Review: "God of War" (PS2)

Information

Title

God of War

Published by

SCEA

Developed by

SCEA

Platform

Playstation 2

Genre

Action,Platform,Puzzle (similar to the two recent "Prince of Persia" games)

Plot

You are Kratos, a warrior for the gods and you must stop Ares, the God of War.

High Point

Almost no explicit loading with expansive areas.

Low Point

It can get difficult at times and I got stuck once and frustrated at a later point. Also their depictions of Ares and Hades are kinda out of the ordinary and seemed influenced by modern beliefs more than I'd like for an ancient greek tale.

Context

I enjoy hack & slash types of games as well as the platformer and puzzle genres. Additionally I quit enjoy greek mythology and gods.

Scores

Story — (8/10)

The basic setup is fairly straight foreword, but the back-story of Kratos, as revealed through a series of flashbacks, gets to be more intricate and throws some interesting curves. The final resolution of the game is quite to my liking.

Originality — Unusual (8/10)

The game-play is quite reminiscent of the recent "Prince of Persia" titles and the setting is somewhat similar to "Rygar", but the way they're combined yields a rich and distinctive new universe. The story departs from the established greek mythologies in several important ways, but uses those departures to further the story.

Graphics — Gorgeous (9/10)

This game looks great, the environments and character models are highly detailed and the effects look good.

Music — (9/10)

The music really help to set the mood of the game and it does so well. The music is a very interesting combination of various cultural styles and sounds which are assembled to create a sound that is foreign (to us Americans) and ancient which perfectly compliments the look of the game.

Production — Excellent (9/10)

This game loads quickly and rarely (I think I saw it two or three times) has to load overtly during the game. There is a seamless transition from the outside of a location to the inside and from one location to another. Another really nice feature is that there are hidden continue points within the areas so that you don't have to always go back to the last save point anytime you die or fail.

Difficulty — Challenging (5/10)

I play games on their easiest settings so that i may better enjoy them and that was generally good for my level of ability. There were a couple of instances where I had a really hard time seeing the solution to a particular puzzle. Towards the end of the game is a series of puzzle/traps that got a bit frustrating from the ease of dying while trying to navigate them.

Gore — Bloodbath (10/10)

There is a lot of blood flowing from a horde of monsters set against you. Additionally there are all kinds of dismemberment including ripping the heads off gorgons.

Sexuality — Topless (5/10)

There are some instances of toplessness (or, at least, see-through tops). All of the female-ish monsters are unclothed thus revealing bare breasts, but this is not titilating.

Bonus Features — DVD-esque (8/10)

I was actually surprised to learn that there are bonus features on this game (though this is an increasing trend). The content of those features is very similar to what you're likely to find on a DVD, you get several making-of featurettes including some looks at stuff that was eventually removed from the game including a 3D model gallery of various early models. Most of these features are unlocked once you beat the game, but some of them require that you go even further.

Overall — (/10)

This is a great game which kept me enthralled to the end (which can be rare for me). I eagerly await further games in this series (there are some ideas in the bonus features).