FranticPea wrote:I'll dust off and update the PS5 for this.
digi wrote:yourfavouriteuncle wrote:Reviews are out and seem to be generally very good rather than excellent which, I guess, is sort of disappointing.
Opencritic - 94
Metacritic - 94
Video Games Chronicle - 5/5
It's rare to have such uncomplicated feelings about a game. To finish something and think, "that's one of the best games I've ever played." But with Ragnarok, it felt obvious. Sony Santa Monica's sequel is a high watermark for the medium and certainly surpasses all first-party games to date on PS5
Gamespot - 9/10
And that's what distinguishes God of War Ragnarok from its predecessor, and most other action games. Despite being a story about warring gods and the end of the world, the soul of the game is something far more sentimental. You may have noticed that I've avoided mentioning the names of characters or describing plot beats, and that was intentional. To talk more about anything or anyone would be to rob you of some of the most unexpected things that God of War Ragnarok achieves with its narrative and the themes they explore. The last game's thoughtful approach to exploring fatherhood was unexpected, Ragnarok somehow manages to feel like an even more personal tale about the complicated nature of families and the people that make them up. For every moment of brutality, there is one of genuine and relatable emotion. How they land will vary from person to person, but there were multiple that left me with tears welling up. If nothing else, God of War Ragnarok further cements Sony Santa Monica's narrative team as one of the best in the business
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IGN - 10/10
An enthralling spectacle to behold and an even more exciting one to take the reins of, God of War Ragnarok melds action and adventure together to create a new, unforgettable Norse saga. Impeccable writing, pitch-perfect performances, knockout action – it's a complete work of art from top to bottom. Reflecting its core themes, it's everything a sequel should be: respectful of its legendary lineage, but not afraid to take it to exciting new places. God of War Ragnarok is an almighty achievement and creates a new high that makes many of its peers look positively mortal by comparison.
Video Games Chronicle - 5/5
It's rare to have such uncomplicated feelings about a game. To finish something and think, "that's one of the best games I've ever played." But with Ragnarok, it felt obvious. Sony Santa Monica's sequel is a high watermark for the medium and certainly surpasses all first-party games to date.
MP1st - 10/10
I could spend hours upon hours talking about God of War Ragnarok, but at the end of the day, the only thing that should matter to you is if it's any good — and it is. It's better than good; it's a downright masterpiece. I know that word get's thrown around everywhere, and a lot, but I genuinely mean it. The story is beyond anything I would have imagined, and by the time I finished watching every line of credit roll, I couldn't help but give everyone a standing ovation. Like the first game, God of War Ragnarok will forever be etched in my memory as a timeless experience. A remarkable, unforgettable journey that I'll keep talking about for the years to come, and probably for the rest of my life
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Polygon - Unscored
There is nothing life-changing about the way Ragnarök wraps up, but it delivers the same pleasant satisfaction that I get from finishing a Marvel movie that lets me run on autopilot. Even where the game can be frustrating, rote, and uneven, it's also safe and comforting, like a rerun of Cheers where everyone knows your name and you know that you'll never get thrown out of the bar. God of War Ragnarök, as the sum of its many disparate and often conflicting parts and influences, isn't here to reinvent the wheel. But its single-minded desire to emulate all the hallmarks of an epic Hollywood narrative will remain both its biggest weakness and its enduring source of success. And like many, many Hollywood success stories, it shouldn't feel this weird to say that something of this scope and scale is just OK.
Scoring higher than its predecessor so far.
hylian_elf wrote:They said, I know what your point was, so your retort has a point.
2018’s God of War’s most astonishing feat of technical wizardry was constructing the entire game as one continuous shot, with no loading screens and no interruptions, making you feel totally present in the journey. It did this by putting plenty of narrow passageways and low tunnels and other confined spaces in-between its areas, to disguise that the game was loading the next one. Ragnarök repeats this trick – even more impressively, this time, as we sometimes follow different characters and not just Kratos – but on the PlayStation 5 it’s all rather unnecessary, as that console is powerful enough to do away with loading times entirely. The forced moments of slowdown felt strangely ponderous and old-fashioned. I am looking forward to seeing what Santa Monica Studio will achieve without the almost 10-year-old PlayStation 4’s technical constraints to account for.
JonB wrote:I was wondering how it was going to handle the continuous shot thing across platforms with different loading times, and the Guardian review suggests it's by hampering the PS5 version to keep them in line:2018’s God of War’s most astonishing feat of technical wizardry was constructing the entire game as one continuous shot, with no loading screens and no interruptions, making you feel totally present in the journey. It did this by putting plenty of narrow passageways and low tunnels and other confined spaces in-between its areas, to disguise that the game was loading the next one. Ragnarök repeats this trick – even more impressively, this time, as we sometimes follow different characters and not just Kratos – but on the PlayStation 5 it’s all rather unnecessary, as that console is powerful enough to do away with loading times entirely. The forced moments of slowdown felt strangely ponderous and old-fashioned. I am looking forward to seeing what Santa Monica Studio will achieve without the almost 10-year-old PlayStation 4’s technical constraints to account for.
yourfavouriteuncle wrote:I love a gap squeeze, never seen the problem with them. Think they became a widely known issue after that Cerny chat and now we’re all experts on when a game is tricking us by doing something stupid like loading.
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