the ticket

ACHIEVING A GOD-LIKE STATUS

GOD of War is the most talked-about game of 2018 and lives up to its hype.

It’s an emotional rollercoaster from the start and the best single player game I’ve ever played.

Kratos and his son Atreus, on the face of it, are at the beginning of an incredible journey, and seem to be like any other father-and-son combo.

A young pretender to his Dad’s throne, Atreus has just lost his mother and is looking to his mostly absent father for guidance in his life.

Sony Santa Monica do an incredible job of pulling the player into the game with the conflicted thoughts of Kratos.

Due to his past of gratuitous destruction and violence, and the fact he is a God, he is torn over when to tell his son the truth that he’s also part-God and how he will eventually handle the news given that he is so young. Where previous God of War games in the series have been set in Greek mythology, this version sets itself firmly in Norse myth.

To keep this review as spoiler-free as possible, I can’t divulge even the first 10 minutes of gameplay as it features a character who will prove to give some great moments later in the game.

But be warned, it’s the most epic opening hour of any game I’ve played.

The story wouldn’t be nearly as impressive if it wasn’t for the almost flawless visuals portrayed throughout the game.

Vast landscapes and horizons seem to go on forever and I found myself taking screenshots every 15 minutes such was the picture-perfect backdrops on show.

Single-player games always feature cinematic interludes which tell some of the story and also lead to load time between each chapter of play.

Not God of War, though. Not one single minute of load time between chapters and all cinematics flow from gameplay to interlude straight back to gameplay, all with clever use of camera.

As with most RPG games, the upgrade of characters is vital as you move through the chapters as trolls, wolves and Revenants become more difficult to defeat.

Middle to end, the upgrades are brilliant – from the weapons that you and Atreus carry to the dual-combat system that allows you to use arrows from Atreus which keeps Kratos’s boy involved in all aspects of the game, right up to the end.

God of War is one of those games that as you near the end, you want something else to happen and for the story never to finish.

There’s even a nod to a sequel – and fans will start their own war if there isn’t one.