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Flawed by Design: More like ‘God of Bore’

> ‘God of War’ sequel headed for Ragnarok

Adam Tatelman
Arts Editor

 

hile I’m not a fan of
the God of War games,

its influence as a franchise
cannot be denied. As such,
seeing its new radical change
in direction from an epic head-
stomping arcade brawler to a
narrative-driven action game
in the vein of The Last of Us
has set off quite a few fans.
Some contend that a change
of concept is the best thing
for the series at the moment,
while others insist that this is a
betrayal of the classic games.

While ‘betrayal’ may be
hyperbolic, it is clear that
nothing we've seen from the
demo gels with the established
tone or gameplay of the series.
The original God of War was
an over-the-top melodrama
about Kratos’ sociopathic
quest for revenge against
Ares, the Greek war god.
The gameplay expressed this
sense of scale through the
zoomed-out perspective of

 

the camera, the speed and
ferocity of the combat, and the
epic combos master players
could pull off in battle.

Picture trying to do any of
that from the over-the-shoulder
perspective of the new God of
War. None of that gameplay
translated to this new build,
leaving the once-acrobatic
Kratos appearing mired to the
ground, plodding along, with
his combos replaced by basic
strikes, Plot-wise, the developers
have made the baffling decision
to try to write a redemption
story for Kratos by showing

 

him caring for a small boy in
the Scandinavian wilderness.
Even back when anyone
was still able to drum up a grain
of sympathy for his “murdered
family” motivation, Kratos
was at best a selfish anti-hero,
perfectly willing to brutalize
innocent civilians just for
getting in his way. That attitude
reached its logical conclusion
when he decided that his
revenge against the Gods of
Olympus was more important
than the fate of Greece itself.
The whole point of the series

Image via www.gamespot.com

is that revenge causes more
suffering than it’s worth.

The player learns that lesson
because—in the fashion of the
Greek tragedies—Kratos fails
to. Attempting to redeem him
treads on the narrative thrust
of the entire franchise. To see
such a despicable character
guiding a naive child through
the motions of a coming-of-age
plot—that’s beyond coming out
of left field. It’s flown in from a
completely different ballpark.

This sort of stylistic
transition has failed in the past.
Metroid: Other M was criticized
for attempting to turn the
exploration-heavy Metroid series
into a linear, trigger-happy
arcade romp, as well as replacing
the series’ cryptic plot threads
with obnoxious, poorly written,
flatly delivered monologues.
Worse yet was the treatment
of Samus’ character, heretofore
presented as an unflappable
professional, suddenly becoming
traumatized at the sight of
an enemy she’d long since
triumphed over in past games.
Understandably, it flopped.

‘Aftermath’ has some explaining to do

> ‘Aftermath’ pilot review

Lauren Paulsen
Multimedia Editor

 

Peosezpocalyptic stories in
television, movies, and

novels are not uncommon.
They generally follow the
main characters’ struggle to
survive after civilization falls.
Usually, there is a specific
reason why the apocalypse has
happened, be it a zombie virus,
a nuclear holocaust, or even
God’s retribution. Aftermath
might have the typical
post-apocalyptic survival
theme, but the reason for the
apocalypse isn’t so clear cut.

Aftermath is Syfy’s new
post-apocalyptic television
series about a family trying
to survive the aftermath
of the apocalypse, through
enormous storms raining fish
and snakes, earthquakes where
there are no fault lines, meteor
strikes, a plague that causes
insanity, and the appearance
of a body-possessing
supernatural creature.

It’s hard to really determine

through just the pilot how well
this series will fare. Nothing
is properly explained (except
that the body-possessing
spirits might be skinwalkers)
leaving the audience to wonder
what exactly is going on. All
that can really be determined
is that the world is ending,
possibly through an act of
God, and that the story will
follow this family of five.
Strangely, the family seems
to take things much more
calmly than one would imagine.
The mother (Anne Heche) used
to work in the Air Force, so she’s
portrayed as being a badass who
scary situations can’t unnerve,
but the extent to which she and
her family take things in stride
is somewhat unbelievable.
However, outside this strange
calmness, the acting isn’t bad,
and both twin girls do have
some believable panic attacks.
The Feverhead angle
sounds similar to a zombie
plague, but manages to put
a fresh twist to the trope.
Infected people (we don’t

yet know how they become
infected) act irrationally

and violently. There is some
cannibalism, but it’s not clear
whether the Feverheads or the
possessed people (who are also
extremely violent) are the ones
eating other people’s faces. The
more refreshing angle is that
the Feverheads are definitely
insane, but it’s interesting to
see how they try to rationalize
what they are doing. It is
almost scarier that way.

There is some humour
dotted throughout, such as the
fact that the mother keeps a
gun behind the Bible that the
scholarly father (james Tupper)
has no idea they own. Most
of it is quite dark, though, so
you'll need a macabre sense
of humour to enjoy it.

The pilot is suspenseful
enough to keep the viewer
watching, but the complete
lack of explanation might
become frustrating, especially
because by the end we still feel
that nothing is explained. It
is obviously meant to string

the viewer along to watch the
next episode, but this can
leave them feeling unsatisfied
by the end of the hour.

It’s difficult to completely
judge a whole series based on
its pilot, and that is certainly

(¥ ‘Aftermath’ has some explaining to do
(¥ Harrowing haunted houses and spooky spirits

With that in mind, it
becomes much easier to intuit
the reason for such directorial
decisions. The developers want
the God of War label to bring
in the long-time fans, but they
also want to follow the gameplay
trends set by heavily scripted,
set piece-dependent mega-hits
like Uncharted and Skyrim. So,
it isn’t about resurrecting an
old franchise with a new coat
of paint; it’s a shrewd business
decision through-and-through.

I have no quarrel with
sequels as long as they are
accompanied by new IPs. The
story would not change in the
slightest if Kratos were replaced
with a different character, so
why not make this game as a
new title? Just slap a “from the
creators of God of War” label
on the box, and you've got your
brand recognition covered. The
longer we allow game developers
to bank on our nostalgia, the
less we're going to see new
ideas, so remember to vote
with your dollar. It’s the only
way to get something new.

  

Image via Syfy

true for Aftermath. Through
the lack of explanation in the
first episode, the plotline could
really take off in any direction.
It’s hard to say at this point
whether that will prove to be a
boon, or a bane, for this show.