You play it tediously. Not every nook and cranny visible to you can be explored. Its best to do all that after the end game and do it sparingly in the story. Its not Super Mario Odyssey, you don't have to collect all items.

Its deserving of 100 on 100. The combat is incredibly deep and rewarding, it feels good, their are just the right kind of difficulties for all gamers, the story and characters are amazing, voice acting is the best in any game I've played, the exploration reminds me of Batman: Arkham game which is a very high praise and the graphics are the best on a game I've played as a PC, PS4 and Switch gamer. Its just blew me away, I'm a fan of God of War but I had tempered expectations for this one because of the new way they do stuff, I kept my hype low expecting it to not be as good as the other God of War games. I was wrong. This is the best God of War game, the best Game of this generation and very high on my list of best games ever made.

Based on history for those sites for scores they give ps4 exclusives, 60-70 scores are very likely for each of them. And GameCritics apparently came out and said their score will be lower than any other score. They’re both blatant trolls. Some sample scores from GameCritics and QtT, respectively:  Uncharted 4: 50 and no score (vs. 93 MC); Horizon 65 and 60 (vs. 89 MC); Bloodborne:  70 and no score (vs. 92 MC); TLoU:  80 and 60 (vs. 95 MC). The guy from QtT reviewed HZD like 3 months late, and he didn’t even realize GoW was coming out until release day or after. Seriously no idea how he’s accepted by Metacritic.  

So far I’m pretty enamored with GoW. Think I’m about 2/3 through. It’s not perfect, including the amt of time spent in the boat lol, but it’s so freaking good in so many ways. So damn epic; combat fantastic (esp when I became better with combos and the controls); story is sweet and has me really interested; acting is almost perfect (just Freya seems a little off); visuals are incredible; music great; etc. When I’m not playing it, I’m thinking about it and can’t wait to play again. So as of right now, I think a 95 MC is absolutely deserved. The game is just so well done and polished.

That's part of the problem, though. How could I have known that it's best to wait until the end game to do that stuff? Up until reading this comment I've been under the impression that there are missables in the game, based on the fact that the water level changes, which affects areas you can explore. Usually after beating a game, I move on to another game, so I try and complete all side content before the main quest for that reason. As a result, I have actually never beaten games like Skyrim or Fallout, despite putting in hundreds of hours on the former.

God of War is an amazing game, no doubt about it, but in the interest of debate, I'd like to challenge you on a few points that I disagree with.

The devs created a fantastic, immersive experience, possibly the best ever done. I'm maybe two-thirds of the way through the game  (just found out that Freya was a God after climbing the mountain), so I can't comment on the story, but so far it's compelling enough, but not amazing. The voice acting is top notch, and the environments are freaking "holy crap" amazing. So much detail in the environments, it blows me away. I play with a Pro on performance mode as I don't have a 4K TV, so I get a smooth 45 FPS maybe (estimating based on what it feels like). I love the idea of there being a single camera that takes you through the whole game. They didn't even break it for loading screens, and instead transport you to a realm between realms, of sorts. I love this.

As I said before, I haven't beaten the game yet, but based on what I've experienced so far, I can't imagine there being much replay value. I'm curious if you agree with this or not, but I'm thinking that this is a game meant to be played through once, and then put down, and returned to maybe a few years later after you get another desire to play.

But here's why I personally don't think it's on par with the best games of all time. It may seem like I'm grasping for straws, because I partially am. I love this game, and I love showing up for work in the morning to talk with my co-workers about how far we got, and how awesome it is, but...

Because the game is designed in such a "narrative" way, the gameplay is limited: There are many occasions where your character is prevented from using weapons and slowed down to a max speed of walking while characters interact with each other. I'm pretty sure there isn't a way to skip these cutscenes, but even if there were, the point is that it interrupts the pacing.

Animations are too slow: When thoroughly exploring an area, navigating around can be painstakingly tedious at times. They do a good job of creating shortcuts, but the developers focused far more on immersion than quality of life.

The canoe: I have probably spent 2 or 3 hours in the canoe at this point, driving clockwise around the Isle of Nine to stop at every island, each time I get a new upgrade, just to make sure I didn't miss anything.

In summary, the game is epic and impressive. I'm a programmer by profession, and I can appreciate the work the devs put into this game. This game breaths pure talent, and was well-directed, all good stuff, but I'm not having *as much fun* with this game as I did with Zelda or Mario, or many other games.

As a piece of art, however, it's amazing.

What score did he gave the game? im too scared of being spoiled to click on it... (i still havent finished the game).

9/10

Thanks, i imagined it was gonna be something like that, since i heard him say in another video that the game was amazing but it had some little things he didnt liked.

God of War doesn't have the replay value of a create your character RPG. I haven't played Fallout and Skyrim but God of War is no 100 hour game in 1 playthrough its like 50 hours at the most. That isn't what the quality of a game should be based on. God of War 3 was an 11 hour game and its one of my favourite games ever made. Its aabout the experience and variety, like you yourself stated the environments are incredible, they are varied, enemy types are varied, boss fights and different routes and thaat Batman Arkham like exploration makes it a real treat.

The walking sections make the game come to a halt and I don't know if you've played the previous God of War games but that's a problem the series never had. I see it this way, SSM has taken a page from Naughty Dog's games seeing as Uncharted and TLOU are never criticised for taking player control away at moments and this as well as the climbing are my 2 problems with the game. The story was captivating for me because I've been with this character for 11 years and I know everything that Kratos ever encountered. I have a graeter bond with Kratos than a newcomer to the God of War series. Many of the references will go over your head because you haven't played the 6 God of War games. Its not needed to enjoy the story which is pretty good by itself but its incredible for those who have played all the games.

I can't argue with you about fun. SMO and BOTW are really fun games! BOTW had an impression on me but SMO I don't remember much of my time with it. God of War gives me fun above what BOTW and SMO did because the combat and boss fights are really good. It left a bigger impression than BOTW and I think about it when I'm not playing. The Nordic realms are inviting for me to explore them more than any game on Switch and PS4. That's the hallmark of a classic.

Well with the Edge review added and GoW officially dodging that bullet, I think the only way it drops from 95 now is if Quarter To Three decides to strike.

Oh it will strike.

The reviewer will enjoy the ride. But then he'll get to both Muspelheim and Niflheim, and will put an emotional low score to the game.