God of War and Others

On 05/11/2018 at 10:18 AM by KnightDriver

By the end of the day yesterday, I felt like a lumberjack luchadore. Here be the notes:

Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard: I returned to this hoping to finish it but the clunky way in which they want to move from one cover position to another finally got to me. I thought, once I got the water guns and the joke about SOCOM (soak 'em - get it?), I'd start laughing but I barely cracked a smile. I didn't even get that line I liked so much when I heard Mark playing it years ago, "I'm down to my last squirt" (stupid joke, I know, but funny). I guess I'm too good about switching weapons before they run out of ammo. Anyway, to heck with this game, it's terrible.

Banjo & Kazooie: I had a lot of downloads going that weren't complete yet (God of War being one that took nearly all day) so I dropped back into this Rare gem. I got to the island world (I forget the name of it) and did lots of jumping around 3D platforming stuff until I'd had my fill. 3D platforming. Ah!!! So annoying after a while. How to kids stand it?

Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy: The early aughts when double colon titles were common. Weird time. Anyway, this is a cool light sabery adventure in the Star Wars universe that ended with me cursing light sabers. Who brings a light saber to a blaster fight anyway? Stupid. I did like Moss Isley. I guess I get along with scum and villanny.

Guacamelle: I so fell in love with this game, it made me want to move to Mexico and become a luchadore. The music made me want to dance, the graphics made me want to paint, and the food references, well, I was eating a Chimichanga already because it's Deadpool's favorite food. I loved it! 2D puzzle-platforming-action game. All good, except I got stuck in the temple area and couldn't get out. I circled the entire area several times and couldn't find a way. Gosh darn it, it's weak to look up a walkthrough. I failed, I must accept it. Move on.

God of War [2018]: Damn if this didn't take five hours to install. I got to playing and put the difficulty on Challenging. Then I got my butt handed to me in the first battle. I put it back down to the default of Balanced, and I got past that first encounter.

This game plays less like a God of War game than a Souls game. The battles are slower and more tactical. There's a lot of defense, dodging, and careful timing to be done. What I ended up doing is standing back a lot, throwing that axe like a lumberjack, and directing the kid to shoot a lot of arrows. Melee is supposed to be the bread and butter of the God of War games but doing that could easily get you killed unless you time things just right. So I was a little bit disappointed in that. I wanted those chain blades and a lot of fast action., but I got used to it

The game is gorgeous. Mark got a 4K Mac yesterday and now I wish I had a 4K tv for this game. Just incredible graphics.

The level progression and item upgrades happen very slowly. Four hours into it and I was just meeting the blacksmith and getting my first XP to spend. I guess I'm ok with that. The menu system is muy complicated: mucho weapon tweeks, new melee moves (I got the head splitting heavy attack one) and armor upgrades for me and the boy.

The story is incredibly well meshed to the gameplay, reminds me of Uncharted and how well that's done there too: seemless transitions between gameplay and cutscenes. Cutscenes? I didn't even think of that word playing God of War.

I'm at the witch's house right now. I can't wait to chuck that axe around some more for both battles and puzzle solving. I like that no matter where I send it, I can recall it like a Jedi lightsaber, does damage on the way back too. BONUS!!!

Oh hey, that's a day.

Casey Curran Staff Writer

05/11/2018 at 11:46 AM

I didn't like the new God of War. Stopped about two thirds through because the game is way too long for me, might have liked it if I could have beat it by then. I had issues with the camera and how the enemies just didn't have fun attack patterns IMO, which didn't really start to sink in until I was halfway through. I loved everything the game did outside the combat, but it's still an action game. Fighting needs to be great for me to have fun.

KnightDriver

05/11/2018 at 09:35 PM

I like a faster fighting style. This seems slow and plodding. Everything charges the heck out of you too. I end up endlessly backpedaling until I get an opening. In previous God of War games, I would charge everything and overwelm them with power and speed. That's a GOW game to me.

Super Step Contributing Writer

05/12/2018 at 02:00 PM

I've never played a GoW, but yeah, all this talk of them slowing down the action isn't making me excited for the newer one.

05/13/2018 at 10:10 AM

I think Souls fans might love it. Man is it a gorgeous feast for the eyes though. It's totally worth it for the visuals. I love the way it moves into a cut scene. The only way you know it's a cut scene is that suddenly you can't control the character. Nothing visually changes at all. Great.

05/13/2018 at 08:24 PM

Dark Souls is one of my favorite games ever and I didn't like GoW. It's really lacking in enemy variety and is either way too easy and boring or challenging in unfun ways

05/14/2018 at 10:50 AM

I suspected that. It's only like Dark Souls, really, in that the battles are a little more tactical than typical God of War games. I liked the animations on the enemies though, reminded me of Ray Harryhausen monsters in his movies.

Cary Woodham

05/11/2018 at 09:49 PM

The Island World in Banjo-Kazooie is called Treasure Trove Cove. If you play in that world long enough, you'll be able to learn how to fly! I love that game and its sequel. I've beaten them both and got all the achievements in the 360 versions.

I reviewed Guacamelee. It's a fun Metroid style game but it gets really hard. I did beat it, but I don't tell you anything else so I don't spoil it for you.

05/13/2018 at 10:12 AM

Yea, I was looking forward to flying, but I had to jump across these pedistals and kept falling off. Ug, nothing angers me more than having to repeat a platforming sequence over and over.

Blake Turner Staff Writer

05/13/2018 at 10:43 PM

Guacamelee is pretty fun. I enjoyed the art style and music especially but found combat a bit repetitive. Still a fun little game. Have you tried Severed? Same decs but more inspired by old dungeon crawlers and Zelda. Also quite a bit darker.

im quite interested in God of War, but find the idea of redeeming kratos a tad silly. It just seems like the wrong series to try an emotional narrative with. Ive Also heard combat isn't that great, which isn't great for a GoW game! But I do still want to give it a try.

05/14/2018 at 10:37 AM

Oh Severed. I think I have that on my Vita. I remember playing it for a while but not finishing it. Some puzzle got me stuck, I think.

They made Kratos a God and now he's a barely functional old man who has to have is tiny son save his ass. Totally stupid. I loved the combat in the 4 previous God of War games but they've been getting farther and farther away from it as QTEs and heaps of story and cinematics crept into the series. I no like! Kratos smash! That's all I want, bloody chunks and flying chain blades. They're gettin' too fancy with it.

goaztecs

05/17/2018 at 12:39 PM

I'm still doing my best of not jumping on GOW before a sale. I have too many other games I want to play before I get sucked into another Kratos kills everybody game. That install time is crazy!

I know I've played Eat Lead but I don't think I got far into it, because I can't remember it.

Guacamelee is so much fun. Challenging, but fun. I think I know where you're stuck at because I got stuck there as well. YouTube walk throughs help.

05/17/2018 at 10:53 PM

Kratos has to work to kills stuff in this game and he doesn't even kill his main foe. . . yet.

Eat Lead is trash. I knew it wasn't going to be great, but I expected it to be funny at least.

Sometimes I look up a guide and sometimes I just leave. It kind of depends. I just left Guacamelle but I'm still thinking about it.

PixlBit