Can God Of War “IV” Stick With The Same For-mula As Be-fore?

It’s safe to say that God of War fans are anxious to see what becomes of the next God of War; what  happens next,  based on the ending events in God of War 3 involving Kratos; who or what dragged him off of  that mountain? Did he himself do it? He did also release Pandora’s powers into the spirit world so what becomes of that? Are there now a bunch of spirits  running around with god-like powers? What will the plot be in general? He’s not angry anymore right? So what’s his purpose this time?

Aside from in-game plot points gamers are  most likely also curious to see how Kratos and the game will look graphically on the next gen console, which may happen at E3, which now seems inevitable based on Sony Santa Monica Studios latest tweet. But how will Sony Santa Monica approach it this time? With the same ole formula?

Just to be clear, this is not about the game’s story, story is phenomenal (at least GOW 1-3, sorry Ascension), not even about graphics, the graphics are already some of the best in the business and I trust will continue, I guess this is more about engine maturity and doing things with the next title that will truly make it a next gen experience.

I wrote a article about the top 5 engines that needed to be overhauled unfortunately my beloved GOW was one of them.

You see I always felt God of War was a bit dated in these times,   I was cool with it up until now, one of the few Triple A  games — if not  the only, to give a nod to the old school and do it so well they were able  to get away with it. The best way I could describe God of War is a lot of old school gaming concepts with a fresh coat of paint — in a good way though, maybe even done on purpose.

The whole overall approach seems old school, from the 2.5D-ish style,  to the slicing and dicing for orbs, fixed camera angles, boss battles, button mashers feel, it’s all there, not that anything is wrong with these things but I already thought last gen the engine was borderline showing its age  no way can we go through  a whole other generation sticking with that formula can we?  Doing so could spell disaster for the franchise.

Here’s a excerpt from that article:

“The camera: I will say they do a great job with the camera, so good in fact they may even be able to get away with it next-gen, however I want more. A 3D camera may be in order, although I understand the use of a fixed camera; to show the Epic grand scale, sheer power and reality of what Kratos faces via immersion. You get a real depth of how small Kratos is compared to the Titans, gods and the mountains he traverses; also it displays how big of a journey it is he will embark on. It’s like not appreciating how big the Earth is until you fly in a plane 60,000 miles in the air and the people look like ants — I get it, it’s all about perspective.  But maybe there is a happy medium where it could be a combination of the 3D and fixed camera, using the fixed camera only when necessary to show these elements.

Kratos’ moves don’t feel as natural as it could be when he rolls out of harms way or swings his chains, it feels a bit 2D-ish. He, the enemy and his  chains should be dripped in physics; blades, as it slices through should sometimes get stuck in an enemy (and not just as a move) to replicate permeating thicker flesh — then feeling the force of him pulling it out. Flesh should tear with each connecting swing, limbs should sometimes dislodge depending on the force of the swing and the size of the enemy. Arms, legs, heads, clothing and whatever else should fly about. Blood on Kratos should dry up but never fade completely especially on his clothing unless he falls in water or physically wipes it off. Enemies should be able to grab the chains when Kratos hurls it at them (depending on the circumstance) and drag him or toss him along the ground . Kratos himself  should show the wear and tear on his own  body and clothing courtesy of going through a battle. When he climbs and traverses on mountains it feels like the animations are a bit clunky but it too should replicate a more realistic experience. AI is robotic and moves in predictable patterns.

‘Ascension’ did some cool things like the long awaited tethering of the chains and I could have sworn I threw the chains at a particular enemy but he caught them and threw me, not only do we need more of that all these things should be non-scripted.

Bottom line, this engine is heavily based off it’s PS2 counterpart and IMO is not the evolution it needed to be. The PS2 versions of God of War could probably do most of the things the newest God of Wars offer from a gameplay standpoint, it was tolerable this gen but let’s hope this trend doesn’t carry into the new generation with God of  War IV and beyond.“

On top of the things mentioned in the article I always wanted something like the orbs system to be done away with or be handled different let’s say relegated to just the treasure chests and maybe broken items… maybe, but when it came to slaying enemies not only should they not turn into orbs but they should stay lying on the ground and Kratos should see his work then proceed to walk over a 1000 dead bodies just as an example 🙂

We could be in danger of getting a  simple graphics upgrade and not much else. Don’t believe me, Look at games like Killzone: Shadow Fall, inFamous: Second Son, Call of Duty: Ghosts, even the sports games NBA 2K14 and EA with football Madden 25  basically all are the same games as their last gen counterparts with better graphics.  I don’t want Sony Santa Monica Studios to follow suit they are too talented for that.

What do you gamers think? Can God of War “IV” stick with the same for-mula as be-fore? CCU wants to hear from you.