God of War – Greek Mythology for Dummies

In a single word…WOW! How highly can I praise one game? Well stick around and read my review of the new mind boggling PS2 game – God of War.

The game revolves around Kratos who is the main warrior in the game. Throughout the game we learn how and why Kratos came to be the one man who would save the city of Athens for total destruction by the God of War – Ares. Through vivid and visually stunning depictions of events that led to each battleground, we learn that Kratos began as a Spartan warrior who would only kill other people in the midst of war, but when the Spartans face the vicious Barbarians and Kratos faces death in the hands of one Barbarian, he calls for Ares to give him immortal strength in return for his soul, a request he soon finds out to be more costly than death itself.

Kratos is now Ares’ puppet as Ares pulls his string to do what he wants, and that is unleash fury and destroy anything or anyone that stand in his way, including vicious killings of civilians. We learn towards the end that Kratos' final mission in life is to battle Ares, the one who actually saved him because he brainwashed him to kill of his entire family. The stunning visuals show us the utter devestation Kratos unleashes, very graphic, bloody battle and sword fight scenes, a very mature depiction.

Now it’s starting to sound like a Hollywood motion picture, and sometimes you actually get absorbed in the storyline and forget you are actually controlling Kratos through game to meet his destiny, which makes the game great on several levels, it’s like watching Braveheart all over again with the same degree of realism unparalleled by any other game and the gore of any other game.

In order to defeat Ares, Kratos path leads him to places where the gods are able to help him, rewarding him with vicious weapons to help ease the rough journey. Kratos’ main weapon are the blades of chaos, fiery whips that reach out quite a bit, as time goes on you collect other weapons, such as the alternative blade of Artemis, a huge sword that is slower than the whips but causes more damage, Stare of Medusa, a hypnotic light that turns anyone into stone, Zeus’ fury, a fast compact lightning bolt, and the souls of Hades, God of the Underworld, demonic souls that eat at any enemy.

Throughout the game, and luckily in abundance, Kratos encounters treasure like chests that he opens and replenishes either his health (green), magic (blue) and weapon upgrade (red), he also gets either of the three by killing enemies. There are also abundant save points, indicated by a bright yellow light on the ground. Some chests increase your magic and health level once you open 6 of them at a time.

The list of enemies is vast, from the easy to kill archers to the little more challenging Medusas, Centaurs, Minotaurs, and the boss fights, the huge Hydras and Mechataurs. While intense, not impossible, with patience and strategy you can defeat them. Your skill and by acquiring red potions you can get a wide list of moves to go along with your magic spells, jumping helicopter whip moves and power whip slams among a few. I particularly enjoy the blade of artemis beheading move.

As mentioned, the visuals and scenery is spectacular, the graphics are impeccable, incredible fluidity of movement very few games have, precise facial and body features, realistic battle scenes to accompany well textured blood and fire footage. The jaw dropping size of the bosses is enough to get you absorbed into this games, the 3 headed hydra beast in the beginning to the larger than life Ares at the end. The camera angles are great, albeit sometimes moves a little too much around in my taste. But they give you a sense of what Kratos is experiencing, from swinging on a rope atop a mountain over a huge valley, to walking on thin planks over fiery depths with swinging blades out to get you, it is quite the rush trying to avoid, dodge and get to the next level.

The sound and soundtrack blend really well with the game, very realistic and timely weapon sounds, primarily the the clanging of blades and grunting noises. Very well voiced sounds of the gods, especially Athena who sounded like Cate Blanchett (Galadriel from Lord of the Rings). The soundtrack is very mythical sounding, epic chanting and orchestral accompaniment, adding to the suspense and drama of the game. The beast sound loud and scary, another reason why kids should not experience this game.

Along with fighting, there is an element of puzzle and problem solving, rotating ballistas to take down a door, creating a rock structure to open a gate, dropping heavy objects on levers to open other doors, keeps your brain going a bit other than the adrenaline of killing enemies.

Although this game is too graphic for youngsters, the storyline does introduce you to some of Greek mythology and the fantasy world of all the gods, I would compare it to watching Lord of the Rings with all the beasts and trolls and the heroes out to get them, When playing you learn about Zeus, Medusa, Hades, Athena, Ares and the power of Pandora’s box, very well made mix between gameplay and storyline.

Not all games are perfect though, this one is no exception, very minor gripes such as towards the last 1/3 of the game playing in normal mode (1 of 4, easy, normal, hard, very hard) it becomes too saturated with enemies and you begin to be timed to kill them all in one level, I was forced to switch to easy mode in order to pass the level, I can’t imagine how difficult the harder levels are. As mentioned, game is very bloody and sadistic and not for young people (this would be the equivalent of an NC-17 movie) there is nudity and some suggestive scenes of sexual intercourse (though we don't see it). Some of the puzzles and mazes are hard to solve without help of a walkthrough, so if you are into doing it all yourself with no help, good luck, hope you’re a master problem solver, may the gods of Olympus be with you!

Ratings:

Storyline: 4.7 of 5
Gameplay: 4.8 of 5
Graphics: 5 of 5
Fun level: 4.8 of 5
Sound: 4.5 of 5

Overall: 4.8 of 5