Well, as I was playing God of War recently, I thought I would play its sequel, God of War Ragnarok to see how it compares to the original and I have just finished it, so thought I would post a review of it as well.
So, how does the follow-up fair to the original game? Well, let's find out!
And the usual warning is coming...
PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!
STORY
So, I've quoted a bit of the plot from Wikipedia below:
"Near the end of Fimbulwinter, Kratos and Atreus return home from a hunting trip—fending off an ambush from a vengeful Freya—only to find their wolf Fenrir in his final moments. After Fenrir dies, Atreus' grief transforms him into a bear through his still-uncontrolled Giant magic, briefly battling his father before coming back to his senses. Shortly after, Thor arrives at their home—fulfilling a vision Atreus had three years ago—and is joined by Odin, who proposes to leave Kratos' family alone if Atreus abandons his secret search for Týr. Kratos refuses and duels Thor to a stalemate, but Odin tells Atreus he will leave Kratos alone if the former comes to Asgard. With the aid of the Huldra Brothers, Kratos, Atreus, and Mímir take refuge in Sindri's home on the branches of the World Tree, Yggdrasil, in the realm between realms."
And from here Atreus has to make the decision to either stand-by or betray his father and his allies by joining Odin's quest to find undiscovered answers that relate to a powerful mask...
THOUGHTS
As a sequel, God of War: Ragnarok is an excellent follow-up to the original game and its sees the return of Kratos and Atreus who have both grown as characters and Atreus has also grown up a little and is given a lot more to do this time round than before and is now playable. And the game's story is both enjoyable and also quite an emotional one as all the characters take several twists and turns along the way. The game also manages to be much bigger in scope and it also features a very lengthy main story, which took me about 30 hours to complete and that's without the optional missions, which could another 30 hours on top of that! However, the game manages to pack a lot of fun in and it certainly has plenty of combat to enjoy too as well as its engaging story.
GAMEPLAY
As for the gameplay, I will as usual break it down into sections as per usual with my game reviews.
COMBAT
Starting
with the combat, the game takes on a 3rd person perspective for the
action as we see Kratos and Atreus fight together throughout. However the real difference this time round is that you can also now play as Atreus for certain sections of the game, who will also have the ability upgrade his skills and weapon abilities as he can use his bow for ranged and melee attacks. Atreus can access different types of magic arrows that can be used to destroy walls or doors that are imbued with magic as well as used in conjunction with Kratos's axe and blades.
Atreus also has the ability to transform himself into a wolf at will, which allows him to finish off enemies faster as he can bite their heads off in that form! Atreus will also turn into a bear when he comes angry but only in scripted cut scenes can he change and you don't really get the choice to become a bear (which kind of sucks lol!).
Kratos like the original, will
use combos while fighting and his trusty axe (which belonged to his late
wife Freya) but he can also use his fists and his shield in tandem when
fighting enemies also. Kratos will also again use his special attack known as Spartan
rage, which is basically like the beserk mode in Doom where he goes into
a rage and powerfully smash his enemies to bits and his health will
regenerate while he is in that mode. Further to this he can use alternate modes of rage such as valor, which enables Kratos to restore some of his health.
This time round however Kratos will have access to not just his Lethiathin Axe but also his Blades of Chaos and a special spear (which he obtains later in the game) that has some cool abilities. And again these weapons can be upgraded and as you unlock Kratos's skills, you can gain extra attacks for these weapons each the weapons are upgraded by Brok or Sindri.
XP & UPGRADES
Again like the original, the game uses XP points (or experience points)
which will allow Kratos to gain new abilities for his weapons and to
learn new skills and combos during combat. XP is usually rewarded by
killing enemies, bosses or for completing missions set out by NPC's
Kratos will meet throughout the game. And unlike the first game, Atreus can also gain and use XP as he progresses throughout similar to Atreus for his own skills.
You can
also upgrade Kratos's stats via different ways but one main way of doing
it is by purchasing armour, which will have different abilities and
upgrades relating to stats such as strength, vitality, defense and luck.
The armour when upgraded will offer additional slots to allow for more
upgrades to be added also. Kratos can also find items called Idunn
apples, which will permanently upgrade Kratos's HP and you need to only find one instead of three apples this time to upgrade your HP. Atreus's HP however cannot be upgraded but he does have some decent HP on on him as you progress, so not sure if that is to do with sharing Kratos's HP bar in some way.
STATS
The game also makes use of the same stats as before that you need to upgrade to improve Kratos's abilities in combat and his chances of survival in general! The stats of the game are Strength, which of course improves the power of Kratos's attacks, Runic, which increases elemental damage of attack. Defense is another which simply reduces the damage taken from attacks. Vitality, which increases the amount of HP that Kratos has and again this can be done via armour sets or the special apples mentioned above. Luck, which increases perk activation as well as gaining XP and hacksilver, which is the currency for the game. And last of all is Cooldown, which reduces the recharge time of runic attacks, summons and talismans.
PUZZLES
And just like the first game, you will
also encounter a number of puzzles that need to be solved at different
stages which needs to be done in order to progress the game. These
puzzles can range from straight forward to being deeply frustrating and
annoying to try and figure out! And if you are crap at puzzles like me,
then I'd suggest looking up how to solve them on Youtube lol! Some of
the puzzles are optional of course just like in the previous game, which is just as well as some of these puzzles are worse in this game than the previous one!
SIDE MISSIONS
You can also perform a number of side missions as mentioned above for some of the NPC's in the game, who want you to collect something for them or find out information and for which you will receive a reward from them. Again the side missions are a useful way of gaining new items as well being able to upgrade your stats, weapons and gain extra XP and hacksilver. In fact I'd recommend doing the side missions for just that as it will help boost your stats and give you valuable skills and XP that can help with your combat as you progress in the game.
FAST TRAVEL
And
lastly there is the fast travel system which is much the same as before where Kratos and Atreus can
travel between the different realms in the game via the use of magic
doors, which are discovered throughout the game. And you can revisit
these areas to do optional missions and gather items and it makes the
fast travel very useful if you want to return to an area.
GRAPHICS
As for the graphics, GOW Ragnarok similar to the original, looks simply superb as the environments are filled with rich detail and the game is also wonderfully colourful and vivid looking. The character models are also impressive with Kratos cutting an imposing figure and Atreus having grown up a bit more is a bit taller his father still dwarfs over him! The attention to details also e.g. in the character's costumes is also great and worth of note as they are often quite intricate and on the PS5 they look mighty impressive. So, overall visually Ragnarok on the PS5 looks terrific and easily one of the best looking games from last year.
VOICE ACTING (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)
As for the voice acting, the original cast all return to their roles and do a great job and the new supporting cast members are equally as good.
Christopher Judge first off once again is great
as Kratos, a God of War, who has put his old ways behind him and now trains and lives with his growing son, Atreus. And this time round Kratos really grows emotionally as character as we see more of a human side from him as he is more willing to spare people in battle and show empathy towards others. And Judge while he plays Kratos in as serious a manner as possible, still does a great job and improves on the emotional development of Kratos himself.
Sunny Suljic is also excellent once again in his role as Atreus, Kratos's son, who has grown up a lot more since the previous game (as has Sunny himself!) and is given a lot more to do and far more responsibility that comes with it. And Sunny nicely reprises the role and does a great job at showing Atreus's growing maturity not to mention his courage and increased adeptness in battle.
WARNING: SPOILER IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH!!!
Danielle Bisutti is excellent once again also as Freya, a former God and witch, who after the ending events of the previous game, has vowed to kill Kratos for what he did to her son. And here we see a dark side to Freya's personality as she relentlessly pursues Kratos up until a certain point in the game, where things take a turn and everything changes for her.
Alastair Duncan is
great once again in his role Mimir and and he gets some funny dialogue once again as the talkative animated head, who claims to be the smartest man alive but also provides very useful counsel to both Kratos and Atreus as well become close friends with them. And I will actually mention one of his lines here, which is one of the funniest where the Sindri and Brok use Mimir's head to activate a magic door, which hurts Mimir. Who shouts at Sindri "I'll give you a what for, ya wee f***! Kratos, throw me at him! Horns first!" as Mimir has two horns on his head!
And we also see the return of Robert Craighead and Adam J Harrington as Brok and Sindri respectively, the two dwarf blacksmiths, who regularly help out Kratos and Atreus by upgrading their weapons as well as carrying out side missions for them. However this time round they play a much bigger part than before as they got more involved in Kratos and Atreus's plans to fight against Odin, which later has tragic consequences (and that's all I'm going to say!). And both actors once again do a great job in their respective roles and provide some comic relief but they also provide some more emotional depth to their characters.
WARNING: PLOT SPOILER AGAIN IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH!
As for the newer cast members, Ryan Hurst does a fine job as the mighty Thor, who has been roped into help do Odin's dirty work and he also holds a bitter grudge against Kratos for the death of two of his sons (from the previous game). And Thor will actually act as a temporary (albeit reluctant) ally for Atreus as the two of them go on a mission to search for something for Odin.
Anga De Leon Hayes provides a nice performance as Angrboda, one of the female young giants (and a pretty one too!) that helps out Atreus as the two of them go on a journey together at one point in the giant's land. Angrboda also sort of serves a kind of romantic interest for Atreus although it doesn't really go anywhere in the game, it does promise something maybe in the future possibly in the next game (or maybe not just watch this space).
Scott Porter also does a very good job in his role as the villainous Heimdall, one of Odin's allies, who manages to be one of the most annoying characters I've seen in a video game for some time! And Porter perfectly plays Heimdall's obnoxiously cocky personality, who always keeps insulting, a belittling everyone around him. In fact he must be one of the most annoying boss fights in the game simply because of all the taunting he does throughout it!
Ben Prendergast does a pretty good job too as Tyr, the former God of War, who has since become peaceful and is rescued from a prison cell by Kratos and Atreus. Tyr throughout the game doesn't really fight at all but he does provide some counsel and advice to Kratos and Atreus although there is another twist involving his character but nuff said about that!
Mina Sindwall also provides a good performance as Thrud, Thor's daughter, who wishes to prove herself as a warrior and acts as a temporary ally to Atreus at certain parts of the game even though her family are allied to Odin.
Brett Dalton also does pretty well as Freyr, Freya's twin brother who leads a resistance against Odin and later helps out Kratos and Atreus in their struggle against Odin and his forces. Dalton also plays Freyr as a kind of a chilled out guy, who seems a bit out of place next to a lot of the characters in the game but he still does well enough.
And last of all is Richard Schiff, who does a great job as the main antagonist, Odin, aka the All Father, who resides in Asgard and holds control over all the realms. And Schiff has the perfect voice for Odin, as a smooth, master manipulator, who can charm people into doing his dirty work for him and Odin acts a temptation for Atreus to join him in his quest for answers as Odin puts it.
MUSIC
As for the music score Bear McReary once again provides an excellent score, which is emotional and also engaging to listen to and fits the game perfectly just like the original. And there are plenty of good passages ranging from the intense action scenes to the more emotional and intimate moments in the game and the relationships between the characters. McReary also won the award for best score at the 2022 Game of the Year awards last year and its certainly a worthy one although I still prefer Elden Ring's score over this one I had have to say. Regardless this is still a very solid and emotional score that is worth the listen.
FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers also but not many!)
As for flaws...yes well God of War Ragnarok isn't exactly perfect.
For starters, I think one of the problems for me is that the main game story is just a bit too long winded and drawn out as it took almost 30 hours to reach the end of the story. However, that was including some optional stuff and I had read that playing the main game story wise would take roughly 25 hours or so. However, there are definitely sections of the game that do feel quite padded out and I kept getting reminders of the Return of the King with its drawing things out longer than necessary!
Another issue is in places to do with the sections where you play as Atreus, which I felt were a bit less compelling and enjoyable than when you play as Kratos. As an example, I felt that the section where Atreus meets Angrboda was a bit too long winded and even a bit boring at times and I was left confused as to how he got there and if Atreus was just in a dream at this point or not! And imho I think the game is best when we play as Kratos and with Kratos and Atreus fighting together.
Also similar to the previous game, I felt the game's difficulty level is quite uneven and unbalanced as I found the original to be too. And I started off the game playing in light mode, which was manageable up to the point where I fought the first Hateful boss you find but I kept getting my ass kicked by that boss over and over and yet this is in LIGHT mode!
So, in the end I turned the game difficulty down to the easiest mode, which makes the game easier without being insultingly easy to the player. However even in the easiest mode there will still some enemies that totally beat me down such as the king bosses in Midgard, who whopped my ass time after time! Thankfully these bosses are optional but if I played this game on normal (or balanced) mode, I don't think I could honestly finish it.
Another issue I have is to do with the map system being somewhat basic and lacking any great detail unlike the map system in Elden Ring, which is far better and more detailed in describing surrounding areas. However here the map system is a bit too simplified and isn't really that helpful and you are guided by the distance meters on the top of the screen but even these can be a bit misleading on where you go and I ended up abandoning some optional missions as the meters kept sending me on a wild goose chase with telling me how close I am to my destination point! So, the map and distance markers can both be pretty frustrating to deal with.
And yet another thing that bugged me about the game like the original one is that you cannot skip the cut scenes and you are just forced to watch them throughout. However, it would have been much better if they added an option to skip these scenes, even if most of them are really good and well performed by the voice cast, on subsequent playthroughs, it would be better if they were skippable to save time.
And again another thing that bugged me was the increased use of profanity in the game from the original where quite a few of the main characters say the f word and not just Brok this time. So, this time round we get Mimir, Brok, Thor and even Odin saying f bombs although to be fair there isn't an overwhelming amount of profanity here but there is still more than before. And I just think the modern way in which most of the characters speak is at odds with the mythological setting of the game. And again I just think the 15/R rated swearing isn't necessary and it would be better if the game took a more PG rated approach to the profanity as it would make the game a bit more family orientated rather than to an adult audience.
And last of and this is my biggest gripe with the game...the puzzles! Yep, I HATE the puzzles in the God of War Ragnarok as some of them are truly annoying and frustrating to go through and what I hate most about them is how much they drag down the pace of the game itself as you can spend ages trying to solve some of them! In fact there are even moments in the game where the characters try to give you hints as what to do with a puzzle that isn't easy to work out but their advice is so bloody vague it doesn't really help such as Atreus saying "Father look up there!". WHERE exactly Atreus?! You aren't even pointing where at this stage to help!
And there was one particular puzzle that drove me mad where you needed to open some doors by using Kratos's axe and magic arrows (fired by Fraye who has made peace with Kratos at this point) which involves freezing water troughs in the right spots to get some large cog wheels working. However, for the life of me I could not get the final switch to work to line up the loose water trough section with the rest of them! Thankfully this proved to be optional as I just followed the distance markers to move onto the next area of the game but if it was mandatory I might have quit the game at this point it was so annoying!
So, that's it for the flaws.
SUM UP
So, to sum up, God of War Ragnarok is a highly entertaining and enjoyable sequel to the original GoW game and it sees the continued development of its main characters of Krator and Atreus as well as the welcome return of the supporting characters from the first game. And the game's story is both compelling and engaging and has plenty of twists and turns as well as emotional moments. The game's combat is also a lot of fun and can be very challenging at higher difficulty levels (and even lower ones!) and it also has some superb detailed graphics and great character models as well as an impressive music score.
However, the game does have some faults too such as its lengthy main story, which does drag on quite a bit and took me almost 30 hours to get through. The game's difficulty is also a bit inconsistent and even on lower levels its can be punishing at times and yes those damn puzzles are back and had me nearly tearing my hair out in figuring them out! In fact it wasn't for Youtube, I might not have finished this game lol!
But that all aside, this is still a very solid sequel to the great original game and its well worth checking and if you enjoyed the first game, you are sure to enjoy this one as well.
So, I will rate God of War Ragnarok:
8.8 out of 10
So, that's it for this one and I will be back with another post soon.
Until then its bye for now!
