I have never liked Kratos as a character, and the gameplay they have shown isn’t really doing anything for me. I do have a curiosity in what they’re doing narratively but I find kids irritating, and can’t help feeling like the kid is just going to turn into a hindrance.

I'm not really sold on it. But I like Norse mythology a whole lot, so if those aspects are solid I might have fun no matter what. I would feel bad playing this before I get around to Hellblade though. I'm much more interested in that game, and it's been in my backlog for a while now.

As someone who's only played one of the Psp games, I am pretty interested in a new Dad God of war.

@nicksmi56: I literally never had that type of thing happen in the last of us, but I guess our experiences were just different.

Lol I'm envious of you and the others who managed to avoid that stuff and fall in love with it. Never feels good to miss out on some transcendent experience everyone else apparently got, especially when you were super excited for it.

The thing that struck me about the original God of War when I played it a few years ago is that it’s a video game-ass video game where angry man murders Greek mythology and pushes blocks. It’s juvenile and silly and I could absolutely see how it got old over the course of 6 games doing slight variations on that concept.

This is (intentionally) as far away from that as possible, but I dunno if I want the opposite either. I’m tentatively interested, but if the gameplay part isn’t there or I spend the majority of my time slowly walking while Kratos has dadversations with his son before the next fight then I don’t know if I need to pay full price.

I'm buying it day one. I'm not sure how anyone could be feeling negative towards it. Especially with Sony's track records of TLAU, Uncharted 4, and Horizon. I have a couple friends who aren't interested, but that's because they think singleplayer only games are pointless and aren't worth the money, which is crazy to me, but whatever floats their boat.

Yeah, I'm excited for Souls of War. I mean God of Souls. I mean Souls of Souls. I mean...Sooooouuuuuulllllllllsssssssss. Sorry, what were we talking about again? Oh yeah, no I'm not excited for it at all. They bastardized this franchise into something unrecognizable that nobody asked for. This is like the God of War game for everyone who hated God of War. I have nothing against the "souls" games, but every single game doesn't need to be turned into a clone just because they are popular. I would have loved a new God of War game with some proper God of War combat, but the more I see of this game, the more I think that they are just using the name "God of War", as well as the mechanics of the souls games to just cash in.

Yeah but Souls combat != Souls clone.

@tyrrael: I am definitely in the camp that wants a God of War game without the same old combat. I remember feeling super tired of it while playing 3. I think they have the potential to do alot of interesting things with more deliberate, methodical combat.

Zero interest. It looks too serious and the father / son dynamic I don't much care for from both a gameplay and story perspective.

@tobbrobb: Yeah, you should play it. It might not be in my top five of last year, maybe top ten, but regardless it was really good. Some may say it's mainly important to play because of what it's trying to accomplish with psychosis, and that's an interesting aspect, but I think aside from that it's just a good game. I think it uses Norse and Celtic mythology in an interesting way and has enough variety in both the things you see and the things you do to keep you going. The only thing that repeats is the combat and it's pretty simplistic, but is engaging and in parts challenging since it throws more than a handful of guys at you. I am not a huge achievement/trophy hunter if you will, but I am disappointed the game lacks a hard mode trophy as I would have gone through the game again to get it. It gives me a little more incentive, though I had thought about installing it again and playing through it once more. You should definitely play it before God of War. You know, I might too. Another game I might go back to which is not nearly as well received as God of War or Hellblade, but to a degree is similar in my opinion would be Ryse. I personally liked the game despite its linearity and satisfying yet repetitive combat move set.

Huh, I was curious how you'd explore the setting in this game, and I really like the way they're going about it. It is similar to past GOW games, but now you can see it more like the Souls games (yes, a Souls mention again) where it all wraps around. The reason Dark Souls 1 is my favorite Souls-borne game is because of how it all connects.

Here's a link to Cory Barlog talking about the game.

Some people enjoy their games more focused, if theres one thing I dont think hack & slash or character action games need is walk and talk bonding moments. I like the first two Uncharted games much more than the latter two because they felt meandering, the pace was off. I hope this will get it right and satisfy fans of the old games and the new ones who think they were too juvenile or lame. (I also think people are quite burnt out on broody father figures, as good as Logan & TLOU were it feels played out at this point)

Always disliked the earlier games because of how insufferable Kratos was as a character. All rage and nothing else. I don't mind playing a "bad" character but he was just too shallow for my liking. Also the button mashy pulled back combat is not the sort of thing I enjoy so this game seems to correct that and my character issues.

Definitely will pick it up if reviews are positive.

If you were bored playing GoW 3, then it seems more like GoW was never your thing. That game had amazing combat, and completely changing it just to cash in on the Dark Souls craze, just solidifies the idea that this is the God of War game for people who didn't like God of War. They could have changed up the combat without completely changing the gameplay. Although, maybe Dark Souls will eventually change and have GoW style combat...nah...that'll never happen. If you want to talk stale, Dark Souls has been rehashing the same thing over and over again since it started, and people still don't seem to be tired of it yet. The game should have been made for the tons of fans that wanted a new GoW with it's iconic weapons and combat, not for the outliers who disliked it after GoW 2 nor as a shameless cash grab pandering to all the Souls fans out there.

I feel like the souls comparison works on with the boss fight that I've seen. The meat and potatoes combat seems to involve using the axe as a projectile as well as a melee weapon. Plus the kid assists.

I pre-ordered it, so I'm obviously excited for it.

Even though it is very different from the previous games, which were awesome to me, I'm really liking the new format. It's more interesting in terms of narrative and story.

I don't like kids.

I finished God of War Remaster a couple of days ago. I found it hard to really enjoy again in terms of exploring the setting (though I do like that the more you kill the gods, the more the setting and people deteriorate), and wasn't into Kratos at all other, almost making me want to quit because of it as he goes from killing a hooker/Poseidon's wife that pleaded for her life to having sex as two other women watch. It felt messed up to me. In a few moments where he showed a slight sense of remorse which is a rarity for the character, I was 'delighted' to see it though. I enjoyed the ending more from the time you get Pandora to the end.

I am going to cast a vote for : Really excited, but won't touch it ever.

Didn't play much of the old God of War games, but this one looks neat. I'll probably try it out.

@tyrrael: I agree with the sentiment that maybe a series known for its iconic combat system that worked well with its unique weapons should have evolved those things instead of taking a hard left altogether.

That said I don’t think we’re in the Dark Souls craze-phase anymore to say the new GoW is pandering to it. They took inspiration from another melee based action game that’s more methodical in its approach because that’s the direction their gameplay was taking and that’s how I view it.

It’s hard to refresh a series without stepping on a few toes along the way. Infamous Second Son changed the protagonist while retaining and evolving the already great gameplay, and it’s remembered as the “worst” game in the franchise because that’s how much people hated the main protagonist. DmC is hated for weirdly specific reasons that range from the new Dante to the inability to dash cancel in between combos. Similarly it’s regarded by many as the “worst” DMC game or possibly not a DMC game at all. God of War is flipping the script in that they’re keeping the story and character exactly as we last left them (more or less) and changing out the entire gameplay. Will be interesting to see if it too will be branded as the “worst” God of War to date by passionate fans of the series.

I love God of War even though i suck at them. :P

I think the father/son moments will depend on how well their dialogue is and if it feels organic. His son seems to be a fundamental part of the game. In the newest gameplay footage I saw that you could hit square or some button to have him do his lightning arrow attacks, so he affects gameplay and probably can't die under normal circumstances, so I doubt the game will feel like some long escort and protect mission. I don't think we've seen enough of this Kratos to say he's a brooding father figure or will be anything like Wolverine and Joel. I spend way more time with my X1 and probably like it better for more sentimental reasons like all my friends play there, but Sony's catalogue of exclusive games recently has been very good. I think not just video games, but movies, TV shows, etc should look at Uncharted 4 when it comes to ending a franchise/series, since I think they did it pretty much perfectly.

@deathstriker: From a story perspective? Sure. They nailed it. Gameplay wise? I hated every moment I had to play as kid Drake, same with TLOU and Ellie. I suspect there will also be moments in God of War (4) where you'll have to play as his son too. I just hope the narrative moments dont get in the way of the fun. But to some that's the whole reason they're playing, as i've said in my previous post I just hope they can do both without compromising either which I feel Uncharted 3,4 & TLOU didnt do.

I've always enjoyed the series, but this new game looks to have taken out everything it had, so I really don't know yet.

I'll pick it up out of curiosity more than anything.

So, I'm bumping this now that reviews are out. Have anyone's minds changed on whether they're going to get it? This is probably the first 'big' game from this year that I'm excited about getting. As I've mentioned before, I'm just a little bummed because currently I'm playing through and enjoying the Borderlands series, and I don't want to just stop playing that to get into God of War, which means I'm probably not going to play it on launch. I hope Giant Bomb reviews or at least does a quick look, and honestly, I hope it's Alex Navarro taking the controls and saying his piece.

@ntm: Not drastically. It is putting up a little higher scores than I was expecting but I always expected it to review well. I will play it, but probably not until summer.