Another Playstation, another God of War. Such is the way of things, and so nobody was surprised when Sony announced the latest iteration of their hack-and-slash powerhouse. There have been numerous sequels (and spin-offs) following the 2005 Playstation 2 original, and most have maintained the same basic mechanics. The exception is 2013’s God of War: Ascension, which made tweaks including destructible secondary weapons, but ultimately failed to provide innovation or improvement upon the existing formula.  Enter 2018: God of War is released for the Playstation 4, and anyone familiar with the series is in for a pleasant surprise.

While the days of watching Kratos dole out beatings of epic proportions through a third-person camera are indeed gone, they won’t be missed. The over-the-shoulder (or second-person) camera will be familiar to fans of Gears of War or Resident Evil. As a matter of fact, the new life that has been breathed into the experience of controlling Kratos is very reminiscent of what R.E.4 did for the Resident Evil series.

For those old enough to remember, in addition to changing from fixed camera to over-the-shoulder, Resident Evil 4 also included a character named Ashley who followed you around for a large chunk of the game. When it was announced, gamers everywhere cringed at the prospect of Capcom making a large part of their highly anticipated game into an escort mission. However, when the game was released there was a collective sigh of relief as it quickly became clear that Ashley could usually hold her own.

Kratos’ son Atreus doesn’t deserve a sigh; he deserves a cheer. From a character development perspective, he’s a welcome source of emotional conflict for Kratos. Without getting into any spoilers, it’s fair to say that family has always been a critical part of what makes the Ghost of Sparta tick. However, a family relationship has previously never been around to inform his decision making. There’s an interesting father-son dynamic that forces Kratos to balance his tendencies with setting an example for his son, and it provides his actions with a feeling of added weight.

From a gameplay perspective Atreus is no slouch either. Those familiar with games like Diablo will feel right at home choosing different abilities and weapons for Atreus which can compliment one’s preferred play-style.

What is perhaps most impressive about God of War is that fans of what has made the series popular have no reason to fear the numerous changes. There are still epic encounters with gods. There are still hyper-violent finishing moves. The graphics are both artistically and technically stunning.

Those who own a Playstation 4 have no excuse to skip this one. Sony Santa Monica has shown that they aren’t content to re-hash the series they have been entrusted with, no matter how easy it would be. Earlier I compared this release to the revolutionary Resident Evil 4; but there’s an important difference. Resident Evil was a broken series, desperate to re-invent itself or die trying. God of War would have sold well enough if it were the same old game wearing new clothes. It wasn’t broke, but somehow they fixed it.

This game capitalizes on re-invention while bolstering that which made it a successful series in the first place. God of War is worthy of being the face of Sony’s flagship now more than ever, and should be considered the gold standard for action games of this console generation. God of War for the Playstation 4 gets a solid 5 out of 5.

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