God of war stands on its own.
Its that good.
The fights are -as expected- fantastic. The attention to detail is unreal. Map is large enough. Game play smooth. Action, video, audio, all near perfect. Weapons, Armour Talismans etc can keep you mix and matching based on how you prefer to build your character. Encapsulating.
However what I particularly enjoyed and will always remember about this game, is the character development. Kratos and Atreus's journey is more than a mission to bash in the heads of the gods(which there is plenty of)... It is really a road of self discovery. They start off as strangers linked only through blood relation - but at the end, they are truly father and son. It's beautiful.
I have played it twice - once on "Give me a Challenge" and then on "Give me god of war". I will play this game again and again in my life time. So far, its the best game I have ever played.