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Good fun, but lacking in carrying power and longevity

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 9
Date: June 30, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Like most console games, I am happy that I waited for this game to reach the $20 price mark. While God of War delivers a fairly simplistic and yet not-so-simple game, like most games out there it tempts you with the first hour of gameplay and then becomes increasingly repetitive and relies less on the complexities of the game and more on harder to destroy opponents.

The first stage of the game was the most fun for me, learning the controls, dealing with some fun to handle puzzle-like situations, and the overall satisfying action of wielding the common concept of a ridiculously concept of a weapon. But, from there on the game began to drag on even though you learned better moves. It seemed as if the developers now had you hooked into the game and decided to forgo the previous concepts of truly introducing difficult puzzles along with the action. It also, as is unfortunately expected with a single DVD game on the PS2 with graphics of this type, ended only six hours later.

The game definitely delivers in regards to the blood and gore that many kids seem to enjoy in gameplay and does show a bit of the elements common with Greek Mythology. I was disappointed, as a self-proclaimed mythology buff at many of the changes of the 'oh, wouldn't it be neat if he could..' type that were made, but it's only a game. Most of the game could have been set in almost any other mythological setting and have fulfilled the same purpose.

While the first portion, IMHO, has the better set of puzzles, there are a few later on, but unfortunately are placed more to waste your time with running or swimming around and re-attempting to bypass an area reliant on pushing one button at the right time (not much for brain activity, in other words), continuing the concept that players today can't handle a game chalk full of puzzles requiring actual thought throughout (see Prince of Persia 3D for a good use of this type of gameplay). Most of your time is otherwise spend repeating two or three specific combos to defeat the endless rush of opponents.

There isn't really an in-depth system of growth with the game - I found myself maxed out in capability well before the end of the game. Combined with the fact that the only thing you can do is challenge your abilities to combat opponents that hit harder and require more hits to take down, the replayability of the game is next to nil (but up to par for the current trend of PC and console games).

I suggest renting the game, as most players who own it for the weekend will probably be able to finish and experience much of the game at least once, if not more.

It's unfortunate that the fun factor didn't last long enough, but I do think it is worth playing at least once.

The Must-Have PS2 Title for 2005

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: September 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

God of War is, at heart, a beat-em-up action game, pulled straight out of the genre's heyday in the early '90s and amped up tenfold. It's set in ancient Greece, a time period that's been surprisingly underexplored by previous titles, and benefits greatly from both the physical setting and the notion that this world, where Gods would toy with men and monsters still roamed the land, operated under a different set of rules. There's a lot of stuff that this game does right, but at the very top of the list is its ability to overwhelm the gamer with jaw-droppingly effective "holy crap" moments, paired with the dramatic camera angles to completely drive the message home. It's something I can only really liken to a great summer Hollywood action movie; the ability to completely and utterly captivate an audience with an astonishing visual, to marry them to the entire package with just a few well-placed, well-executed surprises.

As Kratos, a former Spartan warrior with a violently checkered past, you're unleashed upon the armies of the undead as they make a move to overthrow the legendary city of Athens. Along the way, you'll run into just about every noteworthy inhabitant of Greek legend and, nine times out of ten, wind up brutally dismembering them in some sort of memorable way. Truly, the story itself is merely passable. It serves to carry you from one famous setting to the next, from mythical beast to mythical beast, but it's not something I'm going to go out of my way to commend. Kratos' past especially leaves a lot to be desired, and follows the carefully-established path of cliche from start to finish. Occasionally you'll catch a moment of inspiration, like the time a civilian catches an arrow in the back of the head, right in the middle of a conversation with Kratos, but I was hoping for a bit more depth than what I got. It feels like they finished a rough outline covering all of the game's big moments, and then forgot to fill in the areas in between with substance. On that same hand, the story doesn't get in the way by forcing too much dialog or over-detailed plot development, so I can't say it's totally wretched. I was motivated throughout the game, constantly prodded by the promise of new wonders just around the corner, but found it to be overall a bit shorter than I'd have liked. Start to finish, you'll run through maybe half a dozen different levels. Some are emphasized to the point of redundancy, (I could've done with a little less Athens) some are cut painfully short, (the imaginative level in Hades is just starting to get good when you're pulled away) and others are just long enough (The dungeons and puzzles in Pandora's Temple are very solid). I kept getting the feeling that they were holding some things back for a sequel, and that really started to irritate me by the time I reached the end.

The gameplay is a refreshing change of pace from the usual button-mashing fare you'd expect from a third person action title. Sure, there are plenty of moments where you'll find yourself completely surrounded, madly pounding on the square button in the hopes that it will somehow allow you to live through the ordeal. There are also dozens of instances where you'll have no chance in hell if that's the only offensive tactic you've learned. As you progress through the game and slowly build the strength of your weapons, (a pair of short swords, attached to Kratos' arms by chains and swung recklessly in battle) you'll unlock more and more potential attacks, which give you the capability to execute longer and longer combos. What's cool is that none of these attacks are particularly difficult to pull off, and there's a great deal of tact and timing involved in successfully using them. The most difficult combination doesn't require the use of more than three different buttons, and is open-ended to allow you to seamlessly float from one attack to the next. However, try to jump in with a super-powerful assault right off the bat, and your enemies are likely to catch you with a quick jab before you've landed a single blow.

Where God of War really makes its name is in the almost disturbingly violent throws and special maneuvers that are a part of any good combination. Every action / fighter since Double Dragon has had a grappling or throwing system of some sort, however simple and underdeveloped it might be... but in this department, God of War takes all that have come before and literally tears them to shreds in a crimson mist. After sufficiently weakening most enemies, you're given the opportunity to either finish them off traditionally with a few additional shots, or to seal the deal in style by grabbing them and performing some sort of horrific finisher that often leaves them missing limbs, vital organs or entire mid-sections. Naturally, the stronger the enemy, the more impressive the killing blow... but weaker enemies offer a lot more variety than the bosses or their immediate superiors. Some of the things you can do to the bosses almost defy description, and although performing them requires a series of timed button presses, (not unlike the action system of Shenmue) you'll almost always feel like Rambo upon their successful completion thanks to the end result.

Physically controlling Kratos, as I alluded to earlier, is just a breeze. The buttons you'll find yourself pounding the most (aside from the analog sticks, of course) are the X and square buttons, which are your jump and basic attack buttons, respectively. Occasionally you'll run into problems with the grabs, controlled with the O button, especially when you get further into the game and most enemies aren't susceptible to them until they're extremely worn down. A grab isn't very precise, and routinely targets the wrong enemy when you're facing a crowd. Factor in the speed of these enemies' counter-attacks and the moment's pause a missed grab causes, and I'm sure you can imagine the accumulated hours of cursing I spent on blown attempts at grabbing an enemy.

The cameras control themselves, which is a welcome solution to the camera angles that have plagued so many other third-person games. Although this does cause problems once in a while, giving off-camera enemies the chance to catch you completely by surprise and hiding special items in places that would have otherwise been in plain sight, I think the benefits far outweigh the downfalls. Without a computer-controlled camera, none of the astonishing visuals I mentioned earlier would have been possible, and the carefully-directed angles throughout the game do an excellent job of highlighting the most visually exciting sections of the screen. It feels like you're controlling a movie from time to time, these angles are so overbearingly cinematic.

The game's visuals are outstanding, especially the high-definition cutscenes that show up once or twice per level, and shows off what are surely the absolute limits of the PS2's graphical potential. I'd put this game in the same class as Final Fantasy X and Gran Turismo 4 visually, at the very top of Sony's heap. The hardware's lack of any anti-aliasing capabilities are occasionally noticeable, which leads me to believe the game would look even better on the Xbox or Gamecube, but on the PS2 it just isn't going to get much better than this. Add a unique visual style that fills every facet of the game, an outstanding set of enemy designs and some top-notch environment detailing and you've got a surefire winner.

The audio does a fine job of accompanying the visual superiority it's asked to accent, with some very good voice acting stealing the show. A lot of times voice-over work in video games just doesn't feel professional, like the actors are afraid to really let it all hang out and ACT. That's no problem here, as the voices of Kratos, the gods, and even the civilians are strong, well-read and believable. The way some of the dialog was written, many of these lines could have come off as excessively cheesy, (Kratos shouting ARRREEEEES spontaneously on the field of battle immediately springs to mind) but are performed almost spectacularly and add to the game's ability to draw a player in like a great motion picture. The music swells and crescendos as you sail into battle, and calms down as you wander an empty hallway. It rises to meet the arrival of an important cutscene, but never to the point that you notice it building.

With an unprecedented amount of gratuitous violence, blood, guts, gore, full-frontal nudity and various sex scenes, I can't over-emphasize God of War's rating as an M title. It's not for kids, and it's probably not for some weak-hearted adults. If you've been to a summer blockbuster over the last few years, however, you've seen it all before. For a tough-to-offend guy in his mid-20s such as myself, this game is just a lot of fun. The battles are deep, but not over-detailed and confusing. The story is exciting, if not totally compelling. The graphics are top-of-the-line, and the audio is very, very good. Despite a few missteps in the battle system and a few weak moments in the story, I don't think I've played a more enjoyable game on the PS2 all year. The difficulty is set firmly onto a slow curve, the fights grow to be very difficult, but never infuriatingly so, and the boss fights are something special. The length from start to finish is bothersome, as things are just starting to get really good when the credits roll, but for the time you'll spend actually playing, this is solid gold.

Jameson Thottam playing with the Gods

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 6
Date: January 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Jameson Thottam playing with the Gods

God of War is an epic revenge adventure tale that weaves Greek mythology masterfully in with its own story. With its fun combo system, beautiful levels, and unique story, God of War places itself among great third person action games such as Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden. A few flaws hamper the game from being perfection, but they're so minor the only question you'll really ask yourself is: "Is a 10-12 hour game worth $50 dollars?"

The Storyline -- James Thottam
Before I help you answer that question, I'll fill you in on what you're getting into. In God of War, you play as a Spartan warrior named Kratos. A former leader of his own army and a master of combat, one day he finds himself at the end of a foes' blade. He calls out to the god Ares to help him out of this situation, and in return he would devout himself to Ares. The god grants his wish and Kratos comes out on top once more. However, the cost of saving his own life became too much for even Kratos, and voes to take revenge for what Ares had done to him.

As Kratos, you wield these dual swords called the Blades of Chaos. You'd better get used to them, because other than the huge Artemis sword and your god-given magics, it'll be the only weapon you use. While this may turn off people hoping to wield other weapons, its actually not so bad, since the Blades of Chaos are a blast to use. They have the best combo potential, and get more powerful as you upgrade them, granting you new moves as well. Some of these moves find good use in the normal game, but in the much harder God difficulty, you'll find yourself sticking to normal sword jabs in order to react quickly enough to your opponent. The Artemis Blade, while impressive and massive, is mostly inferior to your Chaos blades since you sacrifice range and a fast defense for more power.

Spells and Magic-- Jameson Thottam
Magic spells and abilities are granted to you by the gods in order to assist you in your quest, and assist they shall. Most magics will find their uses throughout your travels, but you'll find yourself using Poseidon's Rage more than most other magics due to its cheap magic cost and amazing combo/damage potential. Its good to have this variety in dealing death to your foes, but when one spell pretty much decimates everything, you'll wonder why you'll bother with anything else.

The Upgrade System-- Jameson L Thottam
God of War uses a fairly simple and common upgrade system. After killing a foe he'll normally yield red orbs, in which you pour into your weapons to give them new abilities and power. There nothing here that you haven't seen before in other top notch games of this kind.

The Missions-- Jameson Thottam
However, even with small balance issues, you'll find yourself hooked into Kratos' world. In the very first mission you'll find yourself ripping harpy wings, impaling Hydras, killing innocent bystanders for health, and having a three-way sex romp for a bounty of red orbs. Its almost too cool for its own good. But you don't just annihilate everything in your path, you'll also be subjected to think as the game throws puzzles into your path, however they are not as hard as you'd think. They range from simple ones, like rotating the ballista and moving it off to re-callibrate the turning mechanism so that you can turn it again, to having to form a wall with several oddly shaped blocks. While there are a decent amount of puzzles, they're nothing compared to brain busters in games like Resident Evil, and serve as minor gameplay respites before you go back to your mass murder. Save spots are indicated by a yellow light shooting from the ground, but God of War quicksaves so much, you'll really only need this when you call it a day. While this is nice that it restarts you right near where you died, instead of the insane "Start the level all over again" of Devil May Cry 3, it also makes the game into a simple case of trial and error.

Graphics Galore-- Jameson Thottam
The graphics of GoW are simply stunning for a PS2 game, and even with all the action that can happen on the screen at one time it keeps a constant and fluid framerate for the most part. Also there's virtually no loading time, which even further impresses me on how much the machine can do despite its age. The visuals are very unique and expresses how much painstaking detail went into each section of the game. From the streets of Athens, to the depths of Hades, the level designs take you to this fantasy world and never lets you go.

Scores with the Music-- Jameson Thottam
Music is orchestrated and played very well to the setting, which I'm very happy to hear, instead of throwing in stereotypical metal. The voice acting done by most of the cast is spot on, with only a few overacted parts by some minor characters. Though it seems as if the makers never wanted to show Kratos with any other emotion other than a hardcore tough guy.

In Summary -- James Thottam
The game itself is solid and very enjoyable, the only question you should really ask yourself is "Should I really shell out money for a 12 hour game?" After playing through on normal difficulty, you unlock a small bounty of rewards. The most notable one is the Challenge of the Gods, a mode which you must complete 10 missions exactly as you are told. Some range from simple (Knock enemies off a pedestal), to extremely tough (Survive a wave of over 100 enemies). This mode will take you about an hour or two to complete, depending on your knowledge of the games moves and quirks and your general gaming abilities. Once you beat this mode, you'll get additional costumes. Except for one, they make a minor impact on gameplay and are just there for laughs. One costume called the Dairy Bastard (which gives you INFINITE magic) basically totally breaks the game open to basically being a contest on how high you can get your combo meter with Poseidon's Rage.

If you really feel compelled to beat the game with each costume, then you'll find loads of replay value. But after the main game, you'll likely head to God mode, which will be the true test of your GoW abilities. After that, you'll probably watch the videos you have also unlocked and that'll be it.

Final Thoughts -- Jameson Thottam
God of War is, without a doubt, a game you must play if you're an owner of a Playstation 2. Now if you wish to purchase it at full price is another story. If you plan on only being able to afford one game for awhile, this might not be your game and you'll be better off renting it or wait for a price drop. However if you got money to spend and time to play, you'll find God of War a unique and enjoyable game that will look great in your library.

Jameson Thottam

Frustrating At Times

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 10
Date: April 30, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I enjoyed God of War. Things were frustrating for about 30 minutes, then the ganming experience was intense and fulfilling.

Graphics wise, this game was awesome, but still fell a bit short of Shadow of the Colossus.

The hardest part of the game wasn't necessarily the monsters, but more so trying to figure out how to move around the world. This game can leave you frustrated...very frustrated...at times with just trying to get from point A to point B. I almost quit early on when trying to figure out why the game wanted me to kick a crate. It kept breaking, and it was becoming very dull.

But don't give up. You won't regret playing this.

Hands down; The BEST PS2 Game Yet!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: March 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game sucks you in and beats you into submission from the very first screen. The Sound is THE best of any game I have heard on any console period. The visuals are all wonderfully detailed and the frame rate keeps a very steady pace. The main character and all of the NPC's are all highly detailed as well and all have great animations. The control scheme is also way above many of other games as you are able to cancel one action mid way and change it up on the fly. The story line is a strong one and keeps you wanting more of it. The game has got to be one of the most graphic games out there and is not intended for children as there is nudity and some sexuality. I cannot say enough about this game; it is one of the most entertaining games I have played in quite some time. A BIG 2 thumbs up to Sony Santa Monica Studios. Great Job!!

An excellent game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: March 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Very fun and interesting game. The battle moves are awesome! Great graphics and gameplay. Moves along at a great pace, not too hard, not too easy. It is a game that should not be missed!!

I think the game of the year contest is already over......

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: March 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is it. This is gonna be game of the year, no doubt in my mind. The only other game that could come close is the vastly overrated Resident Evil 4. Pick this one up. It's incredible.

As good as DMC 3. A superb title.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: April 13, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Along with the early March release of devil may cry 3 which redeemed the series with it's superb gameplay and excellent production, God of War stands alongside it as the best combination of action and quality you can get.

Concerning the tale of Kratos who is possesed by Ares the War God, you will visit many varied places in ancient Greece and fight Hydras, the medusa, harpies, huge Titans that fill the screen etc. The action is superb and as good as DMC3, you'll see other soldiers fighting in the background, and it feels very alive. Widescreen support, 480p, superb use of positional audio, and many extras to keep the replay high, it's an essential buy.

It's also refreshingly mature with liberal violence, adult themes, nudity, sex, it takes a clean sweep of the Ratings system and breaks every law. Excellent.

WOW! A game for adults!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: April 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

How do I love thee, God Of War. Is it for the crazy body ripping attacks? Could it be the amazingly gorgeous environs? Or perhaps it's the freedom to do whatever I want to a group of baddies. I know, it's the attitude, the truely selfish, only out for himself philosophy that our protagonist Kratos has.
I was in love from the first wave of dark soldiers that came spilling towards me, waves crashing, hydras eating everything in sight, and I unleashed blades of death upon their weak forms, launching one into the air I grabbed him and slung him into his compadres! YES!!! I am in love with this game. The Hydras, Medusas, Sirens, Titans, Trolls, and especially the Minatours.
Let me tell you there is nothing like mowing through a throng of baddies and beating a Minotaur to the ground, struggling with it and then ramming a blade through it's head for health!! My favorite!!
The puzzles are just right, the cued button pressing for the more massive beasts feels rewarding, and the graphics just do not quit! If all games were made to this standard no one would go to work. Gimme more of this and I'll be a loyal customer!
Yes, there are boobs galore, gore galore, and even a plot!! Innocents are fed to massive monsters, guards are smashed to goo, trolls wreak havoc and it's all fantastic. Rent it then buy it, buy it then hold it forever, this game is why there are home consoles and surround sound!!! Kratos rules! Whooo Hooo!

A great game, Period!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: June 06, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is excellent, in the truest sense of the word. The levels are huge, the action is almost non-stop, and the puzzles aren't brain-draining like the Myst series.
I won't go into the gameplay mechanics, as everyone else has already done that. I will say that finishing the game on God mode, while difficult, does give you very good rewards that you won't get on any other setting! With a behind the scenes segment, character graveyard, challenge of the Gods to unlock special costumes, this game has the replay the Action genre needed at just the right time. Bring on the sequel!

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