There is no way they could have made the same old GOW game style... they would have got nailed from the reviewers, and gamers were already starting to drop off. It needed to be made next gen. From someone who only got into GOW when 3 came out and then played most of them within a few years, I can honestly say they have made the right decision. You may not agree but from a design/creators point of view, they have so nailed it (from what I have seen). Still has all the key parts of GOW just in a different application.

I'm a huge God of War fan and I'm VERY excited for this, the series needed a bit of a shake up in my opinion, and it was rumoured to be Norse mythology for so long anyway... as for the gameplay, over the shoulder means we can get closer to the action, and honestly it seems like there's weight between attacks and it looks so much more brutal up close too, can't wait to try it myself... there's still gonna' be combos and stuff, AoE attacks, magic etc. and don't forget we've only seen footage from the first three hours of the game, so around 10% of the game, I'm sure it'll ramp up with more enemies etc. as the game goes on... also the camera moves further out when you're fighting bigger enemies, if you see the troll (boss?) fight, the camera isn't zoomed in as much, and we've seen some pretty big enemies from trailers, so I'm expecting us to still get the epic scale fights that the series is know for, just from a different perspective. 

Also to anyone wondering about the R1 + R2 thing, I watched a video earlier (I think it was the Playstation Underground video?) and one of the guys said you can switch attacks to Square + Triangle in the settings, so it won't feel too foreign for you, you'll be able to use the same control scheme as the other games for the most part.

Nah, the game will be very popular with fans. It’s still GoW.

I don't agree at all. Action games are still done extremely well and review very well. Just because they needed to move on from the same basic movesets doesn't mean they had to make it what it has become. I guess it's still an action game, but it'd be better if it was a complete reboot rather than a sequel to GOW3. It looks like spin-off that is reskinning other Sony games with Kratos.

This game is redemption for past sins. Sony killed two birds with one stone with this game:

1) They will keep their game current.

2) They would have also silenced the critics who said god of war was a gorefest helmed by a one dimensional character. They also solved the puzzle of how many gods kratos can take out once olympus was taken down. In this game Kratos seems to be multidimensional because he has someone who has to take care of and has to think about what hes doing. Kratos is not the type to care for anyone or anything, so critics will be happy to see a new side of him. No need for a reboot. Its redemption.

But this isn't true. We know what motivates Kratos to go on a quest for vengeance and that's because he cared about his family. He only turned callous and angry after they were taken from him. While that still makes him not very deep, but it doesn't really show anything new.

This game is redemption for past sins. Sony killed two birds with one stone with this game:

1) They will keep their game current.

2) They would have also silenced the critics who said god of war was a gorefest helmed by a one dimensional character. They also solved the puzzle of how many gods kratos can take out once olympus was taken down. In this game Kratos seems to be multidimensional because he has someone who has to take care of and has to think about what hes doing. Kratos is not the type to care for anyone or anything, so critics will be happy to see a new side of him. No need for a reboot. Its redemption.

But this isn't true. We know what motivates Kratos to go on a quest for vengeance and that's because he cared about his family. He only turned callous and angry after they were taken from him. While that still makes him not very deep, but it doesn't really show anything new.

That's the point though, I'm not sure I want an emotional or sensible Kratos. Like I wouldn't want a serious Dante or a chaste Bayonetta. Hack'n'Slash lends itself well to brash, impulsive, over the top characters because it suits the gameplay style, which is why I'm apprehensive about this new Kratos. 

We'll see. Making such big changes the core gameplay is a big risk, so we'll see if it pays off.  That type of change is either something that people love or hate.

This game is starting to scream critical darling with a pretty mixed fan reaction. Almost every single piece of news I've heard about the game recently has just made it sound awful. I don't know why any GOW fans would be excited for this game.

I don't agree at all. Action games are still done extremely well and review very well. Just because they needed to move on from the same basic movesets doesn't mean they had to make it what it has become. I guess it's still an action game, but it'd be better if it was a complete reboot rather than a sequel to GOW3. It looks like spin-off that is reskinning other Sony games with Kratos.

I really hate the focus on smaller fights and the concept of needing a small kid to win battles or traverse terrain. The camera might be "bring you closer to the action" but I think it's more to detract from how little is going on when you're actually fighting. As far as it looking more brutal, I'm not sure what gameplay you've seen. It looks far less brutal and certainly less grotesque. While the attacks have more weight, it's more of a compensation for the much slower game speed. When everything is slower, each attack has more weight to it.