I'm curious as to how the actual GOW fans are viewing the matter. Since, you know, to me their opinion is the only opinion that matters. I honestly find a more accurate gauge of a game based on user reviews (sans the Mass Effect 3 debacle because I know it's better than a 3.3 game) on Metacritic, Amazon, Ign, youtube reviewers, and forums on other gaming sites than any averaged score of gaming sites, "journalists" (ha!), and bloggers. Given how many times I've clearly seen the industry being "encouraged" by publishers to skew towards the positive in a lot of AAA titles this gen (COD47 getting 85s-100s anyone?!), I'm always sort of skeptical with games averaged official review scores. Though, I'd be lying if I didn't say that I also like when games I love have great review scores. 

This GOW:A paradox has me curious as to what people who have had the luxury of playing the game feel about the gameplay they have encountered and if you can, (spoiler-free), give a short analysis of your experience playing the game it would be greatly appreciated, thanx! 

Sidenote: I have the Collector's Edition preordered already. 

i already been looking for the game, sometimes where i live they release the games early, if they do ill be sure to get it and tell you what i think. but from the demo the multiplayer is extremely good, nothing like i ever played before. its certainly isnt "tacked on" SSM seriously know what they are doing with the multiplayer

I finished the prologue. So far so good. I'll say though they took the whole 4D game play idea (4D game play referring to movable environments) and abused the hell out of it. The entire prologue is one giant boss battle and it really makes the Leviathan boss fight look like... last...gen? in comparison. The only problem I've had is that everything gets a bit tiny when stuff like that's happening and I have a bit of trouble distinguishing Kratos from enemies. My only other problems is that Kratos' combos are reduced until you have full rage meter. So the light attack combo leading into Kratos' slam doesn't happen without a full rage meter. You can take other weapons than your main from enemies or weapons left around. I haven't gotten any magic so I'm not sure how they're doing it, I wasn't particularly fond of them making it one magic per weapon in God of War 3.

This is awesome. Love that the intro was epic. As I expected it to be already. I have avoided any video footage of the game because I hate being spoiled. But story wise, the "softer" Kratos (which I think is an accurate depiction of the character because he didn't become a full fledge personification of vengeance and anger until AFTER his wife and child were killed so I don't get the criticism) how is the pacing? Are you liking Kratos? Is the story engaging and entertaining to the point where you want to see what happens and where it goes? 

I dont have the game yet, but I get the feeling some reviewers just want to troll or have a vendetta against the game because of the difficult puzzle.   As you may noticed nobody mentions that on the review, because if they did everyone would have told them that they are rating it like that because it is hard, and they dont want to look like morons.

They did not like Kratos because he was always angry, and now they dont like him because he is no longer angry?

And the other saying, it is more of the same but more refined, and yet they give it a 7/10?! when they gave GOW3 an 8-9/10.      Also the combat is much more deep than in GOW3, you have lots of more gadgets that can be used in mid combat this time, and none gave a damn about it.  they just play it like if it was GOW1, and complain about there is no improvement.   For example gamespot uploaded a video of Kratos fighting a chimera, and the dude plays like crap.

Other reviews on the other hand while not trolling, were to much fixated about the fact that it is not as epic as GOW3, but come on, it is a prequel; and Kratos does not have all the powers to fight and win against gigantic dudes like Cronos.   So yeah, it can be a valid point, but it is a prequel, so in context with the story, it makes sense.

Some dude even asked why Kratos did not had the weapons he had in GOW3?! Maybe because it is a prequel?!

Long story short, most of the reviews with 7 are made by dudes who dont enjoy the franchise, so if you give them an enhanced version of something they dont like they wont enjoy it.  It is like if I was going to review Gran Turismo 5, even though I dont like racing games.  It is a phenomenal game, but it is not for me.

I really hope IGN and other game sites left to give it a better score worthy of the franchise.

Also, if you enjoy everything you have seen and played, ignore reviews.  That is what I do, and I dont regret it :)

A game feeling less epic can't be justified with "it's a prequel", if epicness is a key feature of GoW's appeal. Maybe they made the wrong game!

If I can relate, making Other M about Samus' vulnerability and subservience 'because it's a prequel' was still the wrong choice.

Its similar to Uncharteds DOTS (Dynamic object traversal system) from what I can tell (although in UC3, they even added physics-based stuff to it xD).

Only difference is that the camera isnt in your hands which might make it a bit difficult to know wtf is going on at times.

Although some reviews I read arent upset over Kratos becoming softer (aside from like Cvg and something else). Ive read a few where they claim SSM just didnt "flesh it out" enough. He's softer but they dont really explore it apparantly. We wont know until we play it though!

I agree. I know I and many others wanted God of War IV. I am happy they saved it for the PS4 though. With that said: Maybe Ascension should've been an MP only game sold for 40€ or something. It'd make the wait even harder and make GoWIV hype 3x the amount. (I think that would be the most clever approach, but as a fan, I am glad for a SP ofcourse xD Duhh).

@Gamer_of_the_Year

I'll try not to spoil anything but the story I've seen so far is very intriguing.  More thought was put into it and I was surprised with the beginning cause I was expecting something else entirely.  The game sort of starts off with Uncharted in that it throws you in the middle of things and then goes into a flashback leading up to current events... at least I think anyways, I'm not going to really play much more until I finish Tomb Raider.

@Heavenly_King

I know I'll get slammed for liking Lair, but I haven't trusted reviewers since I read IGN's review for it and it was all lies.  You never know what kind of builds reviewers are given.  Plus it's gotten worse since.  Reviewers have this elitism now where if they can't get some instant gratification it'll get slammed, plus the way they've screwed up with reviewing games early on really hurt them now since anything lower than a 9 sucks according to them.  Publishers buying reviews is becoming a huge problem too which is making things worse.  There's no credibility in gaming journalism anymore.  I used to go to IGN to read their reviews because they used to break the game into categories and go into great depth with each, sometimes I'd be reading a 4/5 page review because of the depth.  Now it's all 1 page garbage written by people who have no more writing experience higher than elementary school.  To sum up about God of War though;  Is it getting a bit stale?  Yes I think it is, and this should be the last game that's made classically.  Do I think it's worth less than a 9 yet?  God no.