God of War (PS2) review
God of WarRelease Date: March 22, 2005
Developer: SCE Studios Santa MonicaPublisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Genre: Third-Person Action
ESRB Rating: Mature
Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Nudity, Strong Language, Sexual themes
IntroGod of War, a game that has been called the best game on the PS2 (IGN), has been available for quite a few years now. The game effectively combines epic Greek mythology inside its intriguing story and frenetic hack and slash game play into a cohesive game, but is it overrated?
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Blood and Violence are everywhere in this game, but this is a good thing.StoryGod Of War's story begins simply with a man walking off the edge of a cliff, calmly saying, "Now there is no hope." The game then regresses to three weeks earlier to tell why this man is committing suicide. The Gods of Greek mythos are the instigators for the whole plot of God Of War and the plot revolves around their actions, even at the end. The varied characters have believable human emotions and take actions that will come back to haunt them later. The story is probably the best part of God Of War simply because the scale of the conflict is epic, one man (Kratos) vs. one god (Aries), however the back story leading to this epic conclusion is probably the real selling point of the story. All of the characters are well portrayed and believable; the full gamut of human emotions is utilized through well directed segments and cut scenes. This is one of the most interesting stories I have ever come across in a videogame. Avoiding this game would be blasphemy for any aspiring writer as this game's writing is exemplary.
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Kratos utilizing his duel Blades of Chaos to manifest further chaos after his acceptance into servitude to Aries.Game playThe game play is what I call standard third-person action game with the ever present puzzles and enemies blocking your progress. There are three types of orbs: red, green, blue. Red serves as your treasure currency, green a health replenishment, and blue a magic replenishment. Kratos's attacks can form incredibly long combos and the longer the combo equals a bigger reward of red orbs. The game varies the objectives throughout its approximately 9 hour storyline, but the generic objectives will remain very similar. You have to kill N amount of enemies or create a path to this point by going up to here and turning a lever or pushing a statue off its pedestal to use its head as a stepping stone. To progress through the winding story, you will have to please various Gods and they will open paths to your next destination and give you new magical powers for proving your worth. In order to beef up Kratos's health or magic, throughout your quest, Kratos can search for and find two forms of power ups: Gorgon Eyes and Phoenix Feathers.
The infamous Quick Time Events become one of the game's staples and in reality they were unique, but to be honest I tired of watching the same old death animations again and again. Kratos can also knock his weaker enemies into the air and proceed to pummel them Mortal Kombat style.
The game play won't win any awards, but it works and remains fun for the majority of the time spent in game.
AudioGod of War's music is the kind of music everyone should buy. Turning down this game's music is sinful simply because the music effortlessly enhances any emotions you experience during the course of the game. It is energetic, well timed, incredibly immersive with the world, and just plain amazing. The voice acting is admirably done with no lines I was chuckling at, usually I was spellbound by the events unfolding on my TV screen. Some incredible production values really show throughout this game. The amount of effort the sound designers gave is remarkable. Short summary, if you have to buy one soundtrack this year, I suggest this one without a doubt. There are no annoying lyrics, just an epic Greek inspired track list that so easily beats the music of the average musician nowadays, it just proves the music industry's quality has diminished with time.
ControlsThe controls for this game utilize the standard third-person style controls, with camera control handed to the game. The fast attacks are designated to the square button, the heavy attacks designated to the triangle button, and blocking is designated to the first left trigger. The player controls Kratos's general movement with the left analog stick and controls evasion with the right analog stick. To execute the special power function called Rage of the Gods, you simultaneously press both analog sticks. Magic attacks are executed through selection by the d-pad, pressing the second left trigger, and then for certain attacks, you will have to press additional buttons to compound damage or just start the attack. The second right trigger is used to interact with your environment and open chests or lift open gates. The first right trigger is used as a sort of shove called the Hercules stomp, but I rarely utilized this option. The X button serves as your jump button while the O button serves as your grab function and swinging on ropes. The controls work well for this game and respond quickly, maybe too quickly.
Good AspectsMature violence and blood, Kratos is definitely badass, respects player enough to realize we know how to play the game, only displays control tutorials once unless you die and start the segment over again, varied locales, multiple controls for different battle situations, sense of humor during such climactic events (sex minigame earns Kratos red orbs every time), multiple difficulties, varied attacks, two weapons, tons of combos, immersive art style, simple and easy to master controls, some challenging puzzles that are never impossible (some will require extra thought or you could just use the internet), great use of Greek mythos and characters, Kratos is usually viable to damage from enemies, and new unlockables that vary from interviews, designer commentary, or hints as to the story of the next game. The included bosses are diverse and recognizable Greek creatures. The minions and lackeys have some crazy enemy designs and can cause serious damage when you are surrounded. After beating the game, you unlock extra challenges which in my opinion were better designed than the main quest. Kratos can wear various suits that will affect his stats immensely, so wear them into a harder difficulty than the one you previously tried. Music is godly, the incredibly deep and lengthy storyline that invigorates the player to continue playing just to see the fantastic conclusion, and the liberty to choose how an enemy dies, but this isn't always the case. This game is awe inspiring in almost all aspects, but there are...
ProblemsOne level I didn't like was Hades's underworld/Hell because of a rather annoying sequence that continually subjected me to punishment. Go to 6:10 to see what I am talking about, but this player was far better at waiting than I am, so this won't truly convey my disapproval of this segment. It is definitely possible to complete, just in my opinion one of the weaker designs put into the game. It never made sense to me to have mechanical contraptions in hell, but whatever.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4479798868339884176&ei=ZXUbSdy9LpycrAKB84noBg&q=%5C+hades+god+of+war+&hl=enThe Quick Time Events are interesting and give the game a cinematic feel, but requiring me to use them to kill every boss is silly. I literally pulled off a 2000 hit combo trying to see if I could kill a boss my way before I decided to just forfeit my wasted efforts and end the battle normally. By the way, the game rewards become increasingly sporadic after 1000 hit combos, so it is probably easiest to start over and regain your hits so you can milk bosses to get extra red orbs.
Controlling Kratos can take literally no time at all. Even if I'm in the middle of many of the attack animations, I can evade an attack or jump simultaneously. I think putting a block on pulling off contradictory activities during each other would have helped the combat seem more challenging and rewarding.
Kratos's aerial assaults can last for insane amounts of time, to the point where it almost seems as though he is floating because of his attacks. Create quasi realistic physics and make the aerial battles visceral and brutal instead of drawn out and pretty much a boring variation of the ground combat. However, the enemy is far more hopeless and will not be able to respond to the player's bludgeoning even more often in the air.
The extra costumes break the game so much so that a novice player can go through and easily rearrange a boss's face even on the hardest difficulty.
Some enemies will get stuck around stairs and stay stuck unless you attack them out of their glitch.
The simple fact that I could use just one combo to kill everything. Square Square Triangle, while this is among the earliest combos you learn, this combo is short, sweet, and easily allows the player to create a deadlock where the enemy gets up just as you knock them back down. I tried some of the other combos, but to be frank, unless I absolutely needed one or just got bored of my standard exploit, I just kept on using old reliable. Giving me such a wide variety of combos, but not needing the majority of them kind of makes me wonder why they don't force me to drastically change depending on the enemy type. I basically block, attack with old reliable, block/run away a little/jump, repeat.
Kratos is invincible during certain magical attacks and thus creates another potential exploit. You can use the magic to block and attack because the invincible enemy animations will miss and then will stop in their tracks and die. Speaking of the magic, the game so rarely required the use of magic that I almost forgot about these powers until I received a new one. The only magic that I used more than twice were Zeus's Fury and Army of Hades simply because Fury was my only projectile and the undead army of souls was just plain awesome. In addition, why are some standard enemies invincible during their attack? The player should be able to stop their attack with one of their own, but no, they will truck on even though you clearly tried to decapitate them.
There are two different weapons in God Of War, but the second weapon (Blade of Artemis) is so bland and generic that just leaving it out would have been better. If they had to have two weapons, make the second choice as cool an idea as the first one or at least as useful because the Blades of Chaos had crazy range and insane animations that lead to incredible combos. The Blade of Artemis is pretty much your average quasi broadsword/scimitar, with only 4 combos, but none of them were particularly intriguing. When I used the Blade of Artemis, I just grabbed enemies and killed them by throwing their rotting corpses at their friends, which I could already do with my other weapons.
I never understood why Kratos cannot just slide down a wall he is climbing. He has to carefully retread when I have an enemy chasing me. He also can't attack down, but he can attack everywhere else.
In addition, the ways Kratos can die makes no sense. Kratos can jump fairly large distances without getting hurt. He doesn't roll, he lands straight on his feet and gets up again. I don't think he would die from say a 20 foot high jump, but he probably would hurt himself, so just give him some minor damage. In contrast, during the wall climbing segments, Kratos can die from a mere 10 foot drop when he is pulled down by an enemy. Complete opposites within the same game, symptomatic of the Deconstructive philosophy.
Semi-spoiler*
I feel that Pandora's Boxes function is far tamer than other concepts I have heard of for this mysterious, mystical object. It kind of disappointed me, but the story was still excellent regardless.
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I could go on, but I feel I have written enough.
SummaryGod Of War is a must play even though it does not always make sense. The counterpoint to it doesn't make sense: it is a videogame, a damn good one too. I highly recommend purchasing this game when you have a chance, but this game isn't the PS2's best game. It is amazing, just not the best thing they could have made. If you don't enjoy this game, then you probably don't have any friends and will die a lonely, painful death. No, seriously, an 8.75 from me is essentially a 10 to everyone else who plays this game.
Randomduded12 rating: 8.75/10 B+ __________________
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