God of War

aka: Dark Odyssey, GoW, God of War HD, God of War: The Hydra Battle
Moby ID: 17344
PlayStation 2 Specs
Buy on PlayStation 2
$12.25 used, $89.99 new on eBay
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Description official descriptions

God of War is set in the age of ancient Greek myths. The hero of the game is a mortal warrior Kratos. Long time ago, Kratos was the leader of Spartans, a fearless and brutal general who waged wars for the glory of his city. Today, he is known as the Ghost of Sparta. For the past ten years, he is tormented with terrible nightmares, unable to forget the tragedy that happened in his past. He has to serve the gods of Olympus, who promised to forgive his sins if he becomes their champion. Finally, the goddess Athene tells Kratos that redemption will be granted to him if he defeats her brother, the god of war Ares, who was the very reason for the tragic event of his past...

God of War is a 3D action game with platforming and puzzle-solving elements. Kratos has two default swords that he will always carry with him, called the Blades of Chaos. They allow the player to perform combos, which will constantly climb until the fight is over or until it takes too long to register another hit. The higher the combo total, the more red orbs Kratos receives from defeated enemies.

Similar to Devil May Cry, the red orbs collected from fallen enemies can be used to purchase upgrades. It is possible to upgrade the default weapons, learning new moves and striking faster, or put the orbs into different weapons acquired throughout the game, such as Blade of Artemis. Kratos will, over time, also have access to a selection of magic spells. At specific points in the game, he will be able to generate an arc of electricity, courtesy of Zeus, or use the decapitated head of a Gorgon to turn enemies into stone with Meduza's Gaze.

The game features several unlockable extras, which are only acquired when the player has beaten the game on different difficulty modes. Most of the features are a behind-the-scenes look at various aspects of the game, such as creating the world, modeling Kratos, and a look at deleted levels that didn't make the final cut of the game.

Spellings

  • 战神 - Chinese spelling (simplified)

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (PlayStation 2 version)

453 People (402 developers, 51 thanks) · View all

Game Director / Lead Designer
Producer
Lead Programmer
Art Directors
Coordinating Producer
Associate Producers
Project Coordinator
Game Programmers
Lead Engine Programmer
Design - Level Design & Scripting
Design - Combat Scenarios
Design - Combat System
Design - Camera
Design - Level Design
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 93% (based on 104 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 166 ratings with 11 reviews)

Outstanding game, very movie like.

The Good
I loved everything about this game, from the great and challenging gameplay. Right down to the cinematic storyline, and beautifully rendered backgrounds and characters. I loved the storyline of this game also, very well thought out, and very well put together. I also loved the music in this game, beautifully performed, and every track went with what was happening in the game.

The Bad
It was way too short for my liking. I would have liked to see more length to the general gameplay. I finished this game within 5 hours my second time through about 8 hours my first time through. Now on the other hand, the extra's did add some length to this game, but still the main game just wasn't as long as it should be.

The Bottom Line
I would describe this game as an instant classic. It's beautiful, and very well presented, and very well put together. It's just plain good, nothing wrong with how this game is put together. I suggest you buy this game if you have not, it's excellent and well worth your time.

PlayStation 2 · by David Bryan (21) · 2007

Very gory.. but the more blood, the merrier I am!

The Good
This game was, to say the least, an entertaining trek through the world of Greek mythology. While platforming through a War-ravaged (LOL) Athens, you get to use all sorts of bloody fatalities, such as ripping an opponent in two, or impaling him on one of your chain blades, and swing him around in circles. The powers, while they were not as functional and useful as possible, were cool looking and could drastically change the way you played through.

The Bad
The game's cutscenes were too few, and some of them were annoying in that some of them consisted entirely of drawings, without any animation to speak of.

The Bottom Line
This game is great, so long as you don't mind the MK-style gore and the gut-wrenching fatalities.

PlayStation 2 · by lord of daedra (62) · 2007

Hell of a great game...unfortunately the final moments ruined my gaming experience

The Good
To start, it's been awhile since I've played a really really good 3D action/adventure game. It's really not my thing since most of the time...like 80% some idiot developer manages to ruin the game play by messing with the camera view point.

Good to know, this game works pretty dang well in almost all aspects. Almost. Back to the review of the game... (note, the reviewer played the "Spartan Level" in this game...at least the I think it was the hardest available level you choose at the start)

What's good:

  • Color. It may be a shock to you, but there are a lot of 3D action/adventure games with lousy coloring. Seriously, most of these games either have a fantasy/horror/mystery theme to it, so they have a bad habit of using the standard grayish gloomy-like color which is very unattractive to the eyes and in the long run often bores you, thus inhibiting gaming excitement. But in God of War, there is a lot of texture blend in the colors, a lot of bright red and blue but not too bright but just right. It's nice when you can actually appreciate the choice of colors they used in this game.
  • Graphics. Again, above average. Lot's of little details in the game you'd probably notice. It's also great that you have "mini Matrix movements" when you block or use combos. But enough about graphics.
  • Levels/ Dungeon? Dang it, I forgot what term you use to describe the areas/rooms of the game. Anyway I noticed that most of the game play revolves around the same place. It's kinda fun when you finish one of the many tasks in a specific area, only to find out you pop out from an underground sewer or way above on a bridge overlooking the place where you just came in before...thinking "oh, so this is where I am". Very nice and advance architecture in this regard. It's not just every new room every time. It's funny that you can appreciate using the same places every once in a while in an adventure game.
  • Music and Sound. It's alright. Could've been better though. Much better. As it's set in ancient Greek, more latin or gothic sounds and music would support the game a bit more. It's still great though mind you, but after the music and sounds in Rome: Total War, your standards of sound and music become a little higher than usual.
  • Gameplay. Some good, some bad. Combat was easy enough, mostly every works the way you want it to. Most of the time anyway. Another good thing about the gameplay are the little "ending moves" for certain creatures, where you press specified buttons instead of just attacking. It really does add some enjoyment and excitement to the gameplay.
  • Story. A little light, but better than a lot of other games. Love the cutscenes! I live for cutscenes!

    **The Bad**
    Well regardless about the bad sh*t I will say about the game, this game really deserves good credit. I wouldn't be surprised if it snagged a couple of awards. It's really good and above average compared to the many lame 3D action/adventure games recently released out there. If only they could make games like this a "minimal standard". Back to the review... The bad:
  • Story. I said it was a little light. It's not bad really, but this game really deserves a much more thicker plot and story. Since 80% of the time your dizzy finding your way in mazes and avoiding traps, it would be nice to add a little story here and there, not just when you finish every major quest. But that's just me...
  • Game play. Some major irritating features in this game. Often you move not in the way you'd like to or attack instead of block attacks. Controls need to be a little better when it comes to blocking since often because of really fast reaction time you often get confused and use an attack instead of blocking, of which use the same buttons. (L1=Block, but press another button, it becomes an attack...irritating when your finger moves faster than your brain) There are also some really irritating areas which I really loathe. This has to do with areas that require you to jump...really fast or die. I hate jumping in this game, often you don't have a really good chance. Also often in areas that require jump or die sequences, they put checkpoints in the wrong place or checkpoints only occur once (which you really don't know since you can't see a check point...but on their defence, there really are a lot of check points) One example was in Hades. I really got frustrated jumping those logs, only to find out I missed a treasure chest, went back, got the treasure chest, got killed, but when I quick loaded, it was no where near the treasure chest I missed and more irritating to find out in the quick load, the treasure chest was opened yet. Even more irritating is every time you quick load, that dang monster archer you thought you killed still lives every time you quick load, so you keep killing him again and again. Most irritating is that often you have to quick load 20-30 times, even more for the same dang puzzle or event. Most what ticked me off the most was near the end game. So I finally caught up with ol'Ares. I literally had to load the game 30 or more to defeat this sucker. Then I noticed that the controls went bad on me. When you try to evade (by rolling) it seem you can only go front, back, left, right but not diagonally. Which is often irritating since the area of combat is so small, evading is quite a feat without getting punched with that over-sized hammer of his. Often I ending up evading TOWARD Ares instead of away from him. Why? Camera viewpoint. Again, seems to be the eternal curse of all 3D action/adventure games. Visually, moving the camera around gives a sense of realism and action. But it can often backfire, especially in quick reaction-time combat. And with battling Ares, knowing your position and timing is everything. Unfortunately, often the camera view point get's in the way and with all the magic floating around, the scene get's somewhat crowded. Thus you have difficulty locating your character, and moving in the direction you want is often a problem since that dang camera also keeps moving. Thus you more than often move or evade in directions you really don't want to go. Anyway, if finally defeated that ugly god (which by the way was also a graphical let-down. I was expecting something more realistic or gruesome) only to find myself faced with another battle filled with one-to-many Kronos look-a-likes. I never passed this stage since it was insanely difficult or I missed something, but anyway for some stupid reason the game crashed on me so I restarted. Guess what. I'm stuck at the area BEFORE I defeated Ares. !@#!$@!@#!@#!@# What the F!#K!!! After hours of trying to defeat that guy in the first place, the developers stupidly forgot place a save game option after defeating Ares??? Seriously, that killed the last ounce of happiness I got from the game, with the addition of pumping my blood pressure to the roof. So I ended this game with a really bad note. No an angry note.

    **The Bottom Line**
    A good game, but something developers tend to forget: "What you seem to be fun or challenging may not be the same for the player..."
  • PlayStation 2 · by Indra was here (20756) · 2006

    [ View all 11 player reviews ]

    Discussion

    Subject By Date
    Kratos Unicorn Lynx (181780) May 19, 2008

    Trivia

    1001 Video Games

    The PS2 version of God of War appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

    Athena

    In the God of War series, the Greek Goddess Athena is voiced by Carole Ruggier. Co-incidentally, she also voiced the same role in the game Age of Mythology.

    Development

    According the "Making of" materials, A number of elements were removed from the finished game. Kratos, for example, underwent a number of incarnations before his final design. Some of these included a tribalistic, African design with dreadlocks, a "Lone Wolf and Cub" theme that included a child or small dog (which may have inspired the Cerberus Pups), a vaguely futuristic, armoured look, and various gladiator designs, which were rejected because they didn't look savage enough.

    German version

    Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's original intention was to release this game in Germany alongside the other countries in June 2005. They even had a cover art for the Germany release ready, as you can see on this back cover, yet there was one big problem.

    The USK, Germany's age rating organization, refused to give the game a rating. And while it is not illegal to sell games in Germany without a USK rating (in this case it acts in most cases as it were rated USK 18), Sony Computer Entertainment Deutschland decided to not release the game in Germany.

    For this, SCED's Marketing Director Ulrich Barbian gave a statement telling that:

    "The publication of a title without an age rating does not fit Sony Computer Entertainment Deutschland's company philosophy. As a pioneer of a whole category, we can't expect that the public accepts video gaming as a natural entertainment like music and video if we release titles without age ratings. We hope our Action-Adventure fans understand us. Besides, there are many very good Action-Adventures available for the PlayStation 2, which got an age rating from the USK."

    Besides this marketing speech, there is another reason. Games released in Germany after April 2003 without a USK rating tend be be indexed shortly after. And this means that most of the sales drop to zero after a short time.

    Essentially, publishers only have two choices once the USK rejects the game. Give up or cut it so much until the USK is satisfied. The latter of course runs the risk that the publisher is investing tons of money in cutting it down and the public won't take it anymore, because it is cut way too much.

    A similar thing happened with Activision's Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil, where Activision decided not to release in in Germany after the USK refused it. And ultimately, the game found its way to the index.

    But for God of War, don't cutting it down went to success, as the USK revised the decision two days ago, on 13 February 2006, when it got its USK 18 rating (and therefore the protection from being indexed). However, there is one change: during the sacrificing sequence the human victim was replaced with a monster.

    Kratos

    Kratos, the name of the game's main character, is Greek for strength or power. Even though he is not part of the canonical Greek mythology, a deity named Kratos (κρατος, "power") is mentioned in several classic works, including Hesiod's Theogony, the primary source for Greek mythology.

    Kratos was one of the four children of the titan Pallas and Ocean's daughter Styx. He had a brother named Zelos ("rivalry"), and sisters Bia ("force") and - the most famous of the four - Nike ("victory").

    The four sided with Zeus when he fought the titans, and became somewhat of "bodyguards" to him. Interestingly enough, in the few myths that mention Kratos, his portrayal is not dissimilar to the protagonist of God of War. His loyalty to his master and his brutality are particularly noticeable.

    Awards

    • 4Players
      • 2005 – Best Game Without German Release of the Year
      • 2006 – #2 Best Game of the Year
      • 2006 – #2 Best PlayStation 2 Game of the Year
      • 2006 – Best Action Game of the Year
      • 2006 – Best Hero of the Year (for Kratos)
      • 2006 – #2 Most Impressive Boss of the Year
      • 2006 – #2 Best Original Soundtrack of the Year
      • 2006 – #2 Best Voice-Acting of the Year
      • 2006 – #2 Best Graphics of the Year
      • 2006 – #3 Best Story of the Year
    • Computer Games Magazine
      • March 2006 - Console Game of the Year 2005
    • GamePro (Germany)
        1. February 2006 - Best Console Action Game in 2005 (notable is that the game was not released in Germany at this point)
    • GameSpy
      • 2005 – #3 Game of the Year
      • 2005 – PS2 Game of the Year
      • 2005 – PS2 Action Game of the Year
      • 2005 – PS2 Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)

    Information also contributed b< Mark Ennis, PCGamer77, Supernintedo Chalmers and Unicorn Lynx

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    Contributors to this Entry

    Game added by JPaterson.

    PlayStation 3 added by MAT.

    Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Xoleras, formercontrib, DreinIX, Caelestis, Patrick Bregger, Charly2.0, FatherJack.

    Game added April 13, 2005. Last modified January 28, 2024.