document_title: List of U.S. states by coastline

question_text: which state in the united states has the longest coastline

text: List of U.S. states by coastline

text: Table[edit]

text:
State

Method 1 (CRS)

Method 2 (NOAA)

Ratio(M2÷M1)

Area[3] (mi2)

Coast/area ratio (ft/mi2)

Coastline
Rank
Coastline
Rank
Method 1
Method 2

 Alaska
7007106860441600000♠6,640 mi (10,690 km)
7000100000000000000♠1
7007545631989760000♠33,904 mi (54,563 km)
7000100000000000000♠1
5.11
665384
53
270

 Florida
7006217261440000000♠1,350 mi (2,170 km)
7000200000000000000♠2
7007135764259840000♠8,436 mi (13,576 km)
7000200000000000000♠2
6.25
65758
110
680

 California
7006135184896000000♠840 mi (1,350 km)
3
7006551522188800000♠3,427 mi (5,515 km)
7000500000000000000♠5
4.08
163695
27
110

 Hawaii
7006120700800000000♠750 mi (1,210 km)
4
7006169302988800000♠1,052 mi (1,693 km)
7001180000000000000♠18
1.40
10932
360
510

 Louisiana
7005638909568000000♠397 mi (639 km)
5
7007124257450240000♠7,721 mi (12,426 km)
7000300000000000000♠3
19.4
52378
40
780

 Texas
7005590629248000000♠367 mi (591 km)
6
7006540578649600000♠3,359 mi (5,406 km)
7000700000000000000♠7
9.15
268596
7.2
66

 North Carolina
7005484412544000000♠301 mi (484 km)
7000700000000000000♠7
7006543153600000000♠3,375 mi (5,432 km)
7000600000000000000♠6
11.2
53819
30
330

 Oregon
7005476365824000000♠296 mi (476 km)
7000800000000000000♠8
7006226917504000000♠1,410 mi (2,270 km)
7001170000000000000♠17
4.76
98379
16
76

 Maine
7005366930432000000♠228 mi (367 km)
7000900000000000000♠9
7006559729843200000♠3,478 mi (5,597 km)
7000400000000000000♠4
15.3
35380
34
520

 Massachusetts
7005308994048000000♠192 mi (309 km)
7001100000000000000♠10
7006244459353600000♠1,519 mi (2,445 km)
7001160000000000000♠16
7.91
10554
96
760

 South Carolina
7005300947328000000♠187 mi (301 km)
7001110000000000000♠11
7006462847334400000♠2,876 mi (4,628 km)
7001120000000000000♠12
15.4
32020
31
470

 Washington
7005252667008000000♠157 mi (253 km)
7001120000000000000♠12
7006486987494400000♠3,026 mi (4,870 km)
7001110000000000000♠11
19.3
71298
12
220

 New Jersey
7005209214720000000♠130 mi (210 km)
7001130000000000000♠13
7006288394444800000♠1,792 mi (2,884 km)
7001150000000000000♠15
13.8
8723
79
1,100

 New York
7005204386688000000♠127 mi (204 km)
7001140000000000000♠14
7006422452800000000♠2,625 mi (4,225 km)
7001130000000000000♠13
20.7
54555
12
250

 Virginia
7005180246528000000♠112 mi (180 km)
7001150000000000000♠15
7006533497536000000♠3,315 mi (5,335 km)
7000800000000000000♠8
29.6
42775
14
410

 Georgia
7005160934400000000♠100 mi (160 km)
7001160000000000000♠16
7006377230233600000♠2,344 mi (3,772 km)
7001140000000000000♠14
23.4
59425
8.9
210

 Connecticut
7005154497024000000♠96 mi (154 km)
7001170000000000000♠17
7005994574592000000♠618 mi (995 km)
7001200000000000000♠20
6.44
5543
91
590

 Alabama
7004852952320000000♠53 mi (85 km)
7001180000000000000♠18
7005976871808000000♠607 mi (977 km)
7001210000000000000♠21
11.5
52420
5.3
61

 Mississippi
7004708111360000000♠44 mi (71 km)
7001190000000000000♠19
7005577754496000000♠359 mi (578 km)
7001240000000000000♠24
8.16
48432
4.8
39

 Rhode Island
7004643737600000000♠40 mi (64 km)
7001200000000000000♠20
7005617988096000000♠384 mi (618 km)
7001220000000000000♠22
9.60
1545
140
1,300

 Maryland
7004498896640000000♠31 mi (50 km)
7001210000000000000♠21
7006513380736000000♠3,190 mi (5,130 km)
7001100000000000000♠10
103
12406
13
1,400

 Delaware
7004450616320000000♠28 mi (45 km)
7001220000000000000♠22
7005613160064000000♠381 mi (613 km)
7001230000000000000♠23
13.6
2489
59
810

 New Hampshire
7004209214720000000♠13 mi (21 km)
7001230000000000000♠23
7005210824064000000♠131 mi (211 km)
7001280000000000000♠28
10.1
9349
7.3
74

 Michigan
–
–
7006518852505600000♠3,224 mi (5,189 km)
7000900000000000000♠9
–
96714
–
180

 Wisconsin
–
–
7006131966208000000♠820 mi (1,320 km)
7001190000000000000♠19
–
65496
–
66

 Ohio
–
–
7005502115328000000♠312 mi (502 km)
7001250000000000000♠25
–
44826
–
37

 Minnesota
–
–
7005304166016000000♠189 mi (304 km)
7001260000000000000♠26
–
86936
–
11

 Pennsylvania
–
–
7005225308160000000♠140 mi (230 km)
7001270000000000000♠27
–
46054
–
16

 Illinois
–
–
7005101388672000000♠63 mi (101 km)
7001290000000000000♠29
–
57914
–
5.7

 Indiana
–
–
7004724204800000000♠45 mi (72 km)
7001300000000000000♠30
–
36420
–
6.5

Total
7007200830037760000♠12,479 mi (20,083 km)

7008151474675968000♠94,122 mi (151,475 km)


document_title: Articles of Confederation

question_text: who argued that the articles of confederation were too weak

question_tokens: who argued that the articles of confederation were too weak

root

text: Articles of Confederation

text: Background and context

text: The political push to increase cooperation among the then-loyal colonies began with the Albany Congress in 1754 and Benjamin Franklin's proposed Albany Plan, an inter-colonial collaboration to help solve mutual local problems. The Articles of Confederation would bear some resemblance to it. Over the next two decades, some of the basic concepts it addressed would strengthen and others would weaken, particularly the degree of deserved loyalty to the crown. With civil disobedience resulting in coercive, and what the colonials perceived as intolerable acts of Parliament, and armed conflict resulting in dissidents being proclaimed rebels and outside the King's protection, any loyalty remaining shifted toward independence and how to achieve it. In 1775, with events outpacing communications, the Second Continental Congress began acting as the provisional government that would run the American Revolutionary War and gain the colonies their collective independence.

tag: p

text: It was an era of constitution writing—most states were busy at the task—and leaders felt the new nation must have a written constitution, even though other nations did not. During the war, Congress exercised an unprecedented level of political, diplomatic, military and economic authority. It adopted trade restrictions, established and maintained an army, issued fiat money, created a military code and negotiated with foreign governments.[5]

text: To transform themselves from outlaws into a legitimate nation,  the colonists needed international recognition for their cause and foreign allies to support it. In early 1776, Thomas Paine argued in the closing pages of the first edition of Common Sense that the "custom of nations" demanded a formal declaration of American independence if any European power were to mediate a peace between the Americans and Great Britain. The monarchies of France and Spain in particular could not be expected to aid those they considered rebels against another legitimate monarch. Foreign courts needed to have American grievances laid before them persuasively in a "manifesto" which could also reassure them that the Americans would be reliable trading partners. Without such a declaration, Paine concluded, "[t]he custom of all courts is against us, and will be so, until, by an independence, we take rank with other nations."[6]

text: Beyond improving their existing association, the records of the Second Continental Congress show that the need for a declaration of independence was intimately linked with the demands of international relations. On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution before the Continental Congress declaring the colonies independent; at the same time he also urged Congress to resolve "to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances" and to prepare a plan of confederation for the newly independent states. Congress then created three overlapping committees to draft the Declaration, a Model Treaty, and the Articles of Confederation. The Declaration announced the states' entry into the international system; the model treaty was designed to establish amity and commerce with other states; and the Articles of Confederation, which established "a firm league" among the thirteen free and independent states, constituted an international agreement to set up central institutions for the conduct of vital domestic and foreign affairs.[7]

text: Drafting

text: On June 12, 1776, a day after appointing a committee to prepare a draft of the Declaration of Independence, the Second Continental Congress resolved to appoint a committee of 13 to prepare a draft of a constitution for a union of the states.  The committee met repeatedly, and chairman John Dickinson presented their results to the Congress on July 12, 1776.  There were long debates on such issues as sovereignty, the exact powers to be given the confederate government, whether to have a judiciary, and voting procedures.[8]  The final draft of the Articles was prepared in the summer of 1777 and the Second Continental Congress approved them for ratification by the individual states on November 15, 1777, after a year of debate.[9] Consensus was achieved by dividing sovereignty between the states and the central government, with a unicameral legislature that protected the liberty of the individual states.

text: Ratification

text: The Articles of Confederation was submitted to the states for ratification in November 1777. The first state to ratify was Virginia on December 16, 1777; 12 states had ratified the Articles by February 1779, 14 months into the process.[10] The lone holdout, Maryland, refused to go along until the landed states, especially Virginia, had indicated they were prepared to cede their claims west of the Ohio River to the Union.[11] It would be two years before the Maryland General Assembly became satisfied that the various states would follow through, and voted to ratify. During this time, Congress observed the Articles as its de facto frame of government. Maryland finally ratified the Articles on February 2, 1781. Congress was informed of Maryland's assent on March 1, and officially proclaimed the Articles of Confederation to be the law of the land.[10][12][13]

text: The several states ratified the Articles of Confederation on the following dates:[14]

text:
State

Date

1

 Virginia

December 16, 1777

2

 South Carolina

February 5, 1778

3

 New York

February 6, 1778

4

 Rhode Island

February 9, 1778

5

 Connecticut

February 12, 1778

6

 Georgia

February 26, 1778

7

 New Hampshire

March 4, 1778

8

 Pennsylvania

March 5, 1778

9

 Massachusetts

March 10, 1778

10

 North Carolina

April 5, 1778

11

 New Jersey

November 19, 1778

12

 Delaware

February 1, 1779

13

 Maryland

February 2, 1781

tag: table

text: Article summaries

text: The Articles of Confederation contain a preamble, thirteen articles, a conclusion, and a signatory section. The individual articles set the rules for current and future operations of the confederation's central  government. Under the Articles, the states retained sovereignty over all governmental functions not specifically relinquished to the national Congress, which was empowered to make war and peace, negotiate diplomatic and commercial agreements with foreign countries, and to resolve disputes between the states. The document also stipulates that its provisions "shall be inviolably observed by every state" and that "the Union shall be perpetual".

text: Summary of the purpose and content of each of the 13 articles:

text:
Establishes the name of the confederation with these words: "The stile of this confederacy shall be 'The United States of America.'"
Asserts the sovereignty of each state, except for the specific powers delegated to the confederation government: "Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated."
Declares the purpose of the confederation: "The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defense, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretense whatever."
Elaborates upon the intent "to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse among the people of the different States in this union," and to establish equal treatment and freedom of movement for the free inhabitants of each state to pass unhindered between the states, excluding "paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice." All these people are entitled to equal rights established by the state into which they travel. If a crime is committed in one state and the perpetrator flees to another state, he will be extradited to and tried in the state in which the crime was committed.
Allocates one vote in the Congress of the Confederation (the "United States in Congress Assembled") to each state, which is entitled to a delegation of between two and seven members. Members of Congress are to be appointed by state legislatures. No congressman may serve more than three out of any six years.
Only the central government may declare war, or conduct foreign political or commercial relations. No state or official may accept foreign gifts or titles, and granting any title of nobility is forbidden to all. No states may form any sub-national groups. No state may tax or interfere with treaty stipulations already proposed. No state may wage war without permission of Congress, unless invaded or under imminent attack on the frontier; no state may maintain a peacetime standing army or navy, unless infested by pirates, but every State is required to keep ready, a well-trained, disciplined, and equipped militia.
Whenever an army is raised for common defense, the state legislatures shall assign military ranks of colonel and below.
Expenditures by the United States of America will be paid with funds raised by state legislatures, and apportioned to the states in proportion to the real property values of each.
Powers and functions of the United States in Congress Assembled.
Grants to the United States in Congress assembled the sole and exclusive right and power to determine peace and war; to exchange ambassadors; to enter into treaties and alliances, with some provisos; to establish rules for deciding all cases of captures or prizes on land or water; to grant letters of marque and reprisal (documents authorizing privateers) in times of peace; to appoint courts for the trial of pirates and crimes committed on the high seas; to establish courts for appeals in all cases of captures, but no member of Congress may be appointed a judge; to set weights and measures (including coins), and for Congress to serve as a final court for disputes between states.
The court will be composed of jointly appointed commissioners or Congress shall appoint them. Each commissioner is bound by oath to be impartial. The court's decision is final.
Congress shall regulate the post offices; appoint officers in the military; and regulate the armed forces.
The United States in Congress assembled may appoint a president who shall not serve longer than one year per three-year term of the Congress.
Congress may request requisitions (demands for payments or supplies) from the states in proportion with their population, or take credit.
Congress may not declare war, enter into treaties and alliances, appropriate money, or appoint a commander in chief without nine states assented. Congress shall keep a journal of proceedings and adjourn for periods not to exceed six months.
When Congress is in recess, any of the powers of Congress may be executed by "The committee of the states, or any nine of them", except for those powers of Congress which require nine states in Congress to execute.
If "Canada" (as the British-held Province of Quebec was also known) accedes to this confederation, it will be admitted.[15] No other colony could be admitted without the consent of nine states.
Reaffirms that the Confederation accepts war debt incurred by Congress before the existence of the Articles.
Declares that the Articles shall be perpetual, and may be altered only with the approval of Congress and the ratification of all the state legislatures.

tag: ol

text: Congress under the Articles

text: The Army

text: Under the Articles, Congress had the authority to regulate and fund the Continental Army, but it lacked the power to compel the States to comply with requests for either troops or funding. This left the military vulnerable to inadequate funding, supplies, and even food.[16] Further, although the Articles enabled the states to present a unified front when dealing with the European powers, as a tool to build a centralized war-making government, they were largely a failure; Historian Bruce Chadwick wrote:

text: George Washington had been one of the very first proponents of a strong federal government. The army had nearly disbanded on several occasions during the winters of the war because of the weaknesses of the Continental Congress. ... The delegates could not draft soldiers and had to send requests for regular troops and militia to the states. Congress had the right to order the production and purchase of provisions for the soldiers, but could not force anyone to supply them, and the army nearly starved in several winters of war.[17]

text: The Continental Congress, before the Articles were approved, had promised soldiers a pension of half pay for life. However Congress had no power to compel the states to fund this obligation, and as the war wound down after the victory at Yorktown the sense of urgency to support the military was no longer a factor. No progress was made in Congress during the winter of 1783–84. General Henry Knox, who would later become the first Secretary of War under the Constitution, blamed the weaknesses of the Articles for the inability of the government to fund the army. The army had long been supportive of a strong union.[18] Knox wrote:

text: The army generally have always reprobated the idea of being thirteen armies. Their ardent desires have been to be one continental body looking up to one sovereign. ... It is a favorite toast in the army, "A hoop to the barrel" or "Cement to the Union".[19]

text: As Congress failed to act on the petitions, Knox wrote to Gouverneur Morris, four years before the Philadelphia Convention was convened, "As the present Constitution is so defective, why do not you great men call the people together and tell them so; that is, to have a convention of the States to form a better Constitution."[19]

text: Once the war had been won, the Continental Army was largely disbanded. A very small national force was maintained to man the frontier forts and to protect against Native American attacks. Meanwhile, each of the states had an army (or militia), and 11 of them had navies. The wartime promises of bounties and land grants to be paid for service were not being met. In 1783, George Washington defused the Newburgh conspiracy, but riots by unpaid Pennsylvania veterans forced Congress to leave Philadelphia temporarily.[20]

text: The Congress from time to time during the Revolutionary War requisitioned troops from the states. Any contributions were voluntary, and in the debates of 1788 the Federalists (who supported the proposed new Constitution) claimed that state politicians acted unilaterally, and contributed when the Continental army protected their state's interests. The Anti-Federalists claimed that state politicians understood their duty to the Union and contributed to advance its needs. Dougherty (2009) concludes that generally the States' behavior validated the Federalist analysis. This helps explain why the Articles of Confederation needed reforms.[21]

text: Foreign policy

text: The 1783 Treaty of Paris, which ended hostilities with Great Britain, languished in Congress for several months because too few delegates were present at any one time to constitute a quorum so that it could be ratified. Afterward, the problem only got worse as Congress had no power to enforce attendance. Rarely did more than half of the roughly sixty delegates attend a session of Congress at the time, causing difficulties in raising a quorum. The resulting paralysis embarrassed and frustrated many American nationalists, including George Washington. Many of the most prominent national leaders, such as Washington, John Adams, John Hancock, and Benjamin Franklin, retired from public life, served as foreign delegates, or held office in state governments; and for the general public, local government and self-rule seemed quite satisfactory. This served to exacerbate Congress's impotence.[22]

text: Inherent weaknesses in the confederation's frame of government also frustrated the ability of the government to conduct foreign policy. In 1786, Thomas Jefferson, concerned over the failure of Congress to fund an American naval force to confront the Barbary pirates, wrote in a diplomatic correspondence to James Monroe that, "It will be said there is no money in the treasury. There never will be money in the treasury till the Confederacy shows its teeth."[23]

text: Furthermore, the 1786 Jay–Gardoqui Treaty with Spain also showed weakness in foreign policy. In this treaty, which was never ratified, the United States was to give up rights to use the Mississippi River for 25 years, which would have economically strangled the settlers west of the Appalachian Mountains. Finally, due to the Confederation's military weakness, it could not compel the British army to leave frontier forts which were on American soil — forts which, in 1783, the British promised to leave, but which they delayed leaving pending U.S. implementation of other provisions such as ending action against Loyalists and allowing them to seek compensation. This incomplete British implementation of the Treaty of Paris would later be resolved by the implementation of Jay's Treaty in 1795, after the federal Constitution came into force.

text: Taxation and commerce

text: Under the Articles of Confederation, the central government's power was kept quite limited. The Confederation Congress could make decisions, but lacked enforcement powers. Implementation of most decisions, including modifications to the Articles, required unanimous approval of all thirteen state legislatures.[24]

text: Congress was denied any powers of taxation: it could only request money from the states. The states often failed to meet these requests in full, leaving both Congress and the Continental Army chronically short of money. As more money was printed by Congress, the continental dollars depreciated. In 1779, George Washington wrote to John Jay, who was serving as the president of the Continental Congress, "that a wagon load of money will scarcely purchase a wagon load of provisions."[25] Mr. Jay and the Congress responded in May by requesting $45 million from the States. In an appeal to the States to comply, Jay wrote that the taxes were "the price of liberty, the peace, and the safety of yourselves and posterity."[26] He argued that Americans should avoid having it said "that America had no sooner become independent than she became insolvent" or that "her infant glories and growing fame were obscured and tarnished by broken contracts and violated faith."[27] The States did not respond with any of the money requested from them.

text: Congress had also been denied the power to regulate either foreign trade or interstate commerce and, as a result, all of the States maintained control over their own trade policies. The states and the Confederation Congress both incurred large debts during the Revolutionary War, and how to repay those debts became a major issue of debate following the War. Some States paid off their war debts and others did not. Federal assumption of the states' war debts became a major issue in the deliberations of the Constitutional Convention.

text: Accomplishments

text: This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: Nevertheless, the Confederation Congress did take two actions with long-lasting impact. The Land Ordinance of 1785 and Northwest Ordinance created territorial government, set up protocols for the admission of new states and the division of land into useful units, and set aside land in each township for public use. This system represented a sharp break from imperial colonization, as in Europe, and it established the precedent by which the national (later, federal) government would be sovereign and expand westward—as opposed to the existing states doing so under their sovereignty.[28]

text: The Land Ordinance of 1785 established both the general practices of land surveying in the west and northwest and the land ownership provisions used throughout the later westward expansion beyond the Mississippi River.  Frontier lands were surveyed into the now-familiar squares of land called the township (36 square miles), the section (one square mile), and the quarter section (160 acres). This system was carried forward to most of the States west of the Mississippi (excluding areas of Texas and California that had already been surveyed and divided up by the Spanish Empire). Then, when the Homestead Act was enacted in 1867, the quarter section became the basic unit of land that was granted to new settler-farmers.

text: The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 noted the agreement of the original states to give up northwestern land claims, organized the Northwest Territory and laid the groundwork for the eventual creation of new states. While it didn't happen under the articles, the land north of the Ohio River and west of the (present) western border of Pennsylvania ceded by Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, eventually became the states of: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and the part of Minnesota east of the Mississippi River. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 also made great advances in the abolition of slavery. New states admitted to the union in this territory would never be slave states.

text: No new states were admitted to the Union under the Articles of Confederation. The Articles provided for a blanket acceptance of the Province of Quebec (referred to as "Canada" in the Articles) into the United States if it chose to do so. It did not, and the subsequent Constitution carried no such special provision of admission. Additionally, ordinances to admit Frankland (later modified to Franklin),  Kentucky, and Vermont to the Union were considered, but none were approved.

text: Presidents of Congress

text: Under the Articles of Confederation, the presiding officer of Congress—referred to in many official records as President of the United States in Congress Assembled—chaired the Committee of the States when Congress was in recess, and performed other administrative functions. He was not, however, an executive in the way the later President of the United States is a chief executive, since all of the functions he executed were under the direct control of Congress.[29]

text: There were 10 presidents of Congress under the Articles. The first, Samuel Huntington, had been serving as president of the Continental Congress since September 28, 1779.

text:
President
Term

Samuel Huntington
March 1, 1781 – July 10, 1781

Thomas McKean
July 10, 1781 – November 5, 1781

John Hanson
November 5, 1781 – November 4, 1782

Elias Boudinot
November 4, 1782 – November 3, 1783

Thomas Mifflin
November 3, 1783 – June 3, 1784

Richard Henry Lee
November 30, 1784 – November 4, 1785

John Hancock
November 23, 1785 – June 5, 1786

Nathaniel Gorham
June 6, 1786 – November 3, 1786

Arthur St. Clair
February 2, 1787 – November 4, 1787

Cyrus Griffin
January 22, 1788 – November 15, 1788

text: The U.S. under the Articles

text: The peace treaty left the United States independent and at peace but with an unsettled governmental structure. The Articles envisioned a permanent confederation, but granted to the Congress—the only federal institution—little power to finance itself or to ensure that its resolutions were enforced. There was no president, no executive agencies, no judiciary and no tax base. The absence of a tax base meant that there was no way to pay off state and national debts from the war years except by requesting money from the states, which seldom arrived.[30][31] Although historians generally agree that the Articles were too weak to hold the fast-growing nation together, they do give credit to the settlement of the western issue, as the states voluntarily turned over their lands to national control.[32]

text: By 1783, with the end of the British blockade, the new nation was regaining its prosperity. However, trade opportunities were restricted by the mercantilism of the British and French empires. The ports of the British West Indies were closed to all staple products which were not carried in British ships. France and Spain established similar policies. Simultaneously, new manufacturers faced sharp competition from British products which were suddenly available again. Political unrest in several states and efforts by debtors to use popular government to erase their debts increased the anxiety of the political and economic elites which had led the Revolution. The apparent inability of the Congress to redeem the public obligations (debts) incurred during the war, or to become a forum for productive cooperation among the states to encourage commerce and economic development, only aggravated a gloomy situation. In 1786–87, Shays' Rebellion, an uprising of dissidents in western Massachusetts against the state court system, threatened the stability of state government.[33]

text: The Continental Congress printed paper money which was so depreciated that it ceased to pass as currency, spawning the expression "not worth a continental". Congress could not levy taxes and could only make requisitions upon the States. Less than a million and a half dollars came into the treasury between 1781 and 1784, although the governors had been asked for two million in 1783 alone.[34]

text: When John Adams went to London in 1785 as the first representative of the United States, he found it impossible to secure a treaty for unrestricted commerce. Demands were made for favors and there was no assurance that individual states would agree to a treaty. Adams stated it was necessary for the States to confer the power of passing navigation laws to Congress, or that the States themselves pass retaliatory acts against Great Britain. Congress had already requested and failed to get power over navigation laws. Meanwhile, each State acted individually against Great Britain to little effect. When other New England states closed their ports to British shipping, Connecticut hastened to profit by opening its ports.[35]

text: By 1787 Congress was unable to protect manufacturing and shipping. State legislatures were unable or unwilling to resist attacks upon private contracts and public credit. Land speculators expected no rise in values when the government could not defend its borders nor protect its frontier population.[36]

text: The idea of a convention to revise the Articles of Confederation grew in favor. Alexander Hamilton realized while serving as Washington's top aide that a strong central government was necessary to avoid foreign intervention and allay the frustrations due to an ineffectual Congress. Hamilton led a group of like-minded nationalists, won Washington's endorsement, and convened the Annapolis Convention in 1786 to petition Congress to call a constitutional convention to meet in Philadelphia to remedy the long-term crisis.[37]

text: Signatures

text: The Second Continental Congress approved the Articles for distribution to the states on November 15, 1777. A copy was made for each state and one was kept by the Congress. On November 28, the copies sent to the states for ratification were unsigned, and the cover letter, dated November 17, had only the signatures of Henry Laurens and Charles Thomson, who were the President and Secretary to the Congress.

text: The Articles, however, were unsigned, and the date was blank. Congress began the signing process by examining their copy of the Articles on June 27, 1778. They ordered a final copy prepared (the one in the National Archives), and that delegates should inform the secretary of their authority for ratification.

text: On July 9, 1778, the prepared copy was ready. They dated it, and began to sign. They also requested each of the remaining states to notify its delegation when ratification was completed. On that date, delegates present from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and South Carolina signed the Articles to indicate that their states had ratified. New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland could not, since their states had not ratified. North Carolina and Georgia also were unable to sign that day, since their delegations were absent.

text: After the first signing, some delegates signed at the next meeting they attended. For example, John Wentworth of New Hampshire added his name on August 8. John Penn was the first of North Carolina's delegates to arrive (on July 10), and the delegation signed the Articles on July 21, 1778.

text: The other states had to wait until they ratified the Articles and notified their Congressional delegation. Georgia signed on July 24, New Jersey on November 26, and Delaware on February 12, 1779. Maryland refused to ratify the Articles until every state had ceded its western land claims. Chevalier de La Luzerne, French Minister to the United States, felt that the Articles would help strengthen the American government. In 1780 when Maryland requested France provide naval forces in the Chesapeake Bay for protection from the British (who were conducting raids in the lower part of the bay), he indicated that French Admiral Destouches would do what he could but La Luzerne also “sharply pressed” Maryland to ratify the Articles, thus suggesting the two issues were related.[38]

text: On February 2, 1781, the much-awaited decision was taken by the Maryland General Assembly in Annapolis.[39] As the last piece of business during the afternoon Session, "among engrossed Bills" was "signed and sealed by Governor Thomas Sim Lee in the Senate Chamber, in the presence of the members of both Houses... an Act to empower the delegates of this state in Congress to subscribe and ratify the articles of confederation" and perpetual union among the states. The Senate then adjourned "to the first Monday in August next." The decision of Maryland to ratify the Articles was reported to the Continental Congress on February 12. The confirmation signing of the Articles by the two Maryland delegates took place in Philadelphia at noon time on March 1, 1781, and was celebrated in the afternoon. With these events, the Articles were entered into force and the United States of America came into being as a sovereign federal state.

text: Congress had debated the Articles for over a year and a half, and the ratification process had taken nearly three and a half years. Many participants in the original debates were no longer delegates, and some of the signers had only recently arrived. The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union were signed by a group of men who were never present in the Congress at the same time.

text: Signers

text: The signers and the states they represented were:

text:
Connecticut

Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
Oliver Wolcott
Titus Hosmer
Andrew Adams
Delaware

Thomas McKean
John Dickinson
Nicholas Van Dyke
Georgia

John Walton
Edward Telfair
Edward Langworthy

Maryland

John Hanson
Daniel Carroll
Massachusetts Bay

John Hancock
Samuel Adams
Elbridge Gerry
Francis Dana
James Lovell
Samuel Holten
New Hampshire

Josiah Bartlett
John Wentworth Jr.

New Jersey

John Witherspoon
Nathaniel Scudder
New York

James Duane
Francis Lewis
William Duer
Gouverneur Morris
North Carolina

John Penn
Cornelius Harnett
John Williams

Pennsylvania

Robert Morris
Daniel Roberdeau
Jonathan Bayard Smith
William Clingan
Joseph Reed
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

William Ellery
Henry Marchant
John Collins

South Carolina

Henry Laurens
William Henry Drayton
John Mathews
Richard Hutson
Thomas Heyward Jr.
Virginia

Richard Henry Lee
John Banister
Thomas Adams
John Harvie
Francis Lightfoot Lee

text: Roger Sherman (Connecticut) was the only person to sign all four great state papers of the United States: the Continental Association, the United States Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution.

text: Robert Morris (Pennsylvania) signed three of the great state papers of the United States: the United States Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution.

text: John Dickinson (Delaware), Daniel Carroll (Maryland) and Gouverneur Morris (New York), along with Sherman and Robert Morris, were the only five people to sign both the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution (Gouverneur Morris represented Pennsylvania when signing the Constitution).

text: Gallery

text: Images of an original draft[clarification needed] of the Articles of Confederation stored at the United States National Archive.

text:
Preamble through Article V, ¶1

Article V, ¶2 through Article VI

Article VII through Article IX, ¶2

Article IX, ¶2 through ¶5

Article IX, ¶5 through Article XIII, ¶2

Article XIII, ¶2 through signatures

tag: ul

text: Revision and replacement

text: On January 21, 1786, the Virginia Legislature, following James Madison's recommendation, invited all the states to send delegates to Annapolis, Maryland to discuss ways to reduce interstate conflict. At what came to be known as the Annapolis Convention, the few state delegates in attendance endorsed a motion that called for all states to meet in Philadelphia in May 1787 to discuss ways to improve the Articles of Confederation in a "Grand Convention." Although the states' representatives to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia were only authorized to amend the Articles, the representatives held secret, closed-door sessions and wrote a new constitution. The new Constitution gave much more power to the central government, but characterization of the result is disputed. The general goal of the authors was to get close to a republic as defined by the philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment, while trying to address the many difficulties of the interstate relationships. Historian Forrest McDonald, using the ideas of James Madison from Federalist 39, describes the change this way:

text: The constitutional reallocation of powers created a new form of government, unprecedented under the sun. Every previous national authority either had been centralized or else had been a confederation of sovereign states. The new American system was neither one nor the other; it was a mixture of both.[40]

text: In May 1786, Charles Pinckney of South Carolina proposed that Congress revise the Articles of Confederation. Recommended changes included granting Congress power over foreign and domestic commerce, and providing means for Congress to collect money from state treasuries. Unanimous approval was necessary to make the alterations, however, and Congress failed to reach a consensus. The weakness of the Articles in establishing an effective unifying government was underscored by the threat of internal conflict both within and between the states, especially after Shays' Rebellion threatened to topple the state government of Massachusetts.

text: Historian Ralph Ketcham comments on the opinions of Patrick Henry, George Mason, and other Anti-Federalists who were not so eager to give up the local autonomy won by the revolution:

text: Antifederalists feared what Patrick Henry termed the "consolidated government" proposed by the new Constitution. They saw in Federalist hopes for commercial growth and international prestige only the lust of ambitious men for a "splendid empire" that, in the time-honored way of empires, would oppress the people with taxes, conscription, and military campaigns. Uncertain that any government over so vast a domain as the United States could be controlled by the people, Antifederalists saw in the enlarged powers of the general government only the familiar threats to the rights and liberties of the people.[41]

text: Historians have given many reasons for the perceived need to replace the articles in 1787. Jillson and Wilson (1994) point to the financial weakness as well as the norms, rules and institutional structures of the Congress, and the propensity to divide along sectional lines.

text: Rakove (1988) identifies several factors that explain the collapse of the Confederation. The lack of compulsory direct taxation power was objectionable to those wanting a strong centralized state or expecting to benefit from such power. It could not collect customs after the war because tariffs were vetoed by Rhode Island. Rakove concludes that their failure to implement national measures "stemmed not from a heady sense of independence but rather from the enormous difficulties that all the states encountered in collecting taxes, mustering men, and gathering supplies from a war-weary populace."[42] The second group of factors Rakove identified derived from the substantive nature of the problems the Continental Congress confronted after 1783, especially the inability to create a strong foreign policy. Finally, the Confederation's lack of coercive power reduced the likelihood for profit to be made by political means, thus potential rulers were uninspired to seek power.

text: When the war ended in 1783, certain special interests had incentives to create a new "merchant state," much like the British state people had rebelled against. In particular, holders of war scrip and land speculators wanted a central government to pay off scrip at face value and to legalize western land holdings with disputed claims. Also, manufacturers wanted a high tariff as a barrier to foreign goods, but competition among states made this impossible without a central government.[43]

text: Legitimacy of closing down

text: Political scientist David C. Hendrickson writes that two prominent political leaders in the Confederation, John Jay of New York and Thomas Burke of North Carolina believed that "the authority of the congress rested on the prior acts of the several states, to which the states gave their voluntary consent, and until those obligations were fulfilled, neither nullification of the authority of congress, exercising its due powers, nor secession from the compact itself was consistent with the terms of their original pledges."[44]

text: According to Article XIII of the Confederation, any alteration had to be approved unanimously:

text: [T]he Articles of this Confederation shall be inviolably observed by every State, and the Union shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of them; unless such alteration be agreed to in a Congress of the United States, and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of every State.

text: On the other hand, Article VII of the proposed Constitution stated that it would become effective after ratification by a mere nine states, without unanimity:

text: The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratifying the Same.

text: The apparent tension between these two provisions was addressed at the time, and remains a topic of scholarly discussion.  In 1788, James Madison remarked (in Federalist No. 40) that the issue had become moot: "As this objection...has been in a manner waived by those who have criticised the powers of the convention, I dismiss it without further observation."  Nevertheless, it is an interesting historical and legal question whether opponents of the Constitution could have plausibly attacked the Constitution on that ground.  At the time, there were state legislators who argued that the Constitution was not an alteration of the Articles of Confederation, but rather would be a complete replacement so the unanimity rule did not apply.[45]  Moreover, the Confederation had proven woefully inadequate and therefore was supposedly no longer binding.[45]

text: Modern scholars such as Francisco Forrest Martin agree that the Articles of Confederation had lost its binding force because many states had violated it, and thus "other states-parties did not have to comply with the Articles' unanimous consent rule".[46]  In contrast, law professor Akhil Amar suggests that there may not have really been any conflict between the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution on this point; Article VI of the Confederation specifically allowed side deals among states, and the Constitution could be viewed as a side deal until all states ratified it.[47]

text: Final months

text: On July 3, 1788, the Congress received New Hampshire's all-important ninth ratification of the proposed Constitution, thus, according to its terms, establishing it as the new framework of governance for the ratifying states. The following day delegates considered a bill to admit Kentucky into the Union as a sovereign state. The discussion ended with Congress making the determination that, in light of this development, it would be "unadvisable" to admit Kentucky into the Union, as it could do so "under the Articles of Confederation" only, but not "under the Constitution".[48]

text:
By the end of July 1788, 11 of the 13 states had ratified the new Constitution. Congress continued to convene under the Articles with a quorum until October.[49][50] On Saturday, September 13, 1788, the Confederation Congress voted the resolve to implement the new Constitution, and on Monday, September 15 published an announcement that the new Constitution had been ratified by the necessary nine states, set the first Wednesday in February 1789 for the presidential electors to meet and select a new president, and set the first Wednesday of March 1789 as the day the new government would take over and the government under the Articles of Confederation would come to an end.[51][52]
On that same September 13, it determined that New York would remain the national capital.[51]


document_title: Tony Montana

question_text: who is the guy who kills tony montana

question_tokens: who is the guy who kills tony montana

text: Tony Montana

text: Overview[edit]

text: Scarface (1983)[edit]

text: In May 1980, Tony is one of the 125,000 Cubans who after seeking refuge in the Peruvian Embassy, wound up on the Mariel Boatlift to Miami. When he gets there, he is questioned by U.S. officials; he says that he was a "political prisoner" and that because he had an American father, he has the right to a green card. However, because of a trident-style tattoo on his right hand, which indicates that he was an assassin in prison, his request is denied.

text: Tony and his friend Manolo "Manny" Ribera are sent to "Freedomtown", a refugee camp that holds Cuban immigrants without green cards. After one month in the camp, Frank Lopez, head of a Miami drug cartel, offers to obtain them green cards in return for murdering Emilio Rebenga. Soon after Rebenga arrives at the camp, Manny and Tony and friend take advantage of the August 11 riot, where Tony stabs Rebenga. Tony and Manny are granted green cards and released, and the two get jobs as dishwashers for a small food stand in Little Havana. In August 1980, Frank sends his right-hand man, Omar Suarez, to offer them a deal smuggling marijuana, offering $500, a small amount of pay but with low risk of arrest or gun battles. Tony demands more pay, and he and Omar quarrel. On the advice of his compatriot, Omar then offers Tony and Manny $5000 to buy cocaine from a new supplier, which is riskier than the marijuana deal but will pay much more, as it is dealing with violent Colombians.

text: A few days later, Tony, Manny, and their associates Angel and Chi Chi drive to a hotel in Miami Beach to make the deal with a group of Colombians. The deal goes bad; a couple of Colombian enforcers handcuff Tony and Angel to a shower pole at gunpoint, threatening to kill them with a chainsaw if Tony does not reveal the location of the drug money. Tony refuses to talk, and Hector, the enforcers' leader, dismembers Angel. Before Hector can do the same to Tony, Manny bursts in the room, shooting an SMG. A short gunfight ensues in which Manny is shot in the arm, and Tony kills the Colombians. Tony, Manny, and Chi Chi escape with the cocaine and the money. Tony, who no longer trusts Omar, takes it to Frank personally, and he and Manny end up working for him. Meanwhile, Tony takes an interest in Frank's girlfriend, Elvira Hancock.

text: Three months later, Tony pays a visit to his mother Georgina and younger sister Gina, neither of whom he has seen for five years. Gina is excited to see Tony, but his mother is ashamed of him, having long ago learned of his life of crime. When he gives his mother $1,000, his mother angrily rejects the gift and throws him out. Tony leaves, but Gina runs after him and hugs him, telling Tony she has been going to hairdressing school and helping out Mama. Tony says that a poor girl like Gina deserves to have a little fun; he slips her the $1,000 secretly and orders her not to tell Mama about it, only that Mama gets a little bit of it from time to time, through using some of it for grocery shopping or paying a utility bill.

text: Later, while in Bolivia, Tony and Omar go on Frank's behalf to see drug cartel lord Alejandro Sosa. Sosa has Omar killed for being a police informant, and makes Tony his business partner. At The Babylon nightclub, Tony is shaken down by corrupt narcotics detective Mel Bernstein, who informs him he has evidence linking Tony to the murders of Rebenga and the Colombian drug dealers. Bernstein proposes to "tax" Tony on his transactions in return for police protection and information. Tony is convinced Frank sent Bernstein because only Frank would know details about the murders. While talking to Bernstein, Tony sees Gina dancing with a low-level drug dealer. Enraged, Tony beats the dealer and slaps Gina, stopping only after Manny calms him down. Manny drives Gina home and tells her she can do better than those low lives and that Tony is only looking out for her. However, when Gina admits an interest in Manny, he freezes, fearing Tony's wrath.

text: That night, two men attempt to kill Tony. He escapes, and becomes convinced that Frank ordered his death. Armed with silenced pistols, Tony and Manny track Frank down to his car dealership, killing him and Bernstein. Afterward, Tony goes to Frank's house, telling Elvira that her lover is dead and that he wants her. Over the next year-and-a-half, Tony makes $75 million off of 2,000 kilograms of cocaine that he brings to America, and is soon making $10–15 million every month in profits from his business relationship with Sosa. He marries Elvira and takes over Frank's empire, purchasing a large mansion as well as ornate luxuries such as a pet tiger. Tony also creates many legal businesses as fronts, including a hairdresser's managed by Gina. However, cracks in Tony's "American dream" begin to form as both he and Elvira become addicted to cocaine. Meanwhile, Manny and Gina begin dating behind her brother's back, afraid of Tony's wrath should he find out.

text: In February 1983, Tony is arrested for tax evasion and money laundering. Tony's lawyer, George Sheffield, tells him that although he can plea bargain away most of the time Tony faces, he will still end up serving at least three years in prison. Sosa calls Tony down to Bolivia and asks him for help assassinating a Bolivian anti-government activist, who is exposing Sosa's dealings with Bolivian leaders. In exchange, Sosa will use his contacts in the U.S. Justice Department in Washington, D.C., to keep Tony out of prison. After returning to Miami, Tony does not tell Manny about the hit, although tries to talk Tony out of going to New York, simply citing a bad premonition he has about it. Not long after, Elvira leaves Tony for good after he insults her in a local restaurant. An intoxicated Tony starts yelling at the patrons: he tells them that they need people like him to blame—a "bad guy".

text: Tony and Sosa's associate Alberto travel to New York to assassinate the activist. Alberto plants a bomb under the activist's car, planning to detonate it as he drives to the United Nations Building to give a speech about his activist work. On the day the assassination is to take place, Tony orders Alberto not to set off the bomb because the activist's wife and children are in the car as well, something which is of no concern to Alberto. When Alberto tries to detonate the bomb anyway, Tony attempts to persuade him using logic and stories from his childhood in Cuba. When this does not work, Tony shoots and kills Alberto, thus double-crossing Sosa.

text: On December 9, 1983 Tony returns to Florida and receives a telephone call from a furious Sosa, who admonishes him for the hit's failure. Tony attempts to locate Manny, and finds him and Gina together, both wearing nothing but bathrobes. Tony shoots and kills him in a cocaine-fueled rage, before Gina reveals that they had just married and were going to announce their matrimony to Tony. Tony and his men take a distraught Gina back to his mansion. Meanwhile, a large group of assassins sent by Sosa surround the mansion. While a distraught Tony sits in his office, snorting vast quantities of cocaine, the gunmen begin killing his guards outside. Gina enters Tony's office wielding a Smith & Wesson Model 36, accusing him of wanting her for himself, before shooting him in the leg. Tony attempts to calm her down, before one of the assassins enters the office through the window and opens fire, killing Gina. Tony immediately kills the assassin, creating a commotion.

text: Deprived of the element of surprise, Sosa's gunmen directly attack Tony's mansion. Tony bursts from his office wielding a M16 assault rifle with a M203 grenade launcher attachment. He yells "Say hello to my little friend!" and opens fire on the henchmen, killing dozens of them despite being heavily wounded himself by return fire. The carnage continues until Sosa's top assassin, the Skull, sneaks up behind him and shoots him in the back. Tony falls from his balcony into a fountain in the lobby below, floating face-down dead in a pool of blood and water beneath a statue of the globe carrying the inscription "The World Is Yours".

text: Scarface: The World Is Yours[edit]

text: The video game titled Scarface: The World Is Yours, a quasi-sequel to the film, features an alternate ending in which Tony kills the Skull and survives the assassination attempt, but still loses most of his possessions. Tony detects his would-be assassin and shoots him before escaping his mansion. The end of the first mission shows that he lost $65,884,703 (which is how much Scarface made in box office) and 25,000 kilos of cocaine.

text: For the next three months, he goes into hiding in a small shack near Virginia Key Beach Park in Miami where he only had basic necessities, his trademark 1963 Cadillac Series 62, $1,000, and a M1911 pistol. His mansion is seized by undercover police officers, but he is able to move back in by bribing them with $10,000 that he makes in a single day of selling drugs.

text: During this quest for vengeance, Tony takes down several rivals who are eager to take over his empire after the assassination attempt. Alejandro Sosa and Gaspar Gomez have since teamed up to form a drug monopoly, and set their prices unreasonably high. George Sheffield (James Woods), his former lawyer, betrays him to Gomez and Sosa.

text: Tony first reclaims Little Havana, which had been taken over by the Diaz brothers. This included the "Lopez Motors" dealership where he bought his Porsche 928 in the film, which the brothers since renamed "Diaz Motors". The game allows the player to venture outside Miami to the Caribbean, where he takes down Nacho Contreras. Tony also meets a bartender named Venus, who becomes one of his girlfriends at the end of the game. At the end of the game, Tony single-handedly takes on a small army at Sosa's home in Bolivia, where he kills Sheffield, Gomez and Sosa.


document_title: I'll Cry If I Want To

question_text: who sang i'll cry if i want to

question_tokens: who sang i 'll cry if i want to

text: I'll Cry If I Want To

text:
I'll Cry If I Want To

Studio album by Lesley Gore

Released
1963

Recorded
1963

Genre
Pop

Length
26:04

Label
Mercury

Producer
Quincy Jones

Lesley Gore chronology

I'll Cry If I Want To
(1963)
Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts
(1963)Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts1963

text: I'll Cry If I Want To was the debut album of Lesley Gore. The album included her hit singles "It's My Party" and its follow-up, "Judy's Turn to Cry". The album was rushed out after "It's My Party" became a big hit, and the songs are mostly about crying, linking to the hit single's first line "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to", incorporating songs with titles such as "Cry", "Just Let Me Cry" and "Cry and You Cry Alone".[1][2] Besides the hit singles, the album included pop standards such as "Misty", "Cry Me a River" and "What Kind of Fool Am I?".[1] The album reached #24 on the Billboard 200.[3][4] Edsel Records released the album on Compact Disc in 2000 in combination with Gore's second album, Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts.[5] The album was named the 181st best album of the 1960s by Pitchfork.[6]

text: Track listing[edit]

text:
"It's My Party" (Walter Gold, John Gluck Jr., Herb Weiner) – 2:20
"Cry Me a River" (Arthur Hamilton) – 2:14
"Cry"(Churchill Kohlman) – 2:05
"Just Let Me Cry" (Ben Raleigh) – 2:18
"Cry and You Cry Alone" – 2:02
"No More Tears (Left to Cry)"(Mark Barkan) – 2:23
"Judy's Turn to Cry" (Beverly Ross, Edna Lewis) – 2:23
"I Understand"(Kim Gannon, Mabel Wayne) – 1:53
"I Would" (Kurt Feltz, Edna Lewis, Werner Scharfenberger) – 2:24
"Misty" (Erroll Garner, Johnny Burke) – 2:19
"What Kind of Fool Am I?" (Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley) – 1:43
"The Party's Over" (Jule Styne, Betty Comden, Adolph Green) – 2:00

text: Charts[edit]

text:
Year
Chart
Position

1963
US Billboard 200
24

text:
Year
Single
Chart
Position

1963
"It's My Party"
US Billboard Hot 100
1

US R&B Singles
1

"Judy's Turn to Cry"
US Billboard Hot 100
5

US R&B Singles
10


document_title: God of War (2018 video game)

question_text: who voices kratos in god of war 4

question_tokens: who voices kratos in god of war 4

text: God of War (2018 video game)

text: Gameplay[edit]

text: The gameplay is vastly different from the previous installments, as it was rebuilt from the ground up.[6] Although the previous main installment, Ascension (2013), introduced multiplayer to the series, this installment is single-player-only.[4] The game features a third-person, over-the-shoulder free camera, a departure from the previous installments, which featured a third-person, fixed cinematic camera (with the exception of 2007's 2D side-scroller Betrayal).[7] Cinematographically, the game is presented in a continuous shot, with no camera cuts.[8] The game is open, but it is not open-world.[6] Due to it being open, players can fast travel to different locations through Mystic Gateways.[9] As the ability to swim was cut from the game,[10] players instead use a boat to traverse bodies of water.[9] Just like previous entries, there are puzzles for players to solve to progress through parts of the game. Enemies in the game stem from Norse mythology, such as variants of trolls, ogres, dark elves and their king, wolves, wulvers, nightmares, draugrs,[11] tatzelwurms, as well as Gullveig and the revenants, beings warped by seiðr magic, among other original creatures.[12] Valkyries appear as optional boss battles, and players can free the dragons Fáfnir, Otr, and Reginn—dwarfs that were turned into dragons—in addition to battling a dragon called Hræzlyr.[9]

text: A major change is that Kratos no longer uses his signature double-chained blades, the Blades of Chaos, as his default weapon. Instead, he uses a magical battle axe, called the Leviathan Axe,[13] which is infused with ice elemental magic. The axe can be thrown at enemies and magically summoned back to his hand (similar to Thor's hammer Mjölnir). Larger enemies have precision targets and throwing the axe at those targets stuns the enemy. The weapon can also be thrown at environmental objects to trigger a damaging explosion and it can freeze objects and some enemies in place for puzzle solving until the axe is summoned back to Kratos' hand. The axe has standard light and heavy attacks, and over time, it can be upgraded with runes to allow for special runic attacks, with one slot being for a light runic attack and the other for heavy. This provides players with a variety of options to cater to their own play style. For example, one of the light runic attacks allows Kratos to charge the axe and let out a burst of energy and one of the heavy runic attacks allows Kratos to summon a swirling ice storm.[14] Another new weapon that Kratos utilizes is the Guardian Shield. When not in use, it folds up and appears like armor on Kratos' left forearm. When summoned, the shield can be used offensively and defensively, similar to the Golden Fleece in previous games.[15] Kratos also utilizes hand-to-hand combat, a feature originally introduced in Ascension.[7] The Blades of Chaos are acquired late into the game via a plot device and perform similarly as they did in previous installments, but can also be upgraded with light and heavy runic attacks.

text: Similar to previous games, there is a "Rage" ability called Spartan Rage. Like the previous versions, the Rage ability has a meter that gradually fills during combat. With this ability, Kratos uses powerful bare-handed attacks, as opposed to weapons, to greatly damage enemies. The game also features elements similar to role-playing video games (RPGs).[7][16] There are crafting resources for the player to find that allow them to create new or upgrade existing armor with better perks.[17] Players will also accumulate a currency called Hacksilver, a key component in crafting and purchasing new items. Experience points (XP) are used for learning new combat skills.[16] Throughout the game world, players find chests containing random items, such as Hacksilver and enchantments for improving armor and weapons, as well as two special items, Iðunn's Apples and Horns of Blood Mead, which increase the maximum length of the health and rage meters, respectively. Quick time events have changed from previous games.[6] Enemies display two meters above their heads, one for health and the other for stun. Filling up the stun meter helps to defeat more difficult enemies. When the stun meter is full, a grab-prompt will appear. Depending on the enemy, Kratos may rip it in half or grab them and throw them into other enemies, among other possible outcomes.[18]

text: Although the game is played entirely as Kratos,[19] there are times when the player may choose to passively control Kratos' son, Atreus. One button is dedicated to Atreus and its use depends on the context. For example, if the player needs assistance, they can look at an enemy, press the button, and Atreus will use his Talon Bow to shoot arrows at the enemy.[20] The arrows have little effect on an enemy's health, but do increase the stun meter.[18] Over the course of the game, Atreus helps in combat, traversal, exploration, and puzzle-solving. When facing a large number of enemies, he distracts the weaker ones as Kratos fights the stronger ones.[17] If too many enemies gang up on Atreus, he is knocked out for the remainder of that combat. Just like Kratos, Atreus acquires new skills, armor, special arrows, such as lightning arrows, as well as runic attacks for his Talon Bow, but it only has one slot instead of two. Atreus' runic attacks summon different spectral animals with different abilities. For example, one summons a wolf that attacks enemies, while another summons the squirrel Ratatoskr that will dig up orbs to replenish Kratos' health or rage meters.[21]

text: Synopsis[edit]

text: Setting[edit]

text: While the first seven games were loosely based on Greek mythology, this installment takes the series to Norse mythology,[22] but predates the Vikings.[20][23] Six of the nine realms of Norse mythology can be explored. The majority of the game takes place in the realm of Midgard, inhabited by humans and other creatures and is the same realm that the Greek world had existed in. As more creatures began appearing, many humans fled. Other realms visited as part of the story include Alfheim, the mystical home of the light and dark elves, Helheim, the icy land of the dead, and Jötunheim, the mountainous land of the giants. Other explorable realms include Niflheim, a realm of poisonous fog with a maze-like structure of rewards, and the fire realm Muspelheim, featuring the six Trials of Muspelheim; completing each trial grants rewards and advances Kratos and Atreus closer to the top of a large volcano. Access to the other three realms—Asgard, home of the Æsir gods, Vanaheim, home of the Vanir gods, and Svartalfheim, home of the dwarves—have been blocked by the ruler of Asgard and the Æsir gods, Odin.[24] At the center of the realms is the mythical tree Yggdrasil, which connects each realm together. Although each realm is a different world, they simultaneously exist in the same space. Travel to and from realms can be done by the use of the Bifröst from a root of Yggdrasil contained within a temple located at the center of the Lake of the Nine. The temple was created by the now dead Týr, a peaceful God of War who had traveled to other lands and learned about their mythologies; Odin had him killed as he believed Týr was secretly aiding the giants and would try to overthrow him.[22]

text: Characters[edit]

text: The protagonists of the game are Kratos (voiced by Christopher Judge) and his young son Atreus (Sunny Suljic). Kratos is a warrior originally from Sparta who became the Greek God of War and is the son of Zeus. After ending up in Midgard, he met his second and now deceased wife, Laufey (addressed as Faye), and they bore their son, Atreus, who does not know about Kratos' past or his divine nature, but can hear other beings' thoughts. The main antagonist is the Æsir god Baldur (Jeremy Davies), the brother of Thor, whose sons Modi and Magni (Nolan North and Troy Baker, respectively) assist Baldur. His parents are Odin and the Vanir god Freya (Danielle Bisutti). Freya tried leaving Odin, as she did not truly love him, and Odin had her banished to Midgard, after which she became known as the Witch of the Woods. To protect her son from a prophecy that foretold his death, Freya cast a spell of immortality on Baldur, which also caused him to not feel pain or any feeling of pleasure, which he resented her for. The only thing that she could not prevent from breaking the spell was mistletoe, which she kept secret. Other characters include Mímir (Alastair Duncan), who claims to be the smartest man alive, and the Huldra Brothers Brok (Roger Craighead) and Sindri (Adam J. Harrington), a pair of dwarves who appear at various points in the world and assist Kratos and Atreus with forging new gear. Their weapons, including Thor's hammer Mjölnir, were used by the Æsir gods and they also had forged Kratos' Leviathan Axe, which originally belonged to Faye, who also gifted Kratos his Guardian Shield.[13] The spirit of the Greek goddess Athena (Carole Ruggier) makes a cameo appearance, and Zeus (Corey Burton) appears as an illusion to Kratos in Helheim.

text: Plot[edit]

text: Many years have passed since Kratos took his vengeance against the Olympian gods,[b] and he now lives with his young son Atreus in Midgard. The game opens following the death of Kratos' second wife and Atreus' mother, Faye, whose last wish was for her ashes to be spread at the highest peak of the nine realms. Before beginning their journey, Kratos is confronted by a mysterious man with godlike powers. After seemingly killing him, Kratos and Atreus set out on their journey.

text: Reaching the Lake of the Nine, Kratos and Atreus encounter the friendly World Serpent, Jörmungandr. After running into impenetrable black mist which can only be extinguished with the Light of Alfheim, they receive aid from the Witch of the Woods to use the Bifröst in order to travel to Alfheim and secure the Light. Upon vanquishing the mist and reaching Midgard's peak, they overhear a conversation between the mysterious man, revealed to be Baldur, his nephews Modi and Magni, and the imprisoned Mímir. After they leave, Kratos and Atreus confront Mímir, who reveals that their goal is actually in Jötunheim, but travel there has been blocked to keep out Odin and Thor. Mímir, however, knows another passage. He instructs Kratos to cut off his head and have it revived by the Witch of the Woods, revealed to be Freya. Kratos immediately distrusts her, but both Freya and Mímir warn him that he must tell Atreus about his true nature.

text: Kratos, Atreus, and Mímir's head journey to collect needed components to open Jötunheim's portal when they are attacked by Modi and Magni. After Kratos kills Magni, Modi flees, but later returns and ambushes them. Atreus collapses ill, which Mímir and Freya explain is a mental contradiction of a god believing himself to be mortal. She tells Kratos that he must retrieve the heart of the Keeper of the Bridge of the Damned in Helheim, but his Leviathan Axe is useless there. Kratos then returns home to unearth his old weapons, the Blades of Chaos, and is haunted by Athena's spirit, who goads him about his past. After retrieving the heart, he has a haunting vision of Zeus. Atreus is cured and Kratos tells him that he is a god. Atreus then becomes increasingly arrogant on their journey, and he murders a weakened Modi, despite Kratos ordering not to. At Midgard's peak, they are ambushed by Baldur, resulting in Jötunheim's portal being destroyed and the group falling into Helheim.

text: Atreus makes amends with Kratos and they find out about Freya and Baldur's familial relationship. Returning to Midgard, Mímir realizes there is another way to reach Jötunheim, but it requires recovering his missing eye. After obtaining it from Jörmungandr's belly, who had inadvertently swallowed it when he ate a statue of Thor, they are attacked by Baldur again, but Freya intervenes in an attempt to protect her son. During the fight, Baldur is pierced by Atreus' mistletoe arrow, breaking Freya's spell on him. Baldur is defeated, and although Kratos gives him an opportunity to retreat, he instead attempts to strangle Freya, forcing Kratos to kill him. A grieving Freya swears revenge on Kratos and taunts him about hiding his true nature from Atreus. Kratos finally tells Atreus about his past and how he had killed his fellow Greek gods, including his father, Zeus. Atreus laments if patricide is all that gods are good for. Kratos tells Atreus that they should both learn from their experiences and not repeat the mistakes of their predecessors. A silent Freya leaves with Baldur's corpse and Mímir hopefully suggests that she will eventually move on from the tragedy and that Kratos did the right thing.

text: In Jötunheim, they find a temple with a mural depicting their adventures, showing that the giants had foreseen everything that would happen and vaguely foretold what was to come. In addition, they discover that Faye was a giant who decided to stay behind in Midgard, making Atreus part giant, part god, and part mortal. Their fight with Baldur was shown, revealing he was actually after Faye the whole time. It is also revealed that Atreus was named Loki by his mother. Wondering if Faye planned this in advance, Kratos and Atreus fulfill their promise and spread her ashes at the peak. Afterwards, Kratos reveals to Atreus that his given name was also the name of a compassionate Spartan comrade. When they return to Midgard, Mímir warns them that the three-year long Fimbulwinter has started, meaning Ragnarök is soon to follow, which was not supposed to occur for another hundred years.

text: In the game's secret ending, Kratos and Atreus return home and slumber. Atreus has a vision that at the end of Fimbulwinter, Thor will arrive at their home to confront them.

text: Development[edit]

text: At the first annual PlayStation Experience on December 6, 2014, Santa Monica Studios's creative director Cory Barlog confirmed that a new God of War was in very early development. He said that the game would not be a prequel, but it might be a reboot.[25] In April 2016, Polygon reported that concept art of the next installment had been leaked. The images showed Kratos in the world of Norse mythology; a concept originally considered by series creator David Jaffe after Kratos eliminated the Greek gods.[26] At the 2016 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the next installment was officially announced with a gameplay demo and confirmed the concept art to be true. The demo showed a fully bearded Kratos with a son, and Kratos was teaching the boy how to hunt. The pair also battled a troll. The end of the demo showed the title God of War and confirmed it was in development for the PlayStation 4.[7][1] E3 also confirmed that Barlog had returned to the series as game director for the new installment. Barlog has been a major contributor in the development of the God of War series since the original installment in 2005, with his prior most notable role being game director of God of War II (2007). This new installment was his fifth God of War game.[20]

text: In naming the game, Barlog stated that it was deliberately titled God of War with no numeral or subtitle because although it is a continuation of the series, "we are reimagining everything."[22][19] Head of Santa Monica Studio Shannon Studstill and Barlog said that Sony Interactive Entertainment had to be convinced to do another God of War game as a lot of people at Sony wanted the series to "sleep and rest" due to the lackluster response of the previous game, Ascension.[27] In explaining why Barlog was brought back, Studstill said that he knew the series very well, "and bringing in someone that understands that history is the respect the franchise deserves."[10] Barlog followed up and said that "You gotta know the rules to break the rules."[10] Series creator David Jaffe was also considered, but was unavailable.[28]

text: In explaining the transition from Greek mythology to Norse mythology, Barlog said: "it's kind of this BC–AD change over kind of thing. We're moving and starting from zero and kind of moving forward on that."[22][19] Before settling on Norse mythology, Egyptian mythology was also considered. Barlog said that half of the team was for it, but since "there's a lot more about civilization - it's less isolated, less barren", he had to make the decision and decided on the Norse setting because they wanted the focus to stay on Kratos: "Having too much around distracts from that central theme of a stranger in a strange land."[23] In explaining why Kratos was now in the Norse world, Barlog said that different cultures' belief systems coexisted, but they were "separated by geography", suggesting that Kratos traveled from Greece to Norway (Scandinavia) after the conclusion of God of War III;[29] in clarifying the conclusion of that game, Barlog said that Kratos did not destroy what was believed to be the entire world, but only the portion that was ruled over by the Greeks.[9] Barlog said that the new game predates the Vikings; it is the time in which their gods walked the Earth.[20][23] It was also confirmed that this would not be Kratos' last game.[4] Barlog said that future games could see the series tackling Egyptian or Mayan mythology,[27] and that although this game focuses on Norse mythology, it alludes to the fact that there are other mythologies co-existing in the world.[30] Barlog also said that he liked the idea of having different directors for each game, seen throughout the first seven games, and although he may not direct another God of War, he would still be at Santa Monica to work on future games.[9]

text: Most of the development team that worked on the original God of War worked on the new installment.[22] They claimed that they matched the new gameplay with the same level of accessibility as the previous installments.[6] It was confirmed that the game would not feature any morality system or branching story; all players have the same story experience. The developers also confirmed that some of the more controversial mini-games found in previous entries (such as the sex mini-game) would not return.[22] Some gameplay characteristics found in the previous installments were cut, such as jumping, swimming, and instant-death platforming challenges; these were cut due to the camera being closer to Kratos.[10] Although the previous installment, Ascension, introduced multiplayer to the series, the team decided to drop the mode to focus on the single-player experience.[5] In changing the gameplay, Studstill said "I felt like, in order to reinvent, we really needed to turn a lot of things around."[31] In regards to the camera change, Barlog said "We wanted a much more intimate experience, a much more up close, and a much more player-controlled experience, so the camera really is a mechanic that [we leaned] into heavily for everything in the game."[6] Explaining Kratos' axe, lead gameplay designer Jason McDonald, who has worked on the series since the original game, said the axe was chosen because they wanted a more grounded direction for the game. Initially, they were unsure how to make it unique, like how the double-chained blades were. After they came up with the concept of throwing the axe and having it return to Kratos, "things started to fall into place."[32] McDonald said that combat with the axe is a little slower than what it was with the blades, "but it's just as fluid and just as brutal as it's ever been."[32] Barlog took inspiration from Dark Souls (2011), which influenced the game's combat system, particularly its gameplay loop and strategic decision-making,[33] as well as the game's approach to storytelling.[34] In addition, designers Anthony Dimento and Luis Sanchez revealed how God of War's level design and exploration was influenced by Bloodborne (2015), as they wanted to "just have the world breathe a little bit" and expand upon player discovery by including "micro-loops where you're unlocking paths, unlocking shortcuts..." that gave purpose.[35]

text: The entire game was done in a single shot, as in no camera cuts, meaning there are no loading screens or fade-to-black between gameplay and cutscenes.[17] The frame rate was confirmed as 30 frames per second,[4] and the enemy count was increased to up to 100 enemies on-screen; God of War III and Ascension could do up to 50.[22] Unlike the previous games, Santa Monica did not make a demo specifically for public release. Barlog explained that doing so would have delayed the game by a couple of months.[36] He also confirmed that the game was built for the standard PlayStation 4,[36] but the game would "benefit from the power" of the PlayStation 4 Pro; an updated version of the PlayStation 4 that can render games in 4K and was released a few months after God of War was announced.[37] In late December 2016, Barlog confirmed that the game was playable from start to finish.[38] At the 2017 PlayStation Experience, Barlog said that the game's story would take 25-35 hours to complete, which is significantly more than the previous four main installments, which each took an average of 10 hours to complete.[39]

text: At E3 2017, a new trailer was shown featuring new gameplay, cinematics, and characters. In the trailer, Kratos was shown using a shield that he could use offensively and defensively. At one point in the trailer, Kratos finds a Greek vase with himself on it, wielding his infamous double-chained blades. During the trailer, an unnamed woman warns Kratos about the Norse gods, as they know what he did to the Greek gods, while a pair of wolves were also shown. The trailer ends with Kratos and Atreus encountering the World Serpent. Atreus was able to translate what it said, which was that it wanted to help the pair. It was confirmed that the game would release in early 2018.[15] Since E3 2017 until the game's launch, Santa Monica included a section on the God of War website titled "The Lost Pages", detailing some of the lore of God of War's Nordic world.[13] In January 2018, the game's release date was confirmed for April 20, 2018. A trailer was also released that showed that the character Mímir from the mythology would have a role in the game.[40] On March 22, God of War went gold.[41]

text: Characterization[edit]

text: During early development, there was talk about having a different protagonist for the game, but it was decided to keep Kratos. Referencing the Nintendo character Mario and the Mario games, Barlog said that just like Mario, "Kratos is intrinsically tied" to the God of War series.[20] In regards to the new changes, Barlog said that:

text: I knew I didn’t want to simply reboot the franchise, starting over with a retelling of the origin story. I wanted to reimagine the gameplay, give players a fresh perspective and a new tactile experience while delving deeper into the emotional journey of Kratos to explore the compelling drama that unfolds when an immortal demigod makes a decision to change.[42]

text: Barlog explained that Kratos had to change his cycle of violence and learn how to control his rage. He said that Kratos had made many bad decisions, which led to the destruction of Olympus, and wanted to know what would happen if Kratos made a good decision. The birth of Barlog's own son influenced the idea of Kratos' character change.[42] The canceled live-action Star Wars television series was also an influence.[43] The bond between Kratos and his son is at the heart of the game and Barlog said "This game is about Kratos teaching his son how to be a god, and his son teaching Kratos how to be human again."[17] Referencing the Marvel Comics character Hulk, Barlog said that in regards to Kratos, "We've already told the story of The Hulk. We want to tell the story of [Bruce] Banner now."[17] One of their goals was to make Kratos "a more nuanced and interesting character."[44] In changing the narrative focus, Studstill said "I think we inherently knew the franchise needed to evolve in that emotional beat and be something meatier for the older generation of gamers."[44]

text: Christopher Judge, best known as Teal'c from Stargate SG-1, replaced T.C. Carson as the voice of Kratos; Carson had voiced Kratos since the original God of War. Commenting in response to the change, Carson said, "Sony went in a new direction."[45] Barlog explained that the way the previous games were made, they were able to have someone else do the motion capture instead of the voice actor. Although Carson had done the motion capture for Kratos in Ascension, Barlog said the actor change was made because of the type of camera work they wanted to do. For the new camera work, they needed someone who was closer to Kratos' size to do the motion capture along with a child. Carson was unsuitable for this because he was much shorter than Kratos, who is over 6-feet tall: "Offsetting [Carson's height] for the size of a child, it turned out it was going to be almost impossible to try and actually shoot them and go in and redo the animations."[46] Judge was chosen because he was 6-foot-3 and had the body of a professional football player. He was also chosen because of the chemistry with his then-10-year-old co-star, Sunny Suljic, who plays Kratos' son Atreus; Suljic's opinion was also sought in making the decision, and out of all the auditions, he liked Judge the most. The two bonded well, and Judge described his time with Suljic as time he had missed with his own children. In stepping into the role of Kratos, Judge took it as an opportunity to add something new to the character. He researched the character and Carson's performance, but decided not to imitate it. Since Santa Monica were going in a new direction, he decided to start fresh and go from there. Judge was thrown off when he first read the script, stating it "was a real script", and not just "a way to get into battles."[46] He said "it was really this great story of this relationship and this crazy mythology."[46] While Judge did all of Kratos' motion capture for the cinematic scenes, stuntman Eric Jacobus did all of Kratos' combat motion capture; Jacobus was found by God of War's animators on YouTube. Instead of going directly to Santa Monica to audition, Jacobus recorded an audition tape and they immediately hired him.[47]

text: During E3 2016, GameSpot mistakenly reported that Kratos' son's name was Charlie, which Barlog laughingly denied.[48] In January 2017, after a fan downloaded the God of War overture and saw the track's details that said "An introduction to Kratos and Atreus", Barlog confirmed on Twitter that Atreus was in fact the son's name.[49] Barlog said that Atreus was unaware that Kratos was a demigod, and did not know about his past.[4] They did not reveal details of Atreus' mother prior to release due to her being a critical part of the story.[22] Barlog stated that during gameplay, Atreus would be "like magic, an additional combat resource, and [the player is] training him and teaching him."[20] The developers stated that Atreus would not be a burden during gameplay.[13] The team experimented with several different approaches for Atreus to ensure that he was an empowering presence. Barlog said he did not want the game to be an escort-mission where the A.I. caused a problem for the player. Their goal was for Atreus to enhance Kratos' capabilities without Atreus becoming a liability. This resulted in the developers designating a command button for Atreus as well as for him to act freely.[18] During combat, Atreus was also designed to call out enemy locations, as due to the camera being closer to Kratos, some enemies may be difficult for the player to see. Jason McDonald said it took a lot of iterations with the enemies and Atreus to make it all work together.[32]

text: Early in development, it was suggested for Atreus to be cut or to significantly minimize his role due to the many developmental challenges and financial expense. Barlog stated that the game could have worked without Atreus, but it would have been completely different, likening it to that of the 2013 film All Is Lost. Barlog said that with just Kratos, it would have been "one character who talks to himself occasionally, but generally, it will be very silent and everyone will talk in old Norse, so that you won't understand anything anybody's saying."[50] After hearing Barlog's case, Sony gave him the freedom to incorporate Atreus. Lead level designer Rob Davis also noted that with Atreus, it allowed for "significant gameplay and storytelling opportunities that might not otherwise [been] possible."[50]

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text: Bear McCreary, best known for his work on television shows such as Battlestar Galactica and The Walking Dead, scored God of War and composed themes for the game.[51] McCreary said that he was called into Santa Monica Studio in November 2014 to meet with music producers Peter Scaturro and Keith Leary to discuss "a secret project"; McCreary had previously collaborated with Scaturro and Leary on 2011's SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs. Ideas of folk music, mythology, Nordic ethnic instruments, vocal writing, and classical thematic development were discussed, to which McCreary correctly guessed that the discussions were about a new God of War. He met with Barlog early on, and they discussed Barlog's narrative vision for the game. After meeting with Barlog, he felt that the franchise was in good hands because God of War II, which Barlog also directed, was his favorite installment.[52]

text: McCreary's initial efforts focused on writing the new main theme, or what he called the Kratos Theme. He spent several months working with Barlog, Scaturro, Leary, Sony music director Chuck Doud, and the rest of the development team in making this new theme. McCreary described the Kratos Theme as "arguably one of my most structurally satisfying and catchy melodies." The main theme features low orchestral instruments, Icelandic choir, deep male vocals, powerful female vocals (in particular Faroese singer Eivør Pálsdóttir), folk percussion, and Nordic stringed instruments, such as the nyckelharpa and hurdy gurdy. When it was decided that God of War would be revealed at E3 2016, Sony wanted McCreary to perform his original score with a live orchestra at the press conference. McCreary opened the show with the new main theme before the unveiling of God of War, and performed the gameplay demo's music live during the presentation.[52] On January 13, 2017, a live recording from E3 2016 of God of War's overture was released for free for a limited time. Barlog released the overture as a thank you to fans for God of War's E3 2016 trailer reaching fifteen million views on YouTube.[53]

text: Release[edit]

text: The game was released worldwide on April 20, 2018, for the PlayStation 4.[40] In addition to the standard base game, there were three special editions: the Stone Mason Edition, the Collector's Edition, and the Digital Deluxe Edition. Only available in the United States and Canada, the Stone Mason Edition came with several physical items, including the base game in a SteelBook case, a 9-inch (230 mm) statue of Kratos and Atreus that was created by Gentle Giant, 2-inch (51 mm) carvings of the Huldra Brothers, a horse, and a troll, an exclusive lithograph, a cloth map, a stone mason's ring, and a keychain of Mímir's head that talks. There was also various downloadable content (DLC), including an exclusive shield skin, in addition to an armor set and another shield skin for Kratos, a PlayStation 4 dynamic theme, a digital artbook, and God of War #0 by Dark Horse Comics.[54] The Collector's Edition came with many of the same items, minus the ring, the keychain, the 2-inch (51 mm) carvings of the horse and troll, and the exclusive shield skin. The Digital Deluxe Edition comes with all of the digital content, minus the exclusive shield skin. U.S. and Canadian customers also received a Kratos and Atreus pin for pre-ordering the Digital Deluxe Edition. Pre-orders at select retailers received three skins for Kratos' shield, while pre-orders from GameStop or EB Games also received a "Luck of Ages XP Talisman", granting increased XP gain, increased Hacksilver gain, and increased ability to trigger perks.[55]

text: In addition to the special editions of the game, a Limited Edition PlayStation 4 Pro bundle was also available the same day as the game's release. The bundle included the standard base game, a PlayStation 4 Pro console decorated with the runes as on Kratos' axe, and a similarly themed DualShock 4 controller with the God of War logo.[56] Game Director Cory Barlog confirmed that God of War would not have microtransactions post-launch, a feature that has become prominent with other recent games and negatively criticized.[57] Since launch, Santa Monica has supported the game via patch updates to address software bugs. Additionally, the developers added a Photo Mode in update patch 1.20, released on May 9, 2018. Photo Mode allows players to take customized in-game screenshots. Players can adjust the field of view, depth of view, filters, borders, the visibility of characters, and the ability to change the facial expressions of Kratos and Atreus.[58]

text: God of War: A Call from the Wilds[edit]

text: God of War: A Call from the Wilds is a text-based game playable through Facebook Messenger. To help further promote God of War, Sony partnered with Facebook to develop the play-by-web game, which released on February 1, 2018. Completing the game unlocks downloadable concept art. The short story follows Atreus on his first adventure in the Norse wilds. After archery training and learning runes with his mother, Atreus adventures into the wilderness after telepathically hearing the voice of a dying deer; he finds it covered in blood and stays with it during its final moments. A couple of draugrs appear and Atreus attempts to fight them, but is injured. He is saved by his father, Kratos, who was out hunting. The two then battle a revenant before returning home.[59][60][61]

text: Reception[edit]

text:
Reception

Aggregate score

Aggregator
Score

Metacritic
94/100[62]

Review scores

Publication
Score

Destructoid
10/10[63]

EGM
9.5/10[64]

Game Informer
9.75/10[65]

Game Revolution
[66]

GameSpot
9/10[67]

GamesRadar+
[68]

Giant Bomb
[69]

IGN
10/10[70]

Polygon
10/10[71]

The Guardian
[72]

USgamer
[73]

text: God of War received "universal acclaim" according to review aggregator Metacritic,[62] tying it with the original God of War for the highest score in the franchise. It has the third highest score of all-time for a PlayStation 4 game, and the highest score for an original, non-remastered PlayStation 4 game.[74] It is the highest rated PlayStation 4 game of 2018,[75] and is tied with the Xbox One version of Celeste for the highest score of 2018, regardless of platform.[76] God of War received particular praise for its art direction, graphics, combat system, music, story, use of Norse mythology, characters, and cinematic feeling. Critics called the game a "technical achievement" and one of the most impressive-looking games developed for consoles. Many also felt that it had successfully revitalized the series without losing the core identity of its predecessors.[77]

text: Sales[edit]

text: During its release week in the UK, God of War became the fastest-selling entry in the franchise, selling 35% more physical copies than God of War III.[78] As of 21 May, 2018, the game had remained at the top of the all format sales chart for five consecutive weeks, setting a record for a PlayStation 4 exclusive having the most consecutive weeks at number one.[79] It sold 46,091 copies within its first week on sale in Japan, which placed it at number two on the sales chart.[80]

text: The game sold over 3 million copies in three days after its release, making it the fastest-selling PlayStation 4 exclusive.[81] The game was the fastest selling game of the month of its release and contributed to the PS4 being the best selling console of that month.[82] In total, the game sold over five million copies in its first month, with 2.1 million in digital sales.[83][84]

text: Accolades[edit]

text:
Year
Award
Category
Result
Ref

2016
Game Critics Awards 2016
Special Commendation for Graphics
Won
[85]

IGN's Best of E3 2016 Awards
Game of the Show
Nominated
[86]

Best PlayStation 4 Game
Nominated

Best Action Game
Nominated

The Game Awards 2016
Most Anticipated Game
Nominated
[87]

2017
The Game Awards 2017
Most Anticipated Game
Nominated
[88]

text: Notes[edit]

text:
Jump up ^ Colloquially referred to as God of War 4[1][2][3] and God of War PS4[4][5]
Jump up ^ As depicted in God of War III (2010)