(since there's no console thread)

I'm about 8 hours in. I've heard nothing but 9.5/10 reviews. I'm not blown away.... am I really the only one? Or does it get better?

On the upside, it looks really pretty a lot of the time for sure. The art is technically executed well, I can see a lot of experienced artists worked hard on it. The art direction isn't particularly original, though I do like the Nordic theme.

Although the environments are visually quite rich and detailed, when you get up close you find that almost nothing is interactive... it's one of the most on-rails, invisible-wall packed open-world games I've ever played.

The gameplay is essentially clearing enemies out of a series of rooms and arenas. This is interspersed by some decent dialogue between Kratos and his son Atreus, and "puzzle" sections so boring you will be crying blood tears by the hundredth time you throw your axe to make a door stay up so you can go over here and press a button so Atreus can go over there, FUCK!

Don't make me say "ludo-narrative" dissonance like a part time Rock Paper Shotgun writer... but at some point you have to question a world where you are literally throwing boulders the size of houses, and jumping ravines in one cutscene, and then in the next gameplay section you spend 10 minutes getting a platform to come down so you can ascend a 4 metre wall.

I am ready to be told i'm wrong / being hyper-critical about this, but is the combat all that good either...? It's solid feeling, but once I run out of my fun special attacks, the rest of every fight is a repetitive "throw axe" then "shoot arrow" then "spam light attack" sequence that never ends. And why is the camera so close to him!?!

Combine that with some truly shite RPG elements... hundreds of random enchantments and minor upgrades to gear you'll have to manage in a menu system designed by sadists. I'm 8 hours in and there's no exciting gear! Improve my vitality by 1% or improve my cooldown rate by 2%? wow what a time to be alive.

The father/son dynamic critics are wanking each other off over is fine. Everyone should chill out a bit though. Yes it could be considered "subtle" for a God of War game, but I wonder if that's a good thing.

I feel like they decided this was a AAA game, and in 2018 that means you can't just have a Davil May Cry style action game... you have to give it a serious tone, need to have AAA graphics and therefore 30fps framerates. It has to be "open-world". For me, nothing it does (apart from maybe its ability to render large pretty environments) is really outstanding, and it feels empty and less than the sum of it's parts.

What did the fellow grumpy twats here think of it? I'm hoping to be told it gets really awesome in hour 10... 

Sorry dude didn't play it. Watched Cohh play some, looked alright for that style of things. 

Some Bal-grade trademark of soon...

GG, a nice surprise for sure! Stuff looks cool so far. 

 

Packaging for the boxed edition is imminent, says Romero. There are pictures in the Twitter thread. You can see a floppy disk in the box :)

https://twitter.com/romero/status/1128425724895952896

There's no definite time for the release yet, but it should be soon. I wanted to post a heads up for those not following closely. 

Anyone playing Rage 2? I was initially very unimpressed by it; disliked the intro, disliked the world, disliked the driving. But I have to say that id (as I understand it, they are behind the combat, weapons, abilities etc) nailed the actual gameplay.

I thought it would be Doom 2016 in an open world and in a way it of course is, but they have somehow managed to reinvent the fps once again, creating a unique gameplay. So in short, as much as I dislike almost everything in the game, I just can't stop playing it as the combat is so fun. 

er, boldie, theemee 

no id nor dQ 

Really impressed of some old addon Doom levels like "Dantes's Gate" from John W. Anderson.
It might be the game is a bit outdated, but the maps are very well construckted and oversize the original Doom levels. 

Rage 2 vs A Plague Tale. Discuss. 

HTH 

A Plague Tale has beautiful art direction, stunning environments and character models.

Rage look like it was designed by a team of permafries that couldn't lay off the wacky tobaccy.

A Plague Tale has unique gameplay mechanics and story driven experience.

Rage is a ripoff of Doom 2016. Which in turn is an updated ripoff of itself.

THE WINNER IS:

... Raptor: Call of the Shadows!
Seriously this game rocks. 

Rage2 is a rip-off of Far Cry meets Mad Max. Doom4 was pretty much it's own thing even as a reboot.

I am far more tempted by Plague Tale, despite the Vondur seal of approval on Rage 2.

It all goes back to focus and purpose. 

So tell me. How can this game claim to give you a choice of playstyles when, despite giving you plenty of tools for some different playstyles, it will actively punish you with The Bad Ending etc etc. Spurious pile of shit. Either give the play some choice, or don't. Don't pretend to when what you really mean is "play in style X" or else. 

u prefer Black Ops1 or WWII? WWII for me pls, my map list https://i.postimg.cc/QxrSJyyQ/zzz-0z-1508x1200a.png haven't played neither exo zombies nor BO4. having one map ahead of another in a tier indicates I liked it more.

Sledgehammer CoD WWII zombies team https://i.postimg.cc/bv4CGbr3/zzz-0g-wwii-zombie-devs-1598x1200.jpg can u name them somebody pls? I recognise WWII zombies director Cameron Dayton and Jason Warnke (lead design on the Frozen Dawn level), who does the actual 3D in WWII zombies maps? thanks.

what are your CoD ZOMBIES achievements? I have managed solo surviving to these number of waves in WWII/BO1: Groesten Haus 15, Call of the Dead 14, Shi No Numa 32, Ascension 42, Der Riese 34, Shangri La 31, Moon 22. EDIT: YAAAAAAS, yisyisyisyis yiiiissssssss, WWII Shadowed City Hunter finally defeated!!! now gimme WWII zombies season 2 pls!!!!!

PS: since Jason Warnke left the team in 2019, I guess there will be no WWII zombies season 2 after TFD ? 

FRom what I can see, absolutely no-one else on here likes COD Zombies, nor is remotely interested in discussing COD Zombies achievements. No offence intended but you might be wasting your time posting about it repeatedly??