Board 8 > God of War review from IGN- 10/10

(+) Yeah! (+)

http://m.ign.com/articles/2018/04/12/god-of-war-review
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Hype levels are through the roof
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EZA also with a 10:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqJFL0lH4ZE" data-time="

Game Informer 9.75
http://www.gameinformer.com/games/god_of_war/b/playstation4/archive/2018/04/12/god-of-war-ps4-review-game-informer.aspx
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Who gives review scores to 3 sig figs? Really now.
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Whoa

Was not expecting such high scores for a God of War game

Neat
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AquaArcane posted...

Whoa

Was not expecting such high scores for a God of War game

Neat

All of the main God of War games have scores in the 90s on metacritic.
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i should play this series
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I'm not one to trust "professional" review scores. They have let me down many times. It's been this way for a decade now - ever since they all gave a 4/10 game a 10/10 score (GTAIV). Time flies.
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KujikawaRising posted...

It's been this way for a decade now - ever since they all gave a 4/10 game a 10/10 score (GTAIV).

i don't think history is remotely on your side here
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Steiner posted...

KujikawaRising posted...

It's been this way for a decade now - ever since they all gave a 4/10 game a 10/10 score (GTAIV).

i don't think history is remotely on your side here

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Steiner posted...

KujikawaRising posted...

It's been this way for a decade now - ever since they all gave a 4/10 game a 10/10 score (GTAIV).

i don't think history is remotely on your side here

Huh?

GTAIV is a bad game. Rockstar put so much effort into the graphics and world design that they did so at making any part of the game remotely fun. The "friend" system is stupid and heavily detracts from the game. The missions are redundantly boring. The characters are uncompelling. And even with all the effort they put into the world, it's a terrible sandbox that's not even remotely interesting to navigate around. They tried to make it too much of a "real life simulator" and it was pretty much the opposite of every reason I play video games.

IGN gave another bad game a 10, too. Skyward Snore. That's even worse - a 3/10. It's much the same as GTAIV, only with padding. The one phenomenal stretch and one truly great character are not enough to salvage it from being nearly unplayably boring.

My 2017 GOTY got a 7/10 from a lot of these places. It's a 9.5/10 at minimum.

My point is that I don't trust them because they're so inconsistent. Fan reviews are always more trustworthy and that's why I usually wait until games come out.
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Also, giving a 4/10 game a 10 is a major discrepancy. I mean, giving a 4/10 game a 7/10 wouldn't be so bad. But saying a bad game like GTAIV or Skyward Snore is 'perfection' when it's rubbish is a major problem.
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Do you come into every topic about reviews and stand on your soapbox? Not trying to be rude but who are you trying to convince here?
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No, not really.

I just don't like people being so overhyped for a game that the only outcome is that they end up disappointed. That happened to me enough because I trusted reviews I shouldn't. IGN is simply the most guilty.

I will leave now.
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skullbone posted...

AquaArcane posted...

Whoa

Was not expecting such high scores for a God of War game

Neat

All of the main God of War games have scores in the 90s on metacritic.

Except for Ascension.

...Remember Ascension? Me neither.
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Ascension was not a great game. It was alright.

God of War 1, 2, and 3 are all fantastic, and Ghost of Sparta was pretty great too.
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Yea I've played all of them except Ascension. Really fun times. Sometimes frustrating on harder difficulties, but still overall fun. I'll probably check it out at some point, not on release though.
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Played all of them

1, 2, and 3 are among the best games of all time. 3 in particular is in my top 5 ever

Ascension, Ghost of Sparta and Chains of Olympus were all pretty solid too
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3 > GoS > CoO > A > 2 > 1
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Snrkiko posted...

i should play this series

should you
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I'm gonna back up BlueCrystalTear here on GTA IV. Literally the greatest example of bandwagon overhyping from professional reviewers, and a 4/10 is exactly what I would give that game. Such a completely vapid and utterly joyless experience, even moreso when compared to Vice City or San Andreas or GTA V. It's one of the only games I've ever bought and played but couldn't bring myself to finish. To be fair, IGN ran this podcast called "History of Awesome" in which the panel agreed the GTA IV review was likely their most overrated game review they ever published.

...but then you had to go and diss Skyward Sword, which is still my all-time favorite Zelda, warts and all. Dammit.

On the actual topic, God of War is one of those rare series where each mainline game got better than the last. 1 was a good game, 2 was great, and God of War 3 was amazing. Here's hoping 4 will continue the trend.
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GTAIV was great, one of my favourite ps3 games, loved Niko and the gay tony expansion was also a fun ride.
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I've always tried to like the GoW games but I always get bored after like an hour in.
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Wow kratos seems cool now and not some jabroni mark that just is angry all the time (blech)
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Woo cant wait. I mean I probably will, but still pretty excited

I liked Ascension and would say it's in the mid to upper half of the series except I never played the PSP games. It had some lovely level design and I enjoyed the multiplayer for a little while.
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iiicon posted...

Snrkiko posted...

i should play this series

should you

Like isn't this one going to be completely different from all the other ones anyway?
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KujikawaRising posted...

I'm not one to trust "professional" review scores. They have let me down many times. It's been this way for a decade now - ever since they all gave a 4/10 game a 10/10 score (GTAIV). Time flies.

A more recent example would be BOTW but yeah

I am definitely more cautious about this game than previously due to these reviews, especially since most of them have language like "it's different, but it's even BETTER than old GoW!!!" Like... I would hope so. The old GoWs are incredibly dated and mediocre by today's standards. It sounds like total marketing speech.
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RPGlord95 posted...

3 > GoS > CoO > A > 2 > 1

I think I can get behind this. CoO, A, and 2 are all very close together and had different strengths. I think 3 and GoS are easily above the rest, though
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still haven't played Ascension
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At the risk of coming across as overly harsh, reviewers these days absolutely lap up western-made cinematic games that focusing on delivering an 'experience'. The 10s are nice to see but they don't mean as much as they should. Uncharted 3 got 10s as well.
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Uncharted 3 is a really good game so I don't see the issue
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Having just finished Ascension, I can confirm that it was definitely a video game.

Anyway, this game is obvious criticbait, but sometimes that's some good shit. Expecting a 4/5 experience.
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Yeah this is the video game equivalent of a "made for the oscars" movie. If the game truly does something interesting with the characters and the interpretation of violence then that will be something. But it's still obviously this burly dude violently destroying stuff. It's not more mature just cuz he has a beard and a son.

It's crazy how in 2018, when we do get lots of games even in the AAA space exploring some different and non-traditional subjects, we still have such a massive advertising/enthusiast game review culture. There's good opinion pieces here and there, but any article with a number is totally braindead.
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Said it in the other topics but this game looks super stiff and not fun from the early looks, but I hope I'm wrong! Interesting to see all this hype because the series decided to go with a fairly typical AAA cinematic approach.
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foolm0r0n posted...

Yeah this is the video game equivalent of a "made for the oscars" movie.

Yeah that sums up my feelings pretty well

Actually here's some more (harsher than I would say) posts from the NGG forum that I think provide more detail on my impressions:

it will probably be good for game journalists, who review a new game every week. For them, they'll always be impressed more by "experience" type games. I've read all the reviews for the new god of war and not one reviewer can give a thorough breakdown of the game's combat mechanics. They all describe it in superficial terms like "oh it feels weighty and visceral!". Nothing about hitstun, input buffering, air time, animation canceling. You know, the fucking basics of what makes an action game interesting.

But they would have said the exact same things even if it were mediocre, so this really tells us nothing about the game one way or the other. They decided to give it 10's months ago when they first heard that Kratos was now rocking the hipster combo of bald head and beard, and that the game would focus on "emotional, mature, grown up" storytelling instead of gameplay.

There was never a possibility of the major outlets giving this poor reviews, and anyone who was looking at it with clear eyes saw that coming a mile away. It may be a good game; I'm not saying it isn't (I haven't played it). I'm saying that these reviews were decided long ago more on principles by the games journos than on anything related to the game's quality, and you'd have to be willfully disingenuous to suggest otherwise. If the reviews do match the game's quality, it will be by coincidence and not because the reviews were accurate.

Now, I could be totally wrong. Maybe I would love the game if I played it. I'm just not at all on the same wavelength with modern reviewers when it comes to games like this. Them giving it 10s means a lot less to me than I think it should. I watch videos of the game and while I can tell it will be very cinematic, it simply doesn't look fun.
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KamikazePotato posted...

Uncharted 3 got 10s as well.

Rightfully so
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I mean, even if you really like Uncharted 3, it's got some major flaws and shouldn't be getting 10s that easily
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KamikazePotato posted...

I mean, even if you really like Uncharted 3, it's got some major flaws and shouldn't be getting 10s that easily

I disagree.
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KamikazePotato posted...

I'm saying that these reviews were decided long ago more on principles by the games journos than on anything related to the game's quality

Eh I don't know if that really happens. It's really clear in these cases that it's pure marketing. You can tell because they don't mention the senseless violence and objectification and outdated gamer power fantasy that defined the previous GoWs, even as they emphasize how THIS GoW is different and justifies all those things. They only mention praise for the GoW series, as if they are contractually obligated to not say anything that could hurt the brand.
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HashtagSEP posted...

I disagree.

So it's not a flaw that he went from near death in the desert to instantly becoming a god again just by picking up a gun?
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foolm0r0n posted...

HashtagSEP posted...

I disagree.

So it's not a flaw that he went from near death in the desert to instantly becoming a god again just by picking up a gun?

No, that's pretty badass
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The storyline has very janky pacing, writing issues, breaks suspension of disbelief, and lacks a real ending. In a cinematic game, that's a big deal. The gameplay is also a step down from Uncharted 2 somehow (especially the stealth), although some of the setpieces are very memorable.
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tazzyboyishere posted...

No, that's pretty badass

Yeah I guess it gives me a raging boner
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https://twitter.com/tamoorh/status/984568850984382464?s=21

Seemed relevant
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The the water part with the cruise ship and the trucks + plane part were the 2nd and 3rd best parts of the series

But 2 had the train soooo
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The cruise ship was incredible

Jakyl25 posted...

https://twitter.com/tamoorh/status/984568850984382464?s=21

Seemed relevant

Most of he what he says are buzzwords though and he doesn't mention the gameplay at all.

I'm not even levying my complaints at God of War specifically. It's directed at the gaming press which falls into predictable patterns for certain types of games.
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When I saw Nate stumbling around and dying in the desert like a bitch, I thought, "Wow, maybe this guy isn't the badass sociopath I thought he was". It was important for the writers to establish that fear of wasting your time on three games playing as a soyboy, only to rip that mentality out of your mind with some good, old-fashioned manslaughter. That moment alone makes the game worthy of straight 10s from dudes who'd rather be writing movie reviews.
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Cruise ship is definitely the highlight in U3. Good good game but not as great as U2 or U4 imo
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Are there really no reviewers who will give you the sort of nuts and bolts dissection of the action you want?
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