Current Events > Polygon compared God of War Ragnarok to an MCU movie...

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.polygon.com/reviews/23438548/god-of-war-ragnarok-review-ps5-ps4-release-date

In 2019, I bought my first PlayStation 4. It was the first Big Console Id had since the days of the slim PlayStation 2, and it came with God of War (2018), a new game from a series I wasnt too familiar with. But I fired it up on my shiny new toy, keen to try something different. A big part of my God of War experience something that didnt click until later was the one-off novelty of playing a big blockbuster on a new console. And it was fine. It was OK. Sitting down to write this, I realize now that the finer points of the story were almost forgettable, which is kind of what happens when you follow the game-as-a-prestige-movie story path that seems to color a lot of the AAA landscape.

In 2022, God of War Ragnark has improved on that recipe, taking a page from the success and spectacle of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is, in essence, the most non-Marvel Marvel story Ive seen in a game, from the eminently recognizable story beats heroes face difficult dilemmas, friends become enemies and vice versa, boy meets girl, beloved characters die, and so on to its practiced use of comedy and tragedy (the two classical storytelling genders) to push the players buttons.

Like its predecessor(s), Ragnark is the distillation of an everyman power fantasy, in which you enact powerful and badass acts of redemptive vengeance upon your enemies while retaining the moral high ground; you are, after all, playing a struggling parent with a whole lot of hang-ups. And while the writing does a much better job at building out the characters and their respective places in this world, the end result is a passably good but unevenly paced experience that, more often than not, feels like something I could binge on Disney Plus in any given week.

Like all art and entertainment, games reflect the cultural contexts and trends surrounding their development, and when theres big money involved, it means, more often than not, following a path that has already proved effective for the bottom line. Besides the Sopranos-like undercurrents, Ragnark also channels toned-down antihero qualities of The Boys, spatters of aspirational Tarantino dialogue, and the frat pack era of filmmaking the latter is evident in the character of Freyr, who, besides being a huge stoner, fails to show the blistering X-factor appeal that supposedly draws elves, dwarves, men, women, children, and stray dogs into his orbit. While some may delight at the banter when Thor shows up at Kratos house, it can feel a bit like eating reheated leftovers, albeit well-voiced ones. This isnt a complaint about derivative media; all our stories are derivative. But how you do it matters and when storytellers are generally too keen on remixing the hits without adding anything new, it means you have to work twice as hard to pull off a banger that still feels fresh and invigorating.

There is nothing life-changing about the way Ragnark 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, its also safe and comforting, like a rerun of Cheers where everyone knows your name and you know that youll never get thrown out of the bar. God of War Ragnark, as the sum of its many disparate and often conflicting parts and influences, isnt 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 shouldnt feel this weird to say that something of this scope and scale is just OK.

In terms of design they also mention frustration with the closedness of the levels, that the game's systems never get to a level of complexity or interaction they promise, and that the game has many pacing issues.

Not so sure this game can beat Elden Ring for GOTY anymore

Doe posted...

Not so sure this game can beat Elden Ring for GOTY anymore

because of this particular review?

g0ldie posted...

because of this particular review?

Well, if this review is accurate to the state of the game, then yeah.

Doe posted...

Well, if this review is accurate to the state of the game, then yeah.

But games that channel Hollywood blockbusters tend to do well with GOTY awards.

Punished_Blinx posted...

But games that channel Hollywood blockbusters tend to do well with GOTY awards.

Eh in the past six years we've had two Hollywood games (TLOU2 and GoW1) and four game games (Overwatch, Breath of the Wild, Sekiro, It Takes Two)

Tbh GoW and Horizon are the MCU equivalent to games as TLOU is the 2010s prestige television of games.

I choose to now NEVER play this game

I just hope that Kratos starts an Egyptian saga next

oh no, a polygon review dictates everything, never mind all of the near perfect scores or 100s its getting from quite a few others (IGN included, pick your poison)

who cares if it does or doesnt beat Elden Ringits humorous that people cant be pleased with getting multiple powerhouse titles in one year after complaining how stale and generic gaming has been lately, yadda yadda yadda

we all know which game deserves GotY, anyway - Stray

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

I read some critics who did not like the MCU movies at all.

I find it likelier that this guy just vomited SEO keywords into his review.

I'm also annoyed that he may have spoiled a "beloved character dying," but I might be overreacting.

"Polygon compare-"
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/8/4/AAZ1peAAD2aE.jpg

So many words used to say nothing in that review.

Doe posted...

to its practiced use of comedy and tragedy (the two classical storytelling genders)

The parenthesis feels unneccessarily talking down to me.

Doe posted...

Eh in the past six years we've had two Hollywood games (TLOU2 and GoW1) and four game games (Overwatch, Breath of the Wild, Sekiro, It Takes Two)

Death Stranding won more GOTY awards than Sekiro did

Uncharted 4 also won more GOTY awards than Overwatch did

Now open world games are also popular with critics so Elden Ring probably will win more. But it depends on the outlet. If it wasn't for Elden Ring then Ragnarok would have swept all of them and vice versa.

Well yeah, they both have a Ragnarok.

Like kotaku, I don't tend to click onto the polygon site.

dont care what about gameplay

another western movie game that'll win game of the year because this media isn't for the nerds it's for those who weren't good enough for hollywood, it's also why games focus on looking cool than letting the player do cool things, we've been in this hell ever since the Playstation 4 era hopefully it collapses on itself and these people move to some other medium like web shows so we can get some actual developers again.

tremain07 posted...

another western movie game that'll win game of the year because this media isn't for the nerds it's for those who weren't good enough for hollywood, it's also why games focus on looking cool than letting the player do cool things, we've been in this hell ever since the Playstation 4 era hopefully it collapses on itself and these people move to some other medium like web shows so we can get some actual developers again.

Yeah, thats fair.
I do find myself revisiting Indie games like Darkest Dungeon and Slay the Spire. Also recently picked up Children of Morta, which has been much better than I expected.

Edit: all these were on sale, so it was even better and I just got Star Renegades, which is one of those hidden gems.

i have like 0 interest in god of war ragnarok because it's a sequel to another movie game that i felt like i kinda already played before when it came out. it won't beat elden ring tho