God of War

The Good
A battlefield pledge to Ares, the God of War, gives Kratos superhuman abilities at the cost of his own humanity. After years in servitude acting as the sword Ares wields, the enormity of Kratos’ crimes catch up to him in a moment of clarity triggered by a tragic event. Here the Greek legends would end, the protagonist undone by his hubris. Kratos, though, is no mere protagonist. The embodiment of an antihero, Kratos turns his single-minded focus towards a new goal: killing the God of War.

God of War starts aboard an armada heading towards Athens, where Ares lays siege. Suddenly skeletal beings crawl aboard your ship and you must repel them. Hacking away with your twin swords, the Blades of Chaos (complete with chains, so you can chain-sword-whip opponents), you knock enemies aside, cleave them in two, grab them and rip them apart, or stylishly execute them with a quick finishing move. After the deck is cleared a hatch draws your attention. You hammer away at a shoulder button to muscle the hatch open and drop down to the lower levels.

Here you find chests to restore your health, magic, or rage meters. Moving along past flooding bulkheads and tightrope walking across narrow spans, you enter a narrow hallway leaping back just as a giant Hydra head comes crashing through the floorboards. The first miniboss, mere minutes into the game, is completely indicative of what God of War is going to throw at you.

Jumping back a step, most of Kratos’ opponents can be slain with simple sword attacks or combinations. When his rage meter fills, Kratos can unleash the Rage of the Gods on his enemies dispatching them with blinding speed in a bloody flurry. There are some opponents too powerful for such base attacks though. Bosses, like the hydra head require special attacks: quickly following a succession of on-screen button prompts. Balancing timing with finesse, these special attacks are more challenging than just hammering away at an opponent.

As he kills, Kratos earns experience he can spend on upgrading his weapons (more damage and better combos) and upgrading any magic he learns on his journey. Some gods favor Kratos’ side of the struggle and grant him abilities. Early in the game Kratos earns Poseidon’s Rage, an electrical attack which radiates from him. Later Kratos earns more magic letting him strike down enemies from afar or freeze foes in their place.

Although Ares is his main target, Kratos must fight his way through a host of fiends. Drawing from Greek Mythology, Minotaurs, Meduses, and Cyclops are just some of the varied opponents. Often God of War will introduce a new monster as a miniboss requiring special attacks to put them down, but as Kratos levels up, they just become more fodder.

As a third-person action/adventure game with equal emphasis on combat and puzzle-solving. I’ve seen God of War compared to many games: Castlevania, ICO, and Rygar among others, but I’m going to suggest that God of War is really the greatest Tomb Raider game ever made. While Kratos must solve manufactured puzzles, a good portion of the game involves exploring the environment, pulling levers, scaling cliffs and jumping to ledges. While all of this sounds like typical platforming, God of War has stunning levels and a strong fundamental design concept: you are living a part of Greek mythology.

Even after fighting your way from ship to ship to take on the Hydra, even after carving your way from the streets to the rooftops of an Athens aflame towards a mountainous Ares, and even after hunting down the last Titan in the siren haunted Desert of Lost Souls, God of War still finds a way to take your breath away. God of War looks real. It looks lived in. It looks right.

It feels right. God of War has tight controls. You use the analog stick to walk across narrow beams adjusting for Kratos’ balance. Kratos leaps when you tell him to leap, fights when you tell him to fight, and (in one brief scene) scores when you tell him to score. I’ve seen a few complaints about the repetitive nature of some of the finishing moves. At first, the only way to kill a Minotaur is by forcing your blade down its throat (rapidly pressing a button). Is this button mashing? Sure, but there’s no disconnect between what you are doing with the controller and what Kratos is doing on-screen.

Beating God of War unlocks a harder difficulty setting, Challenges of the Gods, and a wealth of DVD-like extras. There’s a lengthy “making of” featurette, deleted levels, a character model graveyard, a closer look at the game’s levels and monsters, and more. All that’s missing is the opening level commentary track available on the God of War demo disk. It’s a high quality presentation of a high quality game.

The Bad
God of War has a fixed camera system which shows Kratos, his opponents and elements of interest, but a freelook option would have been a nice touch. As it stands, the camera is great and often cinematic, but a few levels would be easier if Kratos could look around a bit. One particular area, a maze-like series of beams Kratos must creep across, would be less frustrating if the player could see what Kratos obviously could.

The frustration of this level pales in comparison to a hellish series of spiky, rotating pillars Kratos must climb. Touching a single spike sends Kratos plummeting downward past the three or four sections you managed to ascend. Frustrating, yes, but more annoying since there’s no trick to it. Finally the endgame can be equally frustrating, especially if the spells you’ve leveled up aren’t working for you. Thankfully God of War shows some mercy if you keep dying, giving you the option to continue where you are at an easier setting, with no penalty.

The Bottom Line
Based solely on visuals and gameplay, God of War is a strong candidate for Game of the Year. But its epic story, wonderful acting, and incredible sound push it over the top. You can’t play God of War and think of the PS2 as being an aging platform. God of War shows not only what can be done with the PS2 now, but what developers should have been doing all along: providing seamless levels, cutscene-quality graphics, epic environments, and unnoticeable load times. God of War is a rich, satisfying gaming experience which leaves you waiting for the next installment and apathetic about the glut of toothless games currently out there.

The Good
Usually I like platform games, even though you need a lot of patience for them. "God of War" is just such a game. In every place you have to figure out the trick that you need to do to continue. Like for example there is a place with three switches, you need to find a way to press them all to open a door.

There is also fighting, and the moves look great. And there are many combinations to do different moves. Another very fun thing are those parts when you have to press different buttons one after the other, or the same button very quickly. Like for example when you have to press circle quickly to kill that cow. It's very cruel, to put a knife into the mouth of a cow. Poor cow! Well, it's not really a cow, more like a cow-warrior.

Speaking of those cows, there are some that are on fire. I don't understand how they can be alive. I mean, they are burning. This is already a steak, not a cow.

You also crawl on walls, like Spiderman, kicking the enemies that try to hit you. This part is a bit silly, just hit the enemies a couple of times until they fall down.

The great thing about all this is that there are always different things to do. You never feel bored. Sometimes there is a lot of fighting, sometimes a lot of puzzles.

It's a platform game with a great story. The story is great because of Kratos. Actually, Kratos is an evil man. He kills people, he even kills innocent people, he is very cruel. But... we still feel compassion to him. I don't know how the developers did that. I don't know how they could look so deep into his soul. They show us that this character is still a human being. He is bad, he continues doing bad things, but he also feels bad. He suffers. That was the most exciting thing in the game.

There was one very touching part in the game... I can't say exactly, but you will know when you play it. It reminded me of the song: "I Can't Give You Anything But Love"...

Now the other characters are gods. And they are really cruel. You have to be cruel to become a god. For example, Athena is very beautiful, but also very cruel. And Ares... well, he is the God of War, so if he doesn't make war, what would he be? It's "part of his job"... It's hard to say, because he is cruel, I admit it, but the whole meaning of his life is to be God of War, I don't think he can reject it. So when he dies... I even had some pity to him. And what happens in the end is very sad, very tragic.

The graphics and the music are cool, no complaints.

The Bad
The only bad thing is the camera.You can't look around. The camera changes automatically. You lose your direction. Especially me, because I have no sense of direction at all.

Maybe many people can think that killing an innocent person in a game is bad, but that was the game's intention. This game is all about war. Maybe that part where Kratos just kicked down an innocent man was a bit too much. Although I think it was part of the game's meaning. It's all about gods and sacrifices. And I mean, it's just a game. Don't take this part too seriously.

The Bottom Line
All the blood and violence are part of the game's idea, so they have a meaning. And Kratos is a complicated character, and his story is touching. "God of War" is a great platform game with a great story.

The Good
God of war is an over the top fighter / platformer that will keep you glued to your console. Its not just the gameplay, which is awesome for this genre, it the total style that will absolutely suck you in.

Style and Graphics:

Think Greek mythology, you know satyrs, minotaurs, gorgons. Think of that mythos, jealous gods fighting over petty things which larger than life consequences. Now, add some attitude to that mix. No, add some super attitude that will chop you up and grind you into some hamburger meat. That is this game and that is Kratos.

Kratos is the center of this game, and you are going to learn a lot about this guy. He's bad, I mean tougher that any stinking junkyard Cerebus. He's mean and nasty, and if you get in his way, he won't mind sticking his nasty weapons in you. Thank goodness he is only interested in killing Aries, and only some of the nastiest versions of your favorite Greek monsters are in his way.

And these are not your claymation monsters from Clash of the Titans. These beasts come straight from hell and are made that way with powers that fit well to the combat ethos. Minotaurs are big and strong and love to slash you, Gorgons are quick and snakelike, but will often try to turn you to stone with their lovely gaze you must avoid. And harpies are annoying enemies that will drive you crazy when you need to concentrate on more difficult enemies. And the Cerberus and Cyclops are as big and bad as ever. Meeting Aries is almost a let down after defeating all those other enemies.

And this style is never laughable, never falters. It holds you up and grabs you and makes you actually sympathize with what you might consider a monster of monsters, Kratos.

Gameplay: Kratos is a bad ass, and he gets a bad ass weapon. He fights with two serrated blades that are welded to his hands with chains, so you can throw them quite a ways and still have them for your next fight.

You use those chained swords and magic to kill your enemies and gather red orbs from them. The more you get, the more experience you can add, so your skills in magic and weapons increase, making them stronger and adding new combos.

And, you'll need those combos, as each enemy is different, requiring different fighting techniques. You also will need to block as well, but be careful. The block key can unleash some of the most powerful combos, as well as a devastating parry.

But enjoy, for the battle promise to challenge you, especially the end fight. Its a well made ending that never feels cheap, though you will be screaming at the screen at times trying to finish it.

Music/ Sound: The music is very good, especially the main theme which never gets too tiring. It adds to the action without overwhelming. The sound effects are good and visceral, sometime too gross. The sound of swords hitting stone or wood is well differentiated, and using a large siege crossbow sound every bit as difficult as I'd imagine. Finally, the voice acting is superb, especially Kratos and the Narrator. I love the narrator, as this is a voice that fits with a movie on Greek mythos and truly sets the tone.

Graphics: I'm impressed with what they did with the PS2. They really pushed the limit on this, though sometimes that creates problems. Each visual is well designed and harsh as is needed for this game. Each place feels super real, and some of the amazing scenes, such as seeing Aries for the first time, crushing armies with his feet, are just amazing to behold. You can't believe this is not a PC game if it weren't for the limitations.

And the cut scenes are well worth it. You'll want to see them all again at the end of the game, with great visuals and voice acting. They really are as good as any Squaresoft title, with much more of an edge. It really is like seeing a movie between the gameplay.

The Bad
There is little I did not like, but here it is anyway.

The graphics can sometimes overwhelm the PS2. Sometime scenes can blur if too much action is going on. Other times cut scenes won't appear for a few seconds.

Also, the second to last level is completely frustrating and gets boring. You will die a lot because of cheap gameplay where one misstep leads to your fall to doom. Really, tough it out because the finale is worth it.

Finally, the game can be too violent. There are cut scenes where soldiers are bursting with blood like a bad pimple. One or two times seeing this is enough, but they show such scenes over and over, really feeling gratuitous and not mood setting.

ADDED AS EDIT: I forgot one other bad thing that may drive the short of time a little mad. The save spots can seem somewhat arbitrary. You can finish a big battle, only to find no save space until much later. It’s not too bad in the main game, as you will discover all the areas between saves can usually be done in under an hour with practice. But, the Challenge of the gods will drive you crazy as it takes quite a long time without a save spot, especially when one of the challenges takes a half hour by itself. I just left my console running so I did not have to fight through all the challenges again and again to get to the difficult one

The Bottom Line
You are Kratos, and you Will kill the God of War.

It’s a simple premise, but aaaah, it so much more than that.

You will be fighting on the edge of your seat, desperately trying to make it to the next save spot. And you will love every minute of it. It’s a grand, bloody, heart pulsing epic, and it’s worth every penny you will pay for it.