God of War has been a major success for Sony , but GamesIndustry.biz reports that President of SIE Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida "was horrified" following his first God of War play session about five months prior to release.

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Every God of War Review 12 IMAGES

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As SIE Santa Monica Studio was nearing the end of God of War's five-year development cycle, Creative Director Cory Barlog was worried the team had not yet gotten the combat just right. Barlog trusted the team to pull it off, but it was taking too long. His solution was to bring in Yoshida for a play session in December 2017. It did not go well."I mean, the framerate was terrible, everything just felt bad," recounted Barlog. Yoshida didn't tell Barlog directly how it felt, but his mannerisms made it clear enough."He's playing, he's got scrunched up shoulders, head shaking a little bit," said Barlog. "I definitely get the feeling while he's playing that he's not having the greatest of times - which is great. I mean, it bums me out a little bit, but that's what I brought him in here for."Barlog would later hear from a friend who encountered Yoshida at a party exactly what the executive's feelings were toward God of War."He [Yoshida] said, 'Oh, you're working on God of War? I just gotta say, I played the game the other day. I was horrified.'"Barlog knew he had to kick the entire development team into gear to "nail that core loop down and get the framerate back up." The studio did just that, and Yoshida had a vastly different impression the next time he played God of War."In the end it worked," said Barlog. "He played it again, and you can see the two different poses of [Yoshida]. Horrified is much more rigid. The second time, he was not horrified. It was super good. Very exciting."Yoshida would be far from the only party who felt that way. In our review , IGN awarded God of War a 10, calling it "a masterpiece" and "a thrilling journey." And those players who want to continue that journey can do so with the newly released New Game Plus mode

Nick Santangelo is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia. He loves video games and sports, but not sports video games. Follow him on Twitter