God of War

The Good
Sometimes you pick up a game and try it. You play with it for a few minutes and then you say, "I'll definitely play it some time". God of War is not one of those games. GoW is a game that you start and don't leave until the very end. In just a few seconds you feel complete control over Kratos, the charismatic main character of the game. You feel the strength, the power, you sense you are about to enter a journey of epic proportions and you are just about right. This is a unique experience, with a feel of its own. From the very first moment of the game to the end, it's perfectly consistent with its concept and purposes. The story unfolds at the right pace, the difficulty level increases progressively, as you obtain new weapons, as you gain more power. It's challenging enough to give a sense of achievement as you progress, yet it is never hard to the brink of desperation. It's just perfect, there's no challenge in the game that you cannot overcome in a few attempts.

The Bad
There was nothing I disliked in this game. One can argue there's no true freedom of movements, that you cannot interact with most of the scenario, that the game relies too much on its own concepts and merits, not going beyond that setting. But, to be honest, I couldn't care less. If you tried to include any of these characteristics in the game, it just wouldn't be GoW, they just don't fit in the concept.

The Bottom Line
Many good games, technically well made, lack a certain charisma, a feel of completeness that ends up compromising the quality of the game. What's the point of playing a game if it doesn't entertain you, it doesn't give you any kind of satisfaction? A game is an experience. It doesn't always have to be realistic, you don't have to always be able to wander around an endless open world and destroy every particle of it. It doesn't have to last for 100 hours, with neverending sidequests or mini-games. I played God of War and I loved it. It was a great 10-hour gaming experience, immersive fun and whole.

The Good
God of War is one of the better action / adventure games to come out in some time. It incorporates a Greek mythological theme, a solid & intuitive fighting game engine, mild platforming action sequences, intriguing puzzle sections and top-notch graphics in a successful blend.

One of the elements that I found refreshing were the mini-challenges required to dispatch different foes with. In some cases, one must enter a button sequence quickly to finish off an enemy (such as a hydra), or in others, one must button-mash quickly to defeat a Minotaur.

I very much enjoyed the puzzle elements. God of War is not by far a puzzle game, but the puzzles / riddles included in the game are just enough to separate the many fighting action sequences. As well, they're challenging without being too difficult. Some particularly rewarding puzzles involve moving stone blocks in such a sequence that you can hop up to reach a special weapon or health bonus, choosing the right path on some girders so that there are fewer enemies to fight, and resting statues on top of switches that allow you to pass though gates.

The best accomplishment of the game, however, I think would be the fighting engine. It's difficult to make a "brawler" of this kind without it become boring and repetitive. God of War manages enough in the way of weapon and enemy selection and combos available that it never truly becomes tedious. There are a huge variety of ways to attack opponents, including multiple throws, jump attacks, jumping throws, throw-combos and all kinds of crazy nonsense. In a few sequences your character is climbing on a horizontal rope and you must basically fight other climbing enemies on the same rope with your feet. I took especially devilish pleasure in catching foes in a head-scissor and then hurling them into the dark chasm beneath.

The Bad
While God of War makes no secret that its theme is dark and not for the feint of heart, it goes too far in the way of over-the-top blood and nasty stuff. I'm not offended by it by any means, but it's clear that the makers spent just a little too much time catering to the fourteen-year-old boy crowd who will surely coo and yelp with delight over how gross their new bloody game is. You spend time cracking harpies' spines, jamming a dagger into the pried-open mouth of a Minotaur, ripping foes ribcages apart with chains and all kinds of fairly unnecessarily rough stuff. The end effect of all these things on me was a general feeling of slight disgust and distaste, which unfortunately discolor my enjoyment of the game significantly. And no, I wasn't expecting Super Mario Sunshine or anything along those lines. But this game is many, many levels dirtier and more gory than any Mortal Kombat or similar title, and I didn't see why it needed to be. On a related note, Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks is a pretty "gross" game that never really seemed to overdo it in a way that turned me off like God of War did.

The Bottom Line
God of War is a really great game in terms of almost every level of design. It's a superbly put together product that is only slighted by me for being pointlessly dark, bloody and full of gory grime at almost every turn. The action, graphics, puzzles, control and nearly everything else that really affects gameplay are all top notch. It would easily be one of my favorite games if it didn't take on the personality of a teenage boy trying to impress girls with boogers and dead frogs. "Hey everyone, look at how gross I can be!" is a pick up line that just simply doesn't work for me at all.

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: