The original God of War was released in the ten-plus year period where I didn’t play any games. Playing it for the first time comes for me, then, without any nostalgia for the era or the series.

The major gameplay annoyance is the fixed camera angles–whether that is not being able to see behind yourself, or having to change your stick direction arbitrarily just because the camera decides to shift. I am very glad that gamers have now been entrusted with the right stick to control the camera; it seems strange that anyone thought using both thumbs would be too difficult.

Early 2000s gaming sexism is my other chief problem–the game’s display of female breasts at every opportunity and its ultra-violent, ultra-masculine hero seem to be trying very hard to be adult, but end up seeming juvenile. It didn’t need to be an 18.

The combat is, however, is still engaging and well-designed. Carelessness leads quickly to failure and most battles seem fair; you need to pay close attention to which kind of enemy you are fighting and their attack patterns.

Other games beckon, so I will put this on pause for now, eight hours in. ★★★☆☆

(Played on the PCSX2 emulator, which seemed flawless to me.)

I played Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora when it came out, got about twenty hours in and then moved on to something else. I was wondering last week if I given it short shrift, so reinstalled and played five or so more hours.

It’s certainly beautiful. It’s fun to fly around Pandora. The story is fine. Shooting mech-suited bad humans with a bow is satisfying. When I looked at HowLongToBeat, however, and realised I had at least a dozen more hours to complete the game at my typical slow pace, I realised that I didn’t want to do it anymore. I didn’t want to search for the right ingredient in the forest to craft a better bow. I didn’t want to spend more time get better trousers, or a better harness for my flying buddy, or unlock another research station the same way I unlocked the last five.

It’s not a problem unique to Avatar, as I remember feeling that Horizon: Zero Dawn had outstayed its welcome by about 15-20 hours–although I found that game’s story considerably more interesting so I did push through to finish it. I will not finish Avatar, and so I happily assign it to the never-to-be-finished pile. ★★★☆☆