So I was successful in finally putting up a donate button. I can really use some financial help, so if anyone reading this is willing to donate a couple of bucks I will love you forever!
If the narrative is going to tell us how angry or how dead Gabriel feels inside I would really like to see that translated to the character during gameplay. I know I go back to Kratos a lot, but the two games are fairly similar. During the God of War series I can actually feel Kratos’ anger and hate. It just flows from him at all times. It is part of his personality and it shows. Gabriel, on the other hand, has no personality. I can’t even tell if he’s actually determined. I might call him ‘numb’. He does seem to be just going through the paces, but I never get the impression that he’s actually trying to bring his wife back. No, his wife’s resurrection seems it will be a little side event if the guy should actually live until his quest is over.
Come on! This is the love of his life. Let’s see him mourn, let’s see his loss, let’s see the spark of hope he’s carrying that he just might get her back. And don’t tell me about it in a voiceover. Sure Patrick Stewart still has a great voice, but I’m getting tired of the voice delivering important information that should be occurring during gameplay. Heck, I didn’t even learn Cornell’s name until Patrick Stewart said it during his narrative.
Anyways, I’m here to talk about the next level, The Crow Witch. This is a pretty straight forward area with a lot of platforming in it. It was a nice enough level, well thought out, decently paced. But it was obviously just there to delay another boss fight. I kept wondering when the boss fight would appear. Gabriel really has to climb a good ways to reach this boss. She’s hidden herself pretty well at the top of this tower. I met a new type of enemy called Swordmasters during my climb. I have to admit that they really disappoint. I found them very easy and I never felt like I had to dodge. Not really what I would call “Swordmasters” if you catch my meaning.
At the top of tower is the boss, The Crow Witch Malphas, whose name I only know from the voiceover at the start of the level. Malphas herself is a pushover. But she isn’t the issue, it’s these annoying little enemies that she spawns. They can be tough and they deal out some decent damage. Grappling them in the air seems to be the best attack against them. The guys just take the beating then, but you have to be careful. If they’re not caught unawares they can counter attack and smack Gabriel for decent damage.
Malphas deserves the name The Crow Witch. She’s turned herself into a giant crow and she even attacks with crows. She spits eggs at Gabriel and that is his cue to jump into action. The eggs have the same concept as the rocks the Rock Titan threw. Gabriel has to grapple the eggs and throw them back at Malphas. It’s easy enough, but there is an odd inconsistency with the whole thing. Sometimes I can throw back only one egg, other times I was able to throw back two eggs and I don’t know why. This is actually kind of critical to know since her annoying minions pop out of these eggs. The more eggs I destroy the fewer enemies I have to deal with. I consider that pretty crucial to the flow of the fight.
This really rounds out the boss fight in the long run. There are a couple of Quick-Time Events that Gabriel has to plow through but nothing substantial. The annoying part to me is that there is a corpse on the roof. If you don’t grab it during the boss fight you’re going to miss it. At the end of the fight Pan shows up in horse form and whisks Gabriel away. Really, if Pan’s not helping then I really wonder what he’s doing.
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