort of must-play title that we only we get two or three times in a console's lifespan.

Despite eye-catching changes, the heart of this series remains gloriously unaltered. [Recommended]

It feels like more of a trend follower than a trendsetter, a pastiche of ideas. But they are good ideas, done well enough to bring a once-stale series back up from the depths of Helheim.

The shortcomings do little to mar the overall experience, and most only become evident after you've spent 30 or 40 hours in this dazzling world. God of War is a special game. It's the sort of experience that people are going to be talking about for months to come, with a story that hits you right in the feels and smooth, beautifully staged gameplay that clicks immediately like a familiar, old friend.

It’s a surprisingly emotional story for one of gaming’s most emotionally stunted characters, told with care and wrapped in a production that’s a flat-out technical marvel, visually spectacular from start to finish and captured with an omnipresent, unflinching camera that makes it look unlike anything we’ve seen before.

It's pretty good, I'll say that much. I don't think it's the most brilliant game in the world. It's not having me crying tears of joy. But it's nice to play a game with a sense of a beginning, middle, and end, a game with a sense of pacing. A game that does have its open explore able areas...It's just nice to play a game that feels like a game, more than a service.

On their own, the various elements that make up God of War don’t sound especially unique or interesting. But it’s the way they work together — how the story informs the action and vice versa — that makes it memorable. God of War takes a one-dimensional series and turns it into something with depth and emotion.

The new God of War is a departure from its predecessors that gives the player more without making any compromises. It’s challenging, beautiful, brutal, rewarding, and even a bit funny on occasion. Whether you’re a fan of the series or not, it’s well worth your time.

Kratos remains capable of startling violence. But there is a sense that even Sony Santa Monica has recoiled from some of “God of War’s” legacy, and the game is better for it. It is a game that treats its history with respect where appropriate, but without obligation, even in its very concluding moments. This new God of War has some rough edges remaining in its transition to something new, but even in its concluding moments, it commits to its vision in a way that few games do — and it’s the first time the series has felt vibrant and important in a decade.

God of War has grown up. It is violent, but it’s not excessive. It is angry, but there is something to contrast it against. There is a flash of nipple, but it’s Kratos’s. Kratos is older, and he feels remorse for his past, but it feels like Sony Santa Monica also wants to atone. If that was God of War’s goal, the studio deserves a standing ovation. This isn’t only the best God of War game, it’s one of the best games of the current generation.