God of War 4 is the Best-Reviewed Game Since 'Breath of the Wild' And 'Super Mario Odyssey'

God of War 4 reviews are here and they're spectacular. It's the best reviewed game on the market since Nintendo's new-classic Zelda and Mario titles last year.

[Krangs_Uncle]

I haven't played Breath of the Wild, but I finished Mario (finishing up on the final kingdom - I couldn't bare to collect 250 more moons to see what happens next!), which was a spectacular game, especially while playing with the kid.

Saying that (just commenting on Mario), it seems that Nintendo get away with all the cliche points that reviewers make, to justify the down-scoring of games on other platforms (PS MS PC). While Mario is wildly inventive, it suffers massively from repetition, and a somewhat rinse and repeat formula (you literally fight the same bosses several times), and the animations and audio of interactions (speech, cutscenes etc), seem downright lazily done. I feel these points would be made apparent by some reviewers for other platforms - or different franchises for that matter.

It was still one of the best games I have played in years, but I'm simply saying that I don't know why Nintendo aren't held to the same account as other platforms by reviewers. It seems that games from Nintendo that are nostalgic to the glory days of Nintendo (Mario and Zelda), are automatically given a sense of accomplishment by the reviewer prior to the actual reviewing process of the game.

Just thoughts, it's great to see everyone enjoying great games on all platforms - lucky to be in an age where games feel so accomplished.

[JaguarEvolved]

"it seems that Nintendo get away with all the cliche points that reviewers make, to justify the down-scoring of games on other platforms (PS MS PC). While Mario is wildly inventive, it suffers massively from repetition, and a somewhat rinse and repeat formula (you literally fight the same bosses several times), and the animations and audio of interactions (speech, cutscenes etc), seem downright lazily done. I feel these points would be made apparent by some reviewers for other platforms - or different franchises for that matter.

It was still one of the best games I have played in years, but I'm simply saying that I don't know why Nintendo aren't held to the same account as other platforms by reviewers. It seems that games from Nintendo that are nostalgic to the glory days of Nintendo (Mario and Zelda), are automatically given a sense of accomplishment by the reviewer prior to the actual reviewing process of the game. "

This is what I've been saying for a while about Nintendo games and them getting a pass because the reviewers often times bring up their childhood of when they first played Mario or Zelda or are thinking of it. I don't know how a game like Zelda botw got so many perfect scores when it launched with so many frame rate issues and has a lot of pop-ins. Other games for years have been scoring less because of the same issues but because it's a old Nintendo franchise the reviewers just ignores it. I didn't talk about the graphics, music or gameplay but things that are easy to see that would cause a game to get lower review scores

I can't wait for god of war

[michellelynn0976]

Nintendo doesn't get a pass. Maybe their games are just that good. I am happy for GOW. It is getting incredible reviews and it will have one of the biggest openings of the year, if not of all time. Mario was not repetitive. Zelda was amazing and I cannot wait for GOW which looks amazing.
There is no pro Nintendo media. Nintendo (like the others) earn their scores and your opinion doesn't change that.
Also, if you read the reviews. GOW does have flaws (unnecessary backtracking, lulls in story and character), yet it got all these good scores. Are reviewers letting GOW get away with this? Hardly.

[Krangs_Uncle]

@michellelynn0976

Lulls in story and character?! Zelda and Mario's story, character/s and character building are almost non-existent!

[Krangs_Uncle]

To add to that - can you imagine how hard God of War would have gotten picked on if you had fought the same boss half a dozen or more times??

[Vegamyster]

Nintendo didn't get a pass for Star Fox Zero, Paper Mario Color Splash, Zelda Triforce Heroes, Metroid Prime: Federation Force ect, generally speaking highly anticipated games/series that lots of people like have certain points ignored when they first come out, i think something like Fallout 4 is a good example of this.

"I don't know how a game like Zelda botw got so many perfect scores when it launched with so many frame rate issues and has a lot of pop-ins."

There as been lots of critically acclaimed games with these two issues from last gen & this one on consoles, GTAV & Skyrim on 360/PS3, The Witcher 3 & Fallout 4 on the PS4/Xone ect, they're not uncommon in open world games. It more or less depends on if it starts ruining the content in the game or if it's just a simple annoyance, Angry Joe said his first Zelda game was BoTW & he loved it so i don't believe you can just pin it on nostalgia.

[Hardiman]

I grew up on Nintendo and got my first NES in 85 or 86 and loved what they did for the industry but after N64 there were missteps and I loved the 64 and GameCube! As the years went by I have noticed they get passes or more to the point Zelda does and to an extent Mario! Breadth of the Wild was a great game, great game but to me HZD was better in every way except it didn't have the nostalgia factor! I think a lot of reviewers do give some Nintendo properties a pass.

[G3ng4r]

Was actually expecting this to land around a 91 on metacritic but this didn't get the 6/10 clickbait reviews mario/zelda did. Gow still scored a few points lower. So much for your free pass.

[kevnb]

No, reviewers don’t give Nintendo games a pass but n4g commentators give them a hard time. The nit picking in your comment only gets brought up when it feels like a problem, every game has a ton of repetition. N4g is full of Sony fanboys, and sometimes Microsoft paid commentators.

[Krangs_Uncle]

I was praising the game actually.. but that's cool. You have your opinion, and I have mine. Don't act like you aren't biased in some form or another.

And yea, no Nintendo fanboys here at all, good observation!

[Mikechester]

So do you think zelda breath of the wild should of gotten a 9 or 8 out of 10

[Realms]

I agree they often get a pass I find many gaming jouralist have rose tinted glasses when it comes to Nintendo. I love Nintendo I grew up playing thier systems I loved my SNES and N64 and they still make fun games. That being said they are not pushing the medium forward. What do I mean they dont have any interesting engaing stories like Sony. The main reason I switched to PS was the Metal Gear series I still remember the first time I saw the game on my friends OG PS1 thinking to myself why do I have a N64. What I'm trying to say is that my interest changed as I got older and Sony has been the one to change right along with me.

Nintendo although great seems unable or unwilling to ofter the game experiences that I want as a gamer. Nintendo games do seem to be graded on a diferrent scale than other platforms namely Sony which is trying to bring more depth into the industry by making more mature themes in their games which often get's dismissed in favor of the cute cuddly safe approach Nintendo takes.

[SuperSonic91]

@ Realms

You are spot on
" Nintendo Does Not Want To Move The Videogame Medium Forward".

And there are billions of billion dollar reasons why!!!!!

Nintendo is capped by Sony not directly competing for their kiddie market by making games for adults on PSOne.

PSOne became Nintendo's ceiling.

It all started when the first PlayStation entered the console gaming industry.

Sony single handedly removed the stigma that video games are just for children.

And suddenly the Nintendo Empire can not grow.

They tried to compete with power against power but failed.

Now Nintendo should be grateful Sony still does not stoop down to their level because if Sony does make games for kids and Nintys market then Nintendo is screwed.

This is why Nintendo does not want their fan base to mature cos if they do they will flock to PlayStation and PC.

[Snakeking33]

Because it’s Nintendo reviewers have blind loyalty to them I put myself on a boycott on Nintendo products after I got shafted on the Wii U it was not out long a they stop supporting it for the switch and it not even that much more powerful then it you can look at breath of the wild and see the Mario odyssey could have released on it as well but greedy Nintendo wanted to rip us off instead

[Snakeking33]

& offroadking are you telling me the wiiU couldn’t play Mario Odyssey even though it’s was rumored it was develop for the system before they even announced the switch the only thing I see different is the switch is portable

[G3ng4r]

I'm telling you that mario odyssey wouldn't run on wii u. Your rumor was confirmed false and odyssey was built ground up for switch.
As for whether there's a difference in power wii u ran mario kart 8 at 720p and switch ran it at 1080p.
As far as greed goes sony is the least consumer friendly brand willing to kill their own vita with expensive propriety memory cards for no other reason, refusing to implement crossplay to force friends to buy only sony to play together, sacrificing game performance to fake 4k and thus advancement, raising the price of their online service to match xbox live with no meaningful improvements to said service and timing exclusives wherever possible.
"Poor me I bought a wii u" is maybe the lamest sony fanboy tactic there is.

[Snakeking33]

@G3ng4r
You dang right I am salty about my wiiU the whole gen it was our they didn’t support it like they should have it felt like the game cube no support then bring out new system early and drop support all together. Me I am not a Xbox fan but I will give credit to them the Xbox one x is basically a next gen system but the didn’t screw over the Xbox owner who bought the original system. All I am saying is that they could have kept supporting the Wii U and people would have still bought the switch give them a Choice

[letsa_go]

Did you boycott Nintendo during the SNES, N64, & Gamecube eras? Those all had 5 year life spans before they were replaced as well! Only the NES & Wii had 6 year life spans.

[Deep-throat]

Generally console exclusives get undeserved high scores because the media needs more traffic hits.

Manufactured hype = traffic hits

The press is fooling people by hyping up dumbed down games.

[Lime123]

Yep, only Sea of thieves got deserved scores.

[OffRoadKing]

Damn dude you're salty a.f. Seems more like you're fooling yourself.

[bluefox755]

Yeah, you can admit that Nintendo makes great games while still conceding that reviewers hold them to a different standard.

[Wasabi]

@Supersonic91

**"Dude Nintendo games are 10 years behind PS4 games when it comes to gameplay and technical advancement"**

Put PS4 aside, let's include ALL platforms.

Show me a platformer on any other system that has the diversity of mechanics that Super Mario Odyssey displays. Show me an online shooter on another platform that displays the innovation of the Splatoon series. Show me a racer on another platform that displays the gameplay finesse of Mario Kart or Smash Bros for couch co-op.

The fact that on a technical level Nintendo has been behind the hardware curve in recent years makes it even more impressive, that they achieve what they do with hardware that is often underpowered in comparison to the competition displays a flair for development unrivalled in the industry.

**"Mario and Zelda are also guilty of stealing from other peoples ideas published before them"**

Mario practically spawned the modern day platform genre, Zelda the Action RPG - I'm assuming the '91 in your tag is your age, because you're making yourself look naive and immature in your comments.

***"So what makes them different from non-Nintendo developers"***

The fact that Nintendo has been in the business far longer than other developers. the fact that they make their own hardware AND software in house, not through studios they have proquired.The fact that their games consistently score highly and routinely win awards (BotW + Odyssey won 2 BAFTAS yesterday) and often take home the title of GotY. The fact that they have spawned some of the most influential games of all time, as well as some of the most iconic characters in video game history. The fact that every Mario Game reinvents itself with brand new mechanics and gameplay elements, Galaxy, Sunshine, 3d World, Odyssey, Mario RPG and at a base level is responsible for introducing mechanics that many games use today.

[Realms]

@ Fragnum

No one is claiming that Nintendo doesn't make good games what we are saying is they get graded diffrently, example in Zelda BoTW none of their characters talk, the story is fragmented, and there where issues with performance the game is far from perfect yet no one openly critized it despite it having what some would call minor flaws. No game is ever perfect but the fact that Nintendo get's away with so much as far as it being critized by those of us that expect more. Sony while also not perfect at least is pushing the medium forward wether it's with their stories or technical advancements Horizon was the best looking game on consoles and people always say grahpics aren't everything and that is true but you can't deny that Sony is doing far more for the medium than Nintendo is at this point. Nintendo is sticking with their formula a great formula but one that is old and stale. Answer this question a side from Splatoon how many new Ip's has Nintendo announced? I could go on and on but what for Nintendo used to be king now they are content with being second fiddle.

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

@Realms

"example in Zelda BoTW none of their characters talk"

You have not played Breath of the Wild, then, if that's what you think, as the characters talk quite a bit during cut scenes, and before/after major boss battles.
Just like any game series with a popular following behind it, there's going to be some bias behind it.
But if anything, BotW got slammed with a huge LOAD of overly-negative user scores [quite literally over a thousand, 1335 to be precise as of this message, many of them scores near to or right on zero and some from people who never even played it] purely for the sake of "making the score more realistic", quite early on in its life.
It might get a pass from some reviewers who love the series, but it got slammed twice as hard by unfair user reviews in return.
It's a miracle it managed to keep its user review score above 8.0.

It's also pretty unfair to ignore the fact that Nintendo's done a lot of advancement in their games and has put out a lot of new content both in terms of IP's and new entries in known franchises.
For example, you mention Splatoon because that's the popular and obvious first example, but what about games like ARMS? Do you ignore any IP that didn't get ultra popular, or what?

@Bluefox
Doing that is the same as saying that there's no unfair biases in any reviews for exclusives from other companies, too.
Or do you seriously think there aren't a boat-load of God of War fans that are also giving this just as much of a pass-despite-its-flaws as many Zelda fans did to BotW?

Every reviewer is going to have different standards for every game, because it's all down to personal taste.
There's no sense in saying that only Nintendo gets a pass.

To be honest, I really do hope that God of War doesn't get slammed with unfair negative user reviews like BotW did. It's a good IP and I've thorougly enjoyed past entries.
But I'm not gonna pretend its flawless anymore than I would pretend BotW is; I've already spent quite a bit of time detailing how some of the mechanics could be so much better in BotW, and how a redesign of the final boss would greatly aid the game's quality.

[Old McGroin]

Ok, I think people need to get over this whole Nintendo conspiracy theory thing. The fact is their first party games are always produced to the highest quality and they get great reviews as a result. Simple as that.

[Veneno]

You moan about ppl generalizing Nintendo then give a generalization yourself mintendo is without flaw. The real answer is that the idea that nintendo gets a free pass is indeed ridiculous which is why we never saw Wii Us or Starfox Zero fly off the shelf. But Nintendo has more than their fare share of boners as well.

[SuperSonic91]

Dude Nintendo games are 10 years behind PS4 games when it comes to gameplay and technical advancement.
Mario and Zelda are also guilty of stealing from other peoples ideas published before them.
So what makes them different from non-Nintendo developers?
Tell us.

[G3ng4r]

Mario and zelda, creators of their respective genres, steal ideas from others. Smh. Do you have examples or are you talking out of your butt like usual?

Also, name one ps4 game that plays as well as mario odyssey. I doubt you can since pretend 4k generally has your fps below 30.

[kevnb]

Every game has a ton of repetition, it only becomes a problem when it feels repetitive.

[Krangs_Uncle]

Which it did.

[kevnb]

no, most people couldn't stop playing the game. It had a near perfect game play loop.

[SuperSonic91]

Like I said before, coming from an absolute disaster that is the Wii U, the gaming media people wants to actually put Nintendo Switch into the ring with the PS4 to make it look like there is "actual competition". Out of pity? Out of desperation? Out of envy? Out of childhood nostalgia? Whatever it is it's just wrong.

The media reporters in Hollywood likes doing this all the time. That Nintendo is back to challenge the PS4s dominance. Reporters want to create controversy, and intrigue.
This was a huge concern to me a during Microsoft's media buy out against the PS3. I feel Nintendo is doing the same thing this time. This crap is detrimental to the video game industry's progress.it sends everyone to chaos and confusion.
The power of the media is again used to advance corporate agendas.

This Nintendo pass giving is unfair to new and unknown developers who produces on par quality games and even AAA game devs like Sony Santa Monica which makes games of better quality than Nintendo.

This dishonest bias towards Nintendo, Mario and Zelda needs to stop. Its not helping anyone especially the Nintendo and their loyal fans.

[michellelynn0976]

Prove it, prove with credible sources that the media has a Nintendo bias, and coming from someone who uses the ps4 slogan. You are one to talk.

[Wasabi]

@SuperSonic

I'm saying this as someone that owns both a PS4 and a Switch.

Super Mario Odyssey (which I'm playing right now) is a masterpiece. The game uses incredibly innovative gameplay elements and is constantly providing new ways to play, some titles would form the basis of an entire game around a mechanic that Odyssey discards after one level. It's the best game I have played since NieR: Automata.

BotW is a great game (I don't like the weapon breaking mechanic) but otherwise the game itself is open world done right, it was not over reviewed and is deserving of the awards it has won. Splatoon 2 is perhaps the most innovative online shooter that has ever been devised, there is nothing like it on the market, plus Nintendo has supported the game since release with masses of free DLC that has literally doubled the amount of content for the user, for free.

Mario kart 8 Deluxe is the greatest 'fun' style racer (Although I love GT Sport for serious racing).

There is no 'corporate agenda' . Nintendo always delivers quality in it's titles and aside from a few missteps (I'm looking at you Wii U) the company is almost universally successful especially in regards to it's first party IP's which is the focus of your comment, that's not to take anything away from Sony as they have done the business this generation, especially by way of exclusives, no one can argue that.

There's no denying that God of War looks amazing and has reviewed incredibly well, but to say that a company like Nintendo doesn't compare in it's first party titles to Santa Monica Studios is incredibly naive. Both produce incredible games, but there's a reason that Nintendo has been around as long as it has and is as wealthy a company as it is, and that reason is and has always been the quality of it's software.

[SuperSonic91]

BTW

Comparing Nintendo's Mario, Pokemon and Zelda scores
to PS4 games like God of War, NieR: Automata, The Last of Us , Uncharted 4, Bloodborne.

You are comparing a child to an adult!

Absolutely bonkers!

It's like comapring Toy Story to The God Father.

Come on comapring God of War to Nintendo Labo.

What the hell is going on with you people.

There is a ewason why PS4 is the best selling gaming product to adults and Nintendo handhelds are to children.
Go figure.

The PS4 appeal to the adult inside and Nintendo to the child inside (of its fans).

This Can Not Continue.

[Knushwood Butt]

The free pass in action:

http://n4g.com/news/2161562...

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

The only "dishonest bias" here is from people who think there isn't a bit of nostalgia for the GoW name behind its scores, while simultaneously thinking that BotW RODE on nostalgia to its scores and didn't receive any unfair criticism at all.

The whole "Nintendo is for kids and Sony is for adults" bullcrap needs to stop too. If anything, that kind of opinion makes Sony fans look far less mature than anyone they've been pointing fingers at.

You want to appear fair and unbiased?
Admit to yourself, not to me or anyone else, just yourself, that Sony is also getting quite a few passes for its games, both because of the popularity of the PS4 and because of nostalgia for past titles, just like you claim Nintendo's games do.
If you can do that, then maybe someone will be willing to meet you half way on your "Company Pass" claims.

[michellelynn0976]

The games were not about story and character. Nice cherry picking. Some of you all need to grow up. Sony is not a God and their games aren't perfect.
GOW is getting great reviews. Oh yes, Nintendo got a pass. Star Fox Zero, Kirby SA, Paper Mario CS, and Wii Music anyone?
And so what if MO and BoTW get 2 points higher than GOW. Big deal, all three games are amazing and they are huge games that earned their scores.

[Knushwood Butt]

Nintendo games are almost never about story and character. Do you still not get it?

[agent13]

I have finished breath of the wild and it suffers from repetition too, quests,bosses and shrinse are sometimes boring. Like mario, botw was a good but flawed game and didn't deserve to be goty
no offense to Nintendo fans, but i think some reviewers exaggerate nintendo games, I loved Nintendo since i was a kid but i think critics shouldn't ignore zelda and mario titles minor flaws

[G3ng4r]

Zelda was flawed, as critics openly stated in their reviews, but still deserved goty over hzd which was admittedly a strong effort from gg who has always struggled to make great games. Mario however was nearly perfect and deserved it over both.

[nommers]

Highly agree. I feel like 3D Zelda games in particular have been highly overrated since Majora's mask. Then Wind Waker came along, TP, SS (Shudder..seriously, a 93 for this annoyance of a game?). Not that I didn't enjoy WW and TP a decent amount despite their issues, but I've come to the conclusion to get the more accurate score of a 3D Zelda game you have to subtract about 10 points from its Meta.

2D Zelda games are about right where they should be imo.

[Mosiac77]

Why is this article calling this game God of War 4? This game name is God of War only because it is a reboot.

[Imalwaysright]

"which was a spectacular game, especially while playing with the kid."

"It was still one of the best games I have played in years"

So did it get a pass or not? It seems to me that you're upset that the critics enjoyed the game apparently as much as you did?! I'm not sure what you're trying to say

EDIT: after reading the rest of your comments I realised what's your problem with Mario. It wasn't made by one of Sony's studios. Sorry if Nintendo made as you said a spectacular game that you and your kid enjoyed so in Adam Orth's ever immortal worlds: "deal with it".

[G3ng4r]

Come to think of it sony hasn't been known for their first party since gran turismo 1-3, crash 1-3 and twisted metal. These days it seems they're content mostly letting everyone else make their best exclusives for them. Either that or sony first party is now weak?

[Cucumberbutt]

I’m a massive Nintendo fan and loved both Odyssey and BOTW, but you make some great points! Despite its repetitive bosses and objectives, I still believe Odyssey merits a 9 on gameplay alone but definitely not a perfect 10. BOTW though is a brilliant game and you should give it a try!

[Skuletor]

Those games came out last year, you make it sound like no games have reviewed as well for a decade.

[AspiringProGenji]

The point still stands. Best reviewed game since the last best reviewed game

[Prince_TFK]

Which is just a few months ago.

[StormSnooper]

Well, God of War is the highest rated game this generation aside from Mario, and Zelda:botw, and I think it’s fair to point out that those games are amazing but do benefit from nostalgia being a factor in how they are rated by critics (which is fine)

[SuperSonic91]

Nothing will stand in the way of Kratos. That Norse Axe hits the bulls eye like crazy.

[AspiringProGenji]

And some people thought this was going to dissapoint... Never doubted SSM and all the changes they were doing with the series.

[PhoenixUp]

Just for fun and reference, currently the top 6 critically acclaimed games with a 90 or above average score of 2018 are

1. God of War 4 - 94
2. Celeste - 92
3. Shadow of the Colossus Remake - 91
4/5/6. Monster Hunter: World - 90
4/5/6. Into the Breach - 90
4/5/6. Bayonetta + Bayonetta 2 - 90

http://www.metacritic.com/b...

I seem to notice Sony is currently the only publisher to have multiple games on the list thus far. It’ll be interesting to see how the list dramatically changes as the year goes by.

[michellelynn0976]

Bayonetta 2 is up at 92 now.

[PhoenixUp]

Yeah it does but I choose to include the collection that it’s a part of rather than just it by itself since as I recall when you buy it physically you get both games.

[michellelynn0976]

Ah ok.

[DwightSchrute01]

What about of all time?

[G3ng4r]

Haven't checked in a while but that's pretty much Oot > botw = odyssey = galaxy = gta v.

[TallonIV]

That's great, now show us 2017... oh yeah that's doesn't seem to fit your agenda now does it?

[LiViNgLeGaCY]

Pretty sure he was just going by this year so far. No need to get hostile.

[OpenGL]

God of War is at 95 now

[SuperSonic91]

Though Metacritic is a highly flawed and corruptible way to rate the quality of games its obvious that high quality game experiences are equally distributed among third, second and first party games on PS4 in large quantities instead of a handfull of first party games on Nintendo.

Case in point NieR: Automata is resting on 88 on Metacritic when critics says it is "The Most Important Game of 2017".

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Oh that is just plain RICH.

Please, do keep going, though. Next you'll tell us that the Assassin's Creed series deserves the high scores it got despite its tower climbing over and over, while BotW deserves to be down-rated for using the idea and that it's "just the same Zelda game again".
How "fair and balanced" of you./S

[CaptainOmega]

GOW4 just hit 95 on meta

[PhoenixUp]

@ Dwight

You can easily go look that up yourself

@ Tallon

I’m talking about 2018 games, what agenda are you trying to fulfill?

@ Open

The great gets greater

[Jinger]

Well, there is a chance GoW could still drop a bit once all the other reviews come out from places that didn't go to the preview event and get a review copy.

Remember, the game isn't out yet so there are roughly another 100 reviews foe the game to come. It's bound to get a couple troll reviews.

[mark_parch]

hopefully one day Phil might be able to congratulate one of his own studios

[Wasabi]

@mark_parch

Completely off topic.

[Dragonscale]

@frag, tbh the bashing happens on all sides. You make it sound like xbox is being singled out when its par for the course for n4g tbh. Yeah its a bit immature of mark but its no worse than what happens in most articles on here. Like I said, some people need to lighten up. And anyhow its not really off topic considering xbox's performance in that department which is why it hasn't been flagged. And yes it is funny actually lol.

[Mr_Writer85]

@frag

He posted in the wrong article.

Now calm down snowflake and have a drink.

[Wasabi]

@Dragonscale

"And anyhow its not really off topic considering xbox's performance in that department which is why it hasn't been flagged"

No, it's off topic, Mark has stated himself it's posted in the wrong article and so it should be flagged.

@Mr_Writer85

"Now calm down snowflake and have a drink"

Of course, because of all the people on this comments thread claiming conspiracy theories regarding Nintendo review scores, I'm the "Special Snowflake".

Like I said, a distinct Lack of morale courage...

[notachance]

wrong article mate

[mark_parch]

thanks guys, no idea how that happened lol

[Dragonscale]

Hopefully one day some people will get a sense of humor lol.

[Wasabi]

@Dragonscale

The problem is dragon, is that it's not funny though is it?

There was no reason for Mark to bring up the topic of a completely different article or even bring Phil Spencer into this. The story is about Super Mario Odyssey, BotW and God of War, Why bring Xbox into it at all?

It's the same people posting the same provocative comments day in, day out and the same people upvoting those comments. Anyone with the morale courage to speak out or question this failed logic gets called a fanboy or is labelled as biased and becomes a target for these users. It's just constant bashing on one part of the community for no reason whatsoever. This post will no doubt be down voted massively because I've dared to point out that a comment made bashing Xbox was quite factually 'off topic'.

The irony is, I'll probably have played God of War (and maybe completed it) before the majority of N4G users even receive their copy next week. I have a good friend that writes for a well known gaming website, he knows I'm a massive GOW fan and he has review code.

I've already 100%'d BotW, and Super Mario Odyssey is on pause right now as I type this reply - Yet I will be labelled a fanboy simply for pointing out the obvious and because I won't condone or be a part of constant attacks on other gamers for no reason whatsoever.

[G3ng4r]

It's your typical fanboyism. Nearly everyone feels a need to validate their purchases whether it be ford or chevrolet, coke or pepsi, etc. It's unfortunate but nothing new or ending.

Unpause mario odyssey. That has to be the best game I've played in the last five years, coming from someone who hasn't given half an ass about mario since 64.

[WOLFofWALLSTREET]

It would be nice to see Zelda with GOW graphics.

[Gemmol]

No please no

[SuperSonic91]

Why not?

Are you saying that Zelda Wii U tech demo looks bad?

[Hylian10]

It would lose its charm though.

[SuperSonic91]

How?
The Link in the Wii U is 10x more charming than cell shaded Link on BOTW.

[notachance]

a real-looking great fairy would be a nightmare tbh

[G3ng4r]

For real though. In oot they were basically a marilyn manson video.

[SuperSonic91]

Are you talking about the Wii U tech demo?
It was the best looking Zelda I have ever seen up to this day.

I was on the fence of buying a Wii U because of that.

Imagine Metroid with that quality too. WoW!

[agent13]

I'm pretty sure Nintendo wouldn't do such a dangerous risk. But it is possible for fan/devs to recreate a zelda game in UE4 with realistic graphics.
In this link you can find realistic zelda artworks
dorkly.com/post/76775/realist ic-zelda-art

[PhantomS42]

Liking the scores but avoiding reading anything till I play for myself.

[Hylian10]

Mario Odyssey was my GOTY last year. Hopefully God of War is gonna be as good or better :)

[FallenAngel1984]

The biggest thing to take away from this article is this

“It is the most well-reviewed game in PS4 history outside of the remasters/re-releases of Grand Theft Auto V (97) and The Last of Us (95).”

Other interesting tidbits are these

“This is an unequivocal triumph for Sony, who has already put up a number of critically beloved exclusive games this generation including Persona 5 (93), Uncharted 4 (93), Bloodborne (92) and Horizon: Zero Dawn (89). In contrast, nearly all of Xbox One’s top rated games are multiplatform titles, outside of Forza Horizon 3 at a 91, and Ori and the Blind Forest at 88.”

“Some reviewers are comparing the game to Resident Evil 4, another title which reinvented its core gameplay to great success”

God of War 4 further shows why Santa Monica Studio was always considered a top tier developer, something that some people didn’t think was the case prior to the release of the game.

http://n4g.com/news/2158653...

[SuperSonic91]

After playing God of War 3 on PS3 I was like man! Sony Santa Monica is way underrated than Naughty Dog!
And for me Uncharted 2 is one of the greatest game of all time yet GOW3s presentation polish surpass it.
Now SSM is out to make a name for themselves again.
Amazing!

[Legatus]

What a man can say other than yet another PS4 exclusive masterpiece. Congrats Santa Monica Studio and Sony. Oh and only a week 'till release...

[Einhander1971]

Three INCREDIBLE TITLES!! simple as that, if you don't like em that's your problem. The facts are Nintendo and Sony know how to deliver amazing games.

[StormSnooper]

And I really hope this business model wins over the gaas model. Just great games, no subscriptions please.

[Dragonscale]

The sales of ps4 and switch hold your comment to be true. Great single player exclusives can make or break a systems success.

[OpenGL]

It's the highest rated current-gen game on PS4/Xbox One excluding remasters.

[Dragonscale]

Which remaster is that?

[OpenGL]

The Last of Us and Grand Theft Auto V are at 95 and 97.

[Dragonscale]

Ah ok. Didn't know that.

[senorfartcushion]

Trying to jump on the Nintendo train, are we?

[DefaultComment]

*Reads Title*
Yeah no shit both of those games came in last year. Genius.!

[DivineAssault]

Doesnt surprise me.. I watched the behind the scenes and they put a lot of effort into this one.. A week away seems too long

[GamesMaster1982]

Hater's going to hate, but every gamer needs to accept that the PS4 is truly the place to play this gen period !.

[blawren4]

How about we focus on facts and not try to fuel this ridiculous fanboy war. God of War is a great game. The article isn't trying to compare games or anything, why are we? Games of this quality happening frequently are a really good thing for gaming.

[MasterChief3624]

So.... Best-reviewed game in either just over a year or just under 6 months? Not exactly a huge deal.

Best-reviewed since Ocarina of Time, now that would be an achievement.

The game looks stellar and I've no doubt it will break into that Top 10 on Metacritic, honestly. But maybe come up with a more impressive achievement to put in the headline? :)

[adamwparker]

So.......what ..you're sayinggggg...isssss.....

Kratos is prime for inclusion in the next Super Smash Bros!

:P :D

[agent13]

This is the highest score a sony exclusive can get, for a new game of a franchise with big changes this 95 score is impressive, the same score that tlou achieved. Only Nintendo and gta titles can reach more than 95 metascore because of their nostalgia. Gow has got the perfect score and is undoubtedly the best game of this generation and for me, already the best game ever

[G3ng4r]

You don't have to play a game before calling it the best game ever. How insightful. That's how you can see that hundreds of critics around the world rate nintendo and gta games higher than sony's purely for nostalgia right?

[wonderfulmonkeyman]

Oh please.
If you're going to use the nostalgia trope to explain away BotW's and GTA's success stories, then it's perfectly fair for others to say that the new GoW got its high scores for the same reason; fans who remember the series and got all nostalgic and had already decided to buy it even before they'd seen any extensive amount of it played.

Or, you could do the sensible thing and admit that all of these games, from Zelda to GTA to GoW, are getting their high scores because they're doing enough things right to EARN them.

[michellelynn0976]

Boom!

[S2Killinit]

Gotta give it to Sony Santa Monica.

[TallonIV]

It's about time another company challenged Nintendo with it comes to top quality games lol I mean Nintendo absolutely dominate the top 25 Metacritic scores of all time.

[Imalwaysright]

And the best selling games of all time.

[Big_Game_Hunters]

Not quite on he same level as far as reviews go.

[michellelynn0976]

@Knushwood Butt What did it get overall? Kirby was not trying to be innovative. BTW, Uncharted 4 did not innovate. It was basically the third one with new characters and story. But, it was a great game. Again, Star Fox says hi. Of course Sony doesn't get a free pass. (rolling my eyes).

[Knushwood Butt]

Kirby was not trying to be innovative?

Do you actually believe what you write?

[michellelynn0976]

Yes I do believe what I write. Kirby was just an old school Kirby game. It was not trying to be BoTW.

[3-4-5]

I'm not nor have I ever been into this series. It just doesn't appeal to me at all, but this is great news for you fans of this game. congrats on getting to play possibly the best game in that series.

[no_more_heroes]

*sigh* really wish "life" didn't happen recently. Wanted to pick it up launch day, but looks like I'll have to wait.

:(

[Mr Marvel]

BotW and SMO were great games. I finished them both including all 900 korok seeds in BotW and all Moons in SMO (damn that Darker Side Moon), however, imo Horizon: Zero Dawn was the best game of 2017 and my game of the generation so far.

From what I'm seeing & reading, I think God of War could be the next "Horizon" or "TLoU" for me.

[thegamefox93]

My top 10 PS4 exclusive and PS4 console exclusive games (includes remakes but NOT remasters)
1)Bloodborne + old hunters
2)Uncharted 4
3)Last Guardian
4) Shadow of the Colossus remake (the original is prob one of my top 5 games of all time, this is THE BEST remake ever made. period. but its not higher, since I've experienced this before when it came out in 2005)
5) Nier Automata (Tied)
5) Nioh (Tied)
6) Horizon Zero Dawn
7) Uncharted Lost Legacy
8) Infamous second son
9) Ratchet and Clank remake
10) Transistor
11) Until Dawn
12) Ni No Kuni II

God of war has the potential to top all of these games (even bloodborne)...that's really saying something...

[michellelynn0976]

Nier is not a PS4 exclusive. It is on PC as well.

[Lime123]

Breath of the Wild and Mario Kart 8 are also not Nintendo exclusives since you can play them on PC.

[thegamefox93]

Right...I made a list including BOTH "PS4 only" and "PS4 console exclusive" games:
there are still a some I haven't even played yet:
yakuza 0
yakuza 6
yakuza kiwami
Gravity Rush 2
Persona 5
Tearaway Unfolded
Headlander
The Talos Principle
Salt and Sactuary
Nex Machina
Abzu

Also there are countless number of exclusives coming out 2018-19

[thegamefox93]

best reviewed non-nintendo game since last of us (June 2013) and GTA V (September 2013)

[Petebloodyonion]

GOD of War4 is rated perfect because we want it to be rated perfectly.
The same as why MS, Ubisoft, EA, Capcom, Activision, Sega, etc never get a perfect score because in our mind the game is already flawed.

The best way to explain this is by making a comparison with wine testing.
https://io9.gizmodo.com/win...
https://www.realclearscienc...
Where basically we served the same wine but changed the color or put it in a distinctive brand bottle and have an expert review them. as expected the review or critique of the same wine can have: 1 taste really bad and the other is the best thing on Earth (yet it's the same wine).

Now this all due to our expectations that change our perception.
The same applies here in video games reviews.

[rainslacker]

They make it seem like about one years time is a huge amount of time.....

[Sm3000]

This is my favorite Sony franchise, just edging out uncharted, and I'm beside myself to hear these reviews and comments about the game. Cant. Wait. To. Play

[Sm3000]

It would be sweet if they add some type of vr mode, doesn't have to be the whole game, maybe a couple battles with one of these giant enemies, or something. And you gotta unlock it through progress so it doesn't spoil anything......
This would hinge on whether or not they'd be able to do it without sacrificing graphic quality

[michellelynn0976]

@Lime123, well BoTW is not, but MK8 DK is.