God of War is brutal fun
The immediate words that spring to mind when I think about God of War are fun, gory, brutal and still incredibly impressive. As a latecomer to the God of War party I must admit that the last point came as a huge surprise to me.
God of War is a third person action game (comparable to the Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden games) that came out in 2005 for the Playstation 2. It takes place in the world of ancient Greek legends and as such has a wealth of material to draw upon for its epic action.
The story centers around Kratos, a troubled Spartan warrior who fights for the Greek gods, and his quest to save Athens from the God of war Ares. This quest is carried out against the backdrop of epic battles between men and mythical beasts as Athens finds itself under siege from the colossal God Ares and his armies of Minotaur’s, gorgons and undead soldiers.
The game is absolutely stunning from almost every perspective but its graphics were the thing that surprised me the most. Going into God of War I expected to have to put up with outdated graphics but was pleasantly surprised by the vast enemies, stunning environments and constantly smooth frame rate. My only graphical complaint came from a blurriness inherent with playing SD games on a HD television and not from the game itself.
Its main graphical strength comes from its rigid camera that cannot be controlled by the player, though this may seem like a flaw the camera is excellently placed in every situation and never caused me to die or even get hit unfairly. The fixed nature of the camera allows for the game to show you amazing action in the background and a better view of the stunning environments.
The gameplay itself is almost always absolutely top drawer offering a mix of frantic combat, acrobatic exploration with the odd puzzle section thrown in. The 3 are usually broken up into distinct sections that are reminiscent of the gameplay in the new Prince of Persia titles, however the separate elements sometimes merge (such as fighting off enemies while climbing cliffs or while hanging from ropes) offering a varied experience.
The combat is the real star of the game, it offers a fast and brutal mix of combos and Quick Time Events. If the mention of QTEs turns your stomach then do not fear, God of Wars QTEs are both easy, fair and often result in something incredibly brutal or cool happening to your enemy. The combat is carried out in conventional third person melee with upgradable weapons and is augmented by the presence of upgradeable magic.
Combat is a skilful and requires liberal use of the block and dodge functions but the player is not punished for their mistakes as harshly as they would be in many other games in this genre. I constantly found myself praising the game for its fairness and noted how many times my controller would have been at risk if this game had been developed by someone like Capcom or Team Ninja. However the game does have its niggly areas. At several points in the game you must cross thin gantries that enter Kratos into a separate “careful walk” animation, however many times this animation will not trigger in time and you will plummet to your death.
Special mention must go to an area towards the end of the game where the player is faced with some especially cruel and unfair obstacles. One of these combines climbing and avoiding multiple obstacles that will put you back to the beginning of the section if they hit you, they are incredibly annoying and occur one after another but are thankfully not repeated elsewhere in the game.
Another criticism of the game comes from small points such as only so so voice acting that serves detract further from a stunningly presented but ultimately poor story that suffers a great deal from how obviously this game is attempting to be “mature”. The sex and violence of the game do serve to create a good atmosphere but there is a sense that is being overdone at times.
While we are on the topic of atmosphere the excellent musical score for the game must be mentioned. The music never misses a beat and compliments the Greek setting perfectly while also reminding the player that there are enemies to be brutally dispatched.
Ultimately God of War is a game that I am kicking myself for missing out on the first time around. There were times where I forgot that I was playing a four year old, last generation game. The fight with the Hydra at the beginning of the game or the introduction to Ares were genuinely breathtaking. The blood soaking, exhilarating combat is in my opinion the best example of its kind in the genre, something I never thought I would be able to say as a die hard fan of the Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry games.
In all God of War offers a far fairer, better paced and most consistently enjoyable experience than any of the instalments of the above games. The game is offers a massive variety of things to do by turning almost everything into a seperate mini-game while allowing its combat set pieces room to breath. I look forward to digging into the games sequel and am incredibly interesting in seeing what the developers are able to squeeze out of the Playstation 3 for God of War three later this year.
