Summary
The two Norse-basedGod of Wargames were both released to strong sales and praise from critics. They completely revamped the franchise’s gameplay and moved away from revenge-fueled narratives of the original games to one about a father and son duo. Unfortunately, there is one area where the newGod of Wargames somewhat failed to live up to their predecessors.
TheGod of Wargames are full of memorable boss fightsand the new ones are no exception to this. Antagonists like Heimdal, Thor, Odin, and Baldur are all incredible obstacles that Kratos must overcome. The downside to these games is that, for the most part, they lack the colossal boss fights that made some of the earlier games so memorable.
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The Massive Boss Fights In the Original God Of War Games
While the older games were not filled to the brim with giants for Kratos to overcome, the ratio of these enormous boss fights to regular human-sized ones felt a lot higher. In the first game, the opening battle was with an enormous Hydra that players never fully saw. Later on, the future God of War took on a massive mechanical Minotaur creature that guarded Pandora’s Box. Even at the game’s end, Kratos battled Ares in a giant form.
In the second game, the colossal bosses were fairly limited but very memorable. The first boss in the second game was a version of the Colossus of Rhodes that the new God of War had to rip apart piece by piece. It was the third game where the massive enemies really began to spring up.
God of War 3is often listed as one of the games with the best boss battlesand many of them are enormous. Right at the start, Kratos battled Poseidon who took the form of a huge creature made up almost entirely of water while on top of Gaia, while Hades was a massive monstrosity who would dwarf most of the antagonists in later games. The protagonist would also go on to kill other titans, battled a giant scorpion, and later fight Zeus who would take on larger forms during the game’s final fight.
Arguably the mostmemorable colossal boss fight inGod of War 3was the battle with Cronos. The antagonist was quite literally the size of a mountain whom Kratos had to gradually dismember before finishing off entirely. While the newerGod of Wargames have a few similar enemies, they ultimately pale in comparison and are less memorable as a result.
Why the Massive Boss Fights In the New God of War Games Didn’t Measure Up
The newerGod of Wargames only have two real comparable boss fights to the enormous ones from the originals. They are Hraezlyr the Dragon in the 2018 game and Garm the Giant Wolf inGod of War Ranganorkwho becomes Fenrir. Both of these fights have Kratos utilizing the environments to defeat them and both are fun and memorable in their own right. Still, the battles lack the same impact and sheer thrills that the earlier enemies had.
Battling Garm in mostly one spot in the fight’s final phase lacks the same suspense that comes from Cronos trying to smash Kratos as he makes his way up the titan’s body. Hraezlyr’s fight likewise doesn’t have the sheer thrill that came from battling the Colossus across an entire city. Overall neither fight was bad, but they don’t quite hit the same notes as those from the earlier ones. Luckily for fans, there could be some larger enemies on the horizon.
There are rumors floating around that Santa Monica Studio is working on some kind ofGod of Warhalf sequelwhich will follow Atreus in his quest to discover what became of the giant race. If true, it would present a new opportunity for the character to battle more gargantuan creatures that the previous games somewhat lacked and allow theGod of Warfranchise the chance to return to its colossal boss fight roots.
