After seeing a clip form this game a about a year ago, I just had to play it, the battle scenes with the bosses, the quick button combos and the graphics made it seem like a game I would love and then after reading all the reviews I knew that it would be right up my alley. There was only one problem, I had no PS2. About eight months later I got a PS2, but the game was nowhere to be found and that brings us to last week when my friend found it in the Greatest Hits Collection and I am glad to say, it was worth the wait.
Graphics and Sound
The game is very nice, it always surprises me that they still manage to improve on the graphics of a PS2 game even after all this time. The cut scenes are some of the nicest I have seen in a while, but not simply due to graphics but also on content. Sure they cannot compare to the next generation titles, but they are still top notch and keep you immersed in the game. The movements of Kratos are very fluid; there are a few collision errors, but nothing really noticeable. The sounds of the monsters are also very well done, you can often hear them banging away behind a door and sometimes you just stop to look at them. They did a good job with the enemies and especially with the bosses, who are huge and often require not only brute force to beat.
Your character, Kratos, looks cool and his weapons, two blades, pack a punch. You start the game seeing Kratos fall to his death and then backtrack a few weeks to find out why. As you proceed, you must complete the tasks given to you by the gods in order to become as powerful as possible and maybe even defeat a god yourself.
Gameplay
Now no matter how good the graphics are in a game, the game play has to be there to make it worth returning to. And that is where God of War really comes through. You have your regular jump, grab, weak attack and strong attack buttons, but the combos that come later in the game are what prevent it from becoming redundant. Not only do the enemies vary from level to level, but almost every enemy you kill gives you experience (in the form of red orbs) that you can use to improve the strengths of your weapons and learn new moves or increase the strength and abilities of your magic. As you go through the game, gods try and help you by giving you new weapons or new spells that you can use freely. The spells need magic to use which is also acquired by killing enemies or opening chests. Often, the method in which you kill your enemies determines what you will receive. By just hitting them, you will most likely get experience only, however as enemies become weak, the O button icon appear over them. This means that if you grab the enemy and perform the button combination indicated on the fly, you will slaughter them. Now these finishes are often very cool and not too hard to perform, however even for the same enemy, if you fail, the next time it will be slightly different, so you can't simply memorize it.
Also, the bosses and larger enemies are really what sets this game apart. The attacks performed on them are some of the best I have ever seen. The game is incredibly violent, but each new enemy you meet, you just can't help but wait to see the finishing move Kratos will perform. The regular moves you learn through the game bring variety and cause you to have to re-master Kratos' moves. As you gain these red orbs, you must decide what to level up and there is a note as to what will be obtained for leveling up each item. To get everything to its max seems impossible, so you actually need to make this decision at one point. And the higher the level, the more experience orbs needed to upgrade it.
The game also has other aspects that, although simple, prevent frustration and annoyance. The save points are well placed and the auto check points, used for when you die, are amazing. You never have to restart a level, it often saves right before you enter an area that will most likely cause death. The camera is fixed and at first I was a little disappointed, but it worked very well and I never found myself really needing to move it around. Also, everything is spoken, you don't have to read and the story is actually interesting, but I won't give it away. The game only seems to load when you start it up, with very minor loading if you die or change levels. The puzzles get harder as you progress in the game, but never get wearisome. There tends to be only one path to follow, there are no open levels to wander, but this was of little concern. You can also skip the cut scenes if you so desire, but I would watch them all at least once. Finally, you can rarely fall unless it is part of the task at hand. If you simply try to jump off the edge of a cliff that does not follow the main path set out, you simply hit an invisible wall. Although it does limit the roaming aspect found in many games, it also saves you many deaths.
Difficulty & Conclusion
The game has different difficulty settings. There is not that much replay value and the game is not very long (12 - 15 hours or so), but it is a lot of fun. I would recommend it to anyone who likes third person action games and is not turned off by some gore (or a lot).
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