Released on April 20, 2018 on the PlayStation 4, God of War is a sequel to one of the most famous PlayStation exclusive franchises, a game aiming to reboot the former trilogy for the new generation of consoles. In my opinion, any good sequel draws from the success of its previous entries, utilizing the good ideas it developed from those and satisfying long-time fans, while at the same time daring to do something new to improve on the formula, as well as welcoming new fans. Does this game achieve that balance? Let’s find out, by examining it with the following categories.

• Plot: 10/10

The game revolves around Kratos and his young boy, Atreus, who are on a personal quest to deliver Kratos’ wife’s ashes to the top of the highest mountain peak to let them go. The game is set in Norse mythology, taking the player through multiple realms such as Midguard, Alfheim, and Helheim.

Unlike previous games in the series, which told grand tales of Kratos taking on the gods of Greek mythology in his search for revenge, this story is a much more personal journey. Both Kratos and his son develop as characters through their quest, strengthening their relationship with each other. It’s an emotional story, one that tugged at my heartstrings on many occasions, more than I thought it ever could in a video game; the game really gets you to care about the characters and their relationship, especially the bond between Kratos and his son.

The game is revolutionary in its storytelling, especially since it isn’t something that’s always spoon-fed to the player. There are little details and symbolism, such as the bindings around Kratos’ wrists that represent the ties to his dark past. Little nods like these reference the previous games in the series, and for new players, they give a sense that Kratos is someone who doesn’t quite belong in this world, as a man who previously was a Spartan god who had killed all of the gods in Greek mythology. Throughout the game you see him wrestle with this past, as he desperately attempts to ensure his son won’t fall into the same mistakes as he did. It really gives the impression of a much wiser and more mature Kratos, as well as a more meaningful and mature message for the storyline.

The story is also told so well through little details in the world that give the story behind the realms of Norse Mythology. From the jotnar shrines you can discover through the beautifully crafted world, which tell the story of the history of the giants in the past, to the breathtaking view of seeing the World Serpent up close for the fist time, all these little details bring the story of the world around you to life. After playing this game, I can say that I’ve become extremely interested in both Norse Mythology and marvel by how storytelling has evolved in video games.

• Gameplay: 9/10

The gameplay of God of War can generally be divided into a few major categories. First, is the combat system, in which Kratos will mostly be using his trusty Leviathan Axe to dispose a variety of foes. The combat system here is robust, extremely fun and satisfying to use. Every punch or blow seems to have tangible impact and throughout the game, as you level up both your axe and your character, you gain new moves and combinations that make the combat feel new and exciting. It’s a system that will take time to master, as the game isn’t always easy, especially when you’re facing enemies much higher level than yourself, giving a nice challenge and feeling of accomplishment to the player. The most exciting addition to gameplay here is the ability to throw your Leviathan Axe and call it back to you in any situation, making it much like Thor’s hammer in that regard. Calling the axe back to Kratos is something that, even when you’re doing it for the 100th time, never quite gets old.

Thought the game, along with the common enemies you’ll face, you’ll encounter many boss battles, including Trolls, Ancients, Valkyries, a dragon, and other smaller human-sized enemies, such as the Stranger. Bosses like these provide challlenging and enjoyable, often epic fights (especially that of the dragon). Some of these are reminiscent of the older games in the series, which were so well-known for extravagant boss battles. The only negative to this is that many of these boss battles are reskinned versions of a boss you’ve already completed and mastered before; for example, fighting an ice troll and a fire troll are relatively the same thing, requiring the same strategies you’ve used before. It would’ve been nicer to see more variations on some of the smaller bosses, for example more standout battles like the one with the dragon, but these encounters are still fun nonetheless.

When you’re not engaging in combat in the game, you’ll be exploring the world around you, collecting gear to upgrade your character and finding jontar shrines and other lore that enriches the world around you. You’ll be solving small puzzles involving the use of your trusty axe. The incentive for the player to go out and explore the world beyond the main storyline is extremely high, since you’ll want to discover better armor and upgrades to face the challenges ahead, and, most importantly, because the game world is simply so extremely beautiful and intriguing in itself. The main hub of the game, the Lake of the Nines, features a semi-open world with optional side quests, a world much more expansive than you could’ve expected for a narrative-driven game such as this. It even features additional optional realms that you can travel to outside of the main story, expanding the game even further, which lends itself well to the beginnings of RPG elements that bring replayability and depth to a game series previously focused on action. The sense of adventure and the feeling that you belong to an epic quest in the lovingly crated world around you is something the game delivers uniquely, and some of the best moments to be had in the game are had while simply exploring.

• Music: 10/10

The music in the game is composed by Bear McCreary, who is most known for his work on titles such as Battlestar Galactica, The Walking Dead, Outlander and Da Vinci’s Demons. The tracks in the game are extremely high quality, raning from somber and quiet melodies that enhance the atmosphere, to epic scores that frame the tension of a boss fight. Truly, the soundtrack in the game could’ve come from a high-budget movie instead of a video games, evoking emotion and excitement at the appropriate times.

• Graphics: 10/10

I’m quite certain that I’ve never seen a game that looks as good as this one does. The level of detail alone is something to marvel at, as you can see the greying stripes in Kratos’ beard, the puffs of smoke he exhales in the cold, and the minute facial expressions which give the characters emotional depth. Grander views like that of the view from the top of a snow covered mountain are simply jaw-dropping to behold. Colors are vibrant and atmospheric, ranging from the cold icy depths of Helheim, to the bright jungles of Alfheim. It’s clear that no shortcuts were taken in this game with any small detail or structure, making it one of the objectively best looking games on the Playstation 4.

Along with the sheer graphical prowess, and remarkable attention to detail, it’s clear that so much of the world’s design has been lovingly crafted from the lore that it’s based on. A lot of research must have been done in Norse legend, and a lot of creativity harnessed to create the unique version of it that we see in the game world. It’s a world that’s not only beautiful in terms of resolution, but in design, and that alone is something that makes you want to keep playing, just to see what’s through the next door or what’s on that island halfway across the map you haven’t visited yet.

• Overall: 9.75/10

Overall, God of War is a game that deviates significantly from its previous entries, in a bold way, delivering a more mature and emotionally-driven story-line with the backdrop of a captivating world that’s open to explore. In a market that’s now so often saturated with similar-looking competitive multiplayer games, it’s wonderful to see a single player game like this, focused in telling a story and doing so expertly. With the game time clocking in at around 30 hours or so, it’s definitely one that’s worth the money, and worth replaying again.

The third writing assignment for the week I’ve completed is this one, in which I had to write a video game review, rating it thoroughly through a variety of categories. This assignment is worth 3 stars.

I was immediately intrigued by this assignment since I’m a big fan of video games and, when I had more time on my hands, used to be a fan of reading and watching game reviews. So, I knew it was something I had to try out for myself! I chose God of War since it’s a game I’ve recently played and absolutely loved, and I thought that it’s perfect for our theme of legends and folklore, as a tale of Norse Mythology. In terms of storytelling, I think, we often forget to include video games, but in modern times, they’re growing to become quite a unique genre of storytelling. A game can tell a story in a way that a movie or TV series cannot, in that it tells an interactive one that places the player in control of that story, making it a more personal journey in many ways. I think that God of War is such an excellent example of the unique storytelling that can be done in a video game, which I hope to see continue to develop in the industry!

This was also a fun way for me to review a piece of media that I enjoy, and separating the review into categories as mentioned on the assignment post made it much easier to collect my thoughts. I had to do some research on the composer, and otherwise, the struggle I faced was not to ramble on in each of the sections and instead provide an overview of how I felt about each of the topics. I’d recommend this assignment to anyone else who loves video games!

Super Smash Bros: Melee (SSBM) was released for Nintendo GameCube in north america on December 3, 2001 just a little over 15 years ago a legendary game was given to us.  Many of us have played it, but very few of us were able to master it. What is Melee? Melee is the second installment of the Super Smash brothers video game series with the first being released on N64.  It is a crossover fighting game, where players are able to choose their own characters which are from the Nintendo franchise.

Plot

I can tell you that no one plays this game for the plot.  Yes, there is a single player and by doing single player challenges you can unlock other characters but it’s pointless. You are able to unlock those characters just by playing more multiplayer matches.  There isn’t much plot to it as it’s a compilation of all the Nintendo characters and highlights of their franchise games.  The real reason people buy the game is to beat other kids on the block and multishine kids into oblivion.

Gameplay

Nintendo was unique with their SSBM game by not having a health bar like other fighting games. Other games such as Street Fighter had health bars that were depleted when you hit an opponent, and when it’s gone you die. SSBM took a step back and found another way to do it. They instead chose to have a percentage of damage that adds up, and subsequently increases the knockback on attacks and makes it easier to die. This makes matches very interesting as the game becomes very tense when both opponents are at high percentages and are likely to die even when hit with relatively weak attacks.

As a result of the competitve nature of the game, there is a very large competitive scene for SSBM. Melee hosts tournaments throughout EU, US, and Japan which have many thousands of dollars of prize money.  Melee also hosted tournaments with MLG (Major League Gaming) and since then has gained a cult following.

Compared to later installments of Smash such as Brawl and Smash 4, Melee has a “pure” gameplay that is very fluid and ever changing. The meta, the current style of gameplay and techniques, is always changing and new players are always rising to the top.

Here is an example of just how hype the competive gameplay can get, and how fast the inputs are on a controller.

Music

The music is pretty basic but yet recognizable. No one plays this game for the music, only for bragging rights.

Graphics

The graphics in this game are perfect. It is the embodiment of function over form. Yes they could be better. But why would they need to be better? The game functions very well. If you want a game with better graphics, go play Smash 4.

Verdict

Easy game to get decent at, very hard to get good at. One thing you learn is that there is always someone better than you.

Prior to our newest generation of video game consoles, I had been a fairly avid gamer leaning entirely to the Xbox side of things. Unlike today’s console market, previous consoles differed little in performance and features. The real gold was in the exclusives. Xbox had the big boppers; Halo, Gears of War, Mass Effect. Playstation had some winners like Uncharted, and Metal Gear Solid, but they never consistently matched Microsoft’s consistently stellar lineup. In the days of 360 versus PS3, I was almost entirely happy with Microsoft’s exclusives. Sure, LittleBig Planet looked cool, Killzone’s graphics popped, but almost the entire console cycle never made me once think about buying a PS3. Then in 2013, the tail end of the consoles life span, developer Naughty Dog released the post-apocalyptic tour de force, The Last of Us. From the developers of the acclaimed Uncharted series, The Last of Us was a fairly anticipated title, but no one was entirely prepared for what was coming. Buzz began after traditionally fickle review websites such as IGN distinguished the game with an almost-never-used perfect score of ten out of ten. It was quickly deemed a masterpiece and a classic, and I was quickly incensed I could not play it. Skipping ahead here a bit, I eventually bought a PS4 for its specs and Sony eventually released a beautiful, 60 FPS remastered version of the game the next year. Everything lined up, and I had my game.

Anyway, I’ve worked a lot with this game recently so I thought share a bit of background with that one. On to a more review-like structure.

Gameplay: 9.5/10

The “survival” game is an oft-confused label in the video game world. Horror? Action? What is it? Resident Evil 4 really confused everyone. It felt survival-like in scrounging for supplies, felt action-like with explosions and guns, and certainly horror-like with its heart-thumping moments of feeling chased. It was called a survival-horror game, and since then the genre label has been all over the place. As far as I’m concerned, Naughty Dog nailed the balance, using its fright and violence elements strategically as means for survival. Especially in the game’s “grounded mode” in which Joel lacks his superhuman ability to see enemies through walls, gameplay is outrageously taught and suspenseful. Supplies are scarce and can be cruelly fickle. Crafting a moltov cocktail might be helpful, but the rags you used to make it won’t be around when you need a first-aid kit. Is it worth it? These sorts of survival gameplay systems make choices have more impact and make individual playthroughs more unique. Combined with sound third-person shooting and stealth mechanics, and we have among the smoothest-playing games of its design. The only real mechanical knock is on the ever-thorny third-person cover system. This is a game where you absolutely need to stay hidden at times. While the auto-cover system against walls and other surfaces is responsive, there are undoubtedly awkward moments that break the experience and leave players helplessly exposed. In the more advanced difficulties of this game, just a moment of accidental exposure can spell doom.

This excerpt from an essay I wrote on the game  nicely sums up why its gameplay feels so personal and visceral:

For much of the first half of the game, The Last of Us’ Ellie (the boy’s counterpart) is entirely defenseless, leaving Joel (the man) to defend her. Up until a certain point, players are exclusively in control of the highly-capable, world-weary Joel. That is, until Joel is injured and the game unexpectedly drops the player in a hostile environment as Ellie. Though she has a small pocketknife, as players, we feel completely vulnerable and helpless in this situation. Ellie has to try and escape from a mall that is swarming with violent drifters. The game initially guides the player through a hallway where Ellie creeps up behind an armed enemy. There are no expectations here for players. Can she kill him? Will he kill her? Can she sneak past him? The choice is up to the player, though the most effective option is indeed to stealthily take the man out. As Joel, players are familiar with a simple button combination that stealth-kills enemies from behind, but there is no guidance or guarantee as Ellie. Will it work, or will I die? Choosing to kill the man has Ellie jumping on the man’s back and struggling with him before repeatedly stabbing him in the chest and falling to the ground covered in blood and tears. The man gurgles at the mouth, blood runs down his chest, Ellie’s clothes become temporarily blood-stained. I believe that this sort of medium-specific moment where the player acts out harrowing actions is more effective at detailing “the boy’s” awareness of the sadistic world around him, moments where the game is truer to the source than the source material itself.

Plot: 10/10

The game’s narrative details the story of the world-weary Joel and his young companion, Ellie, as they trek across a post-apocalyptic United States. Joel’s teenage daughter died during the outbreak of a virus that caused a zombie infestation. Many years later he is paired with Ellie, a fourteen year old girl who was bitten by an infected but found she was immune to the virus, making her the last hope for humanity.

Cormac McCarthy is among my favorite authors, and his 2006 novel The Road, was my introduction into his work. I mention it because of the striking similarities between The Last of Us and McCarthy’s novel. In fact, for a class last semester, ENGL Adaptation, I wrote a paper and complied a comparative digital map on the nature of the film adaptation of The Road and its “faithfulness” to the source material in comparison to the Last of Us. Ultimately I argue that though the film is more literally faithful in terms of plot elements, in many ways, The Last of Us is more spiritually, thematically “faithful” to the novel’s original concepts.

No game in current existence comes anywhere close to cultivating more realistic and believable characters. The scripting, voice acting (and motion capture), and character growth are unsurpassed and mind-blowingly poignant. Traditionally, I feel as though reviewers go somewhat easy on the video game narratives, understanding their limitations and constraints. This is a game that needs to excuses, that is as good of a telling of a tale as one can see anywhere. The emotion drawn from such a powerful story that so directly involves its audience is staggering.

Graphics: 9.5/10

This is a bit of a tricky category considering the nature of the game’s release. Judged by PS3 standards, it is an absolute masterwork. The absurd level of detail in every building, in every poster, in every facial expression is absurd. On PS4 in 60 FPS and 1080p, my experience, the whole thing just looks like butter. It’s a sight to behold. At the same time, however, it also reveals a number of the initial build’s hardware limitations. Everything up close is mind blowing, but those trees over that ridge there look a little pixelated. The motion capture used for the character animations is nearly flawless, save an awkward moment or two. The total package here though, is absolutely nuts. Visual gold.

Music: 10/10

I freaking love this soundtrack. The main theme, the gritty, melancholic electric bass notes wrench my heart just a bit every time I hear them. It’s such a beautiful blend of modern, urban, weathered vibes. It fits the game like a glove.

This game is one I got bundled with my Playstation 3 when it arrived in the mail a few weeks ago, and I went into it knowing very little – merely that it was a triple-A title and highly recommended by pretty much anyone who had played it. After playing it myself, I feel most every one of those recommendation was justified – the plot absolutely blew me away, if nothing else. I’ll get into the criteria from the assignment page:

Gameplay – 8/10

As a survival horror game, gameplay focuses around just that – surviving a horrific world while hampered by being human, running constantly low on supplies that must be manually gathered by the player and using those supplies to accomplish goals.

By “being human,” I refer to the little things, like the fact that you are not given instant, perfect steady aim like a player might have in Halo, you don’t get any sort of heads-up display, you never have any idea when your enemies will run out of health in the form of an HP bar (though you do get an HP bar yourself), and you are easily killed by any enemy in the game if you can’t run away or kill the enemy first, no matter how far along in the game you are. This is in contrast to games like World of Warcraft, where character progression dictates that you don’t really take damage from lower level enemies. This facet of gameplay means you must always pay attention to what is happening - one slip-up, and you could die and have to restart the encounter you died on. This adds a sense of tension and immerses the player in the game world, which is a very good thing in today’s gaming market, where players often have short attention spans for anything that doesn’t immediately grab their attention.

Gathering supplies and using them in an intelligent fashion is the other main part of gameplay. Running low on supplies is par for the course in survival horror games – when you are first tossed into combat like a sack of potatoes, you are armed with only your wits, your fists, and 4 rounds of 9mm ammunition to kill 3 Infected Runners. Gun ammunition in particular drops believably scarcely while still giving the player enough to get by with if they use it scrupulously. Other items are dropped that can be used to craft utility items that let you take down much larger enemies than your fists or even guns can, and you can upgrade your character by gathering Survival Supplements scattered throughout the world, granting useful bonuses. Looting these items takes up a fair chunk of gameplay, simply because if you don’t, the player can count on running out of supplies and getting stuck.

I gave this section an 8/10 because it is well-executed but slightly tedious in some parts. The gameplay forces you to think, “Where do I go to approach this fight in the easiest way possible?” “Can I take this group of enemies and live?” “Can I sneak around the enemies and avoid them entirely?” I find gameplay like that very interesting and fun, since it punishes you for making bad decisions and rewards you for making good decisions.

Plot – 10/10

Gut-wrenching. Engaging. Mentally stimulating. The plot of The Last of Us is incredibly easy to spoil in the telling of it, so I’ll try to avoid that as much as possible. Mostly, the plot focuses on two characters – Joel, a smuggler who did (to put it nicely and extremely lightly) morally questionable things to keep himself and what remained of his family alive for 20 years after a pandemic of human-compatible cordyceps infected the vast majority of the population and led to society’s collapse. The other main character, Ellie, is a young girl born after the cordyceps has driven humanity into relatively small quarantine zones within easily defensible cities, and knows only the screwed-up world Joel had to see come into being. These two unlikely companions get paired up when Joel is tasked to smuggle her across the US – and the US is a very dangerous place indeed in this world.

Set to this backdrop, the story follows Joel and Ellie’s journey, and all of the terrible things happening in what’s left of the world.

I gave this part a 10/10, simply because it managed to completely suck me in – I hung on every bit of dialogue, stopped for every possible conversation, and watched in rapt horror as events unfolded, things going from bad to worse.

Music – 10/10

There actually wasn’t a massive amount of music for this game, the entire soundtrack sitting at just under an hour in total playtime, but they use it where it counts. You don’t really hear any music during combat – honestly, I as a player was too busy concentrating on the fighting and all other outputs and inputs while that was happening to pay attention to the music. Instead, most of the music is concentrated on creating atmosphere directly related to the plot when cutscenes or other plot advancements come up, to hit the player harder with the dawning realization that “Why yes, that just happened.” I give this a 10/10 due to their execution – I never noticed when music wasn’t playing, since the rest of the game had me immersed, and when it was there, it was there, setting the mood and the pacing for the scenes playing out. It never seemed like anything was missing, and it was never overbearing or inappropriate to the scene.

Graphics – 8/10

There was incredible artwork for this game across the board – enemies, environments, objects, all top notch. Some of the animations and scene transitions were weird, but those mostly shone through during combat, when the system is busy making a million other calculations and you hardly notice them anyways. The problem was that, when you did notice these discrepancies, they happened in a big way. I counted at least twice where characters instantly teleported or spawned where I was looking, and that breaks immersion in a big way and makes scenes lose emotional impact with obvious, distracting glitches or things that break the rules of the story world set by the creators. If not for this, I’d give it a 10/10.

Overall – 9/10

This is just to my personal tastes – it had an engaging story and very few flaws to distract me from it, and if I died it was usually because I did something stupid. The game rewarded good decision making and diligent looting of supplies, and absolutely blew me away with plot twists and It Gets Worse moments. I recommend it.

- David