Finally, I got my hands on God of War and let me just say this – it is absolutely the best game I’ve played this side of GTASA! Right off the bat, this game is so amazing that it’ll have you begging for more long after you finish it. That said lets get down to the problems. There are only two, the game is short and there are not many "end of level" bosses. That’s it.
The story goes somewhat like this: Zeus, lord of Olympus, commands his children to cease warring among themselves and to take no action against their contemptuous sibling Ares, even if he ravages their patron cities. Ares takes advantage of this law and starts tearing through Athens. Unable to use their godly powers against the god of war, the Olympian gods only hope rests in man. The game shoves you in the boots of Kratos, a barbaric, tortured and merciless soul, a Spartan general who sold his services to the Greek god of war, Ares, for power. Now, at the time of war, something in Ktaros’ soul changes and all he wants is to destroy his mentor.
Beseeched by the Olympian gods, Kratos is deployed on a mission to seek out an ancient and powerful artifact and use it to destroy the evil son of Zeus. This is as far as I’ll go, if you want to know more then play the game!
The title has been under development at Sony’s Santa Monica studios. Ok, lets begin with the engine. I say engine because it is truly a work of art. There are zero and I mean zero load times throughout the game. The entire gameplay is seamless save for one spot when the game boots up. The visuals are absolutely unbelievable and it makes you wonder how all this was achieved on the developer unfriendly PS2 hardware. This can be attributed to the game’s engine which had been in development for five years. The sheer amount of eyecandy available in this game is stunning. The environments are incredibly detailed and the artwork is simply fantastic. There are absolutely no words to fully describe all the graphical grandeur so, I’m forced to reflect it with another’s view:
“Gaze across the tattered ruins of a thousand-year-old manmade mountain as waterfalls spill from rocky cliffs. Step toward the edge of the world and stare out across the Desert of Lost Souls for a moment before summoning a small city-sized Titan burdened by the Temple of Pandora that's chained to its back. Run through a burning ancient city as a 2000 foot tall god unleashes his wrath in the distance. Glance up in terror at the mane of flame that encircles Ares' head. Clash with the colossal, lumbering minotaur against the backdrop of smoldering corpses. Dive into the depths of Poseidon's tribute. Escape the grasp of hell itself. Fight on plateaus littered with titanic statues to heroes and gods long past. Look at anything. Look anywhere. Just look, damn it. If you open your eyes you'll see the very definition of amazing art direction. When it comes to paint, God of War has no equal.â€
Enemies consist of various incarnations from Greek mythology. Each enemy has strengths and weaknesses. The game always serves a combination of the enemies which forces you to strategize your approach and unleash your arsenal of completely upgradeable powers. There also enemy specific mini-games which highlight the games incredibly fluid animations.
Gameplay also consists of some platforming elements, which are not terrible enjoyable. And then come the puzzles which are based on navigation and simplicity. But, these ‘afterthought’ elements in no way hurt the overall experience. The sheer amount of incredibly varied and enjoyable gameplay is more than enough to satisfy the lust for a truly worthy game.
Alas, all good things must come to an end and God of War came to an end sooner than I'd have liked. There are a lot of unlockable elements, standard stuff for games, concepts, designs, stories, costumes, deleted levels. I cannot even think of describing the magnificence of God of War in words, it truly has to be experienced to be believed. SCE has done an amazing job with this game and with the promise of God of War 2, things are looking very bright for gamers.
My ratings:
Graphics - 10
Gameplay - 9.8
Sound - 9.8
Overall Presentation - 9.6
Replayability - 9
Overall - 9.7
And here are some of the scores:
Gamespy – 5/5
PSM – 5/5
1UP – 10/10
EGM – 9.83/10
IGN – 9.8/10
GameSpot – 9.3/10
And some screens:
http://img83.exs.cx/img83/4082/godofwar16yu.jpg
http://img83.exs.cx/img83/3386/godofwar24ce.jpg
http://img83.exs.cx/img83/7209/godofwar36qw.jpg
http://img83.exs.cx/img83/6137/godofwar41go.jpg
http://img83.exs.cx/img83/9879/godofwar59vv.jpg
http://img83.exs.cx/img83/2568/godofwar64qa.jpg
http://img83.exs.cx/img83/1908/godofwar77or.jpg
http://img83.exs.cx/img83/4940/godofwar80sw.jpg
http://img83.exs.cx/img83/3458/godofwar91de.jpg
http://img83.exs.cx/img83/9590/godofwar104pa.jpg
The story goes somewhat like this: Zeus, lord of Olympus, commands his children to cease warring among themselves and to take no action against their contemptuous sibling Ares, even if he ravages their patron cities. Ares takes advantage of this law and starts tearing through Athens. Unable to use their godly powers against the god of war, the Olympian gods only hope rests in man. The game shoves you in the boots of Kratos, a barbaric, tortured and merciless soul, a Spartan general who sold his services to the Greek god of war, Ares, for power. Now, at the time of war, something in Ktaros’ soul changes and all he wants is to destroy his mentor.
Beseeched by the Olympian gods, Kratos is deployed on a mission to seek out an ancient and powerful artifact and use it to destroy the evil son of Zeus. This is as far as I’ll go, if you want to know more then play the game!
The title has been under development at Sony’s Santa Monica studios. Ok, lets begin with the engine. I say engine because it is truly a work of art. There are zero and I mean zero load times throughout the game. The entire gameplay is seamless save for one spot when the game boots up. The visuals are absolutely unbelievable and it makes you wonder how all this was achieved on the developer unfriendly PS2 hardware. This can be attributed to the game’s engine which had been in development for five years. The sheer amount of eyecandy available in this game is stunning. The environments are incredibly detailed and the artwork is simply fantastic. There are absolutely no words to fully describe all the graphical grandeur so, I’m forced to reflect it with another’s view:
“Gaze across the tattered ruins of a thousand-year-old manmade mountain as waterfalls spill from rocky cliffs. Step toward the edge of the world and stare out across the Desert of Lost Souls for a moment before summoning a small city-sized Titan burdened by the Temple of Pandora that's chained to its back. Run through a burning ancient city as a 2000 foot tall god unleashes his wrath in the distance. Glance up in terror at the mane of flame that encircles Ares' head. Clash with the colossal, lumbering minotaur against the backdrop of smoldering corpses. Dive into the depths of Poseidon's tribute. Escape the grasp of hell itself. Fight on plateaus littered with titanic statues to heroes and gods long past. Look at anything. Look anywhere. Just look, damn it. If you open your eyes you'll see the very definition of amazing art direction. When it comes to paint, God of War has no equal.â€
- IGN
The fighting engine is extremely fluid and runs hand in hand with those of other AAA titles. There are four kind of attacks (strong, medium, grapple and dash) and an attack modifier, combining these with other elements such as blocking, dodging, aerial combos, four sets of magic and two weapon substitutions, you can bring to life some incredible entertaining and ridiculous combos. All this is complimented by one of the most responsive control schemes ever created.Enemies consist of various incarnations from Greek mythology. Each enemy has strengths and weaknesses. The game always serves a combination of the enemies which forces you to strategize your approach and unleash your arsenal of completely upgradeable powers. There also enemy specific mini-games which highlight the games incredibly fluid animations.
Gameplay also consists of some platforming elements, which are not terrible enjoyable. And then come the puzzles which are based on navigation and simplicity. But, these ‘afterthought’ elements in no way hurt the overall experience. The sheer amount of incredibly varied and enjoyable gameplay is more than enough to satisfy the lust for a truly worthy game.
Alas, all good things must come to an end and God of War came to an end sooner than I'd have liked. There are a lot of unlockable elements, standard stuff for games, concepts, designs, stories, costumes, deleted levels. I cannot even think of describing the magnificence of God of War in words, it truly has to be experienced to be believed. SCE has done an amazing job with this game and with the promise of God of War 2, things are looking very bright for gamers.
My ratings:
Graphics - 10
Gameplay - 9.8
Sound - 9.8
Overall Presentation - 9.6
Replayability - 9
Overall - 9.7
And here are some of the scores:
Gamespy – 5/5
PSM – 5/5
1UP – 10/10
EGM – 9.83/10
IGN – 9.8/10
GameSpot – 9.3/10
And some screens:
http://img83.exs.cx/img83/4082/godofwar16yu.jpg
http://img83.exs.cx/img83/3386/godofwar24ce.jpg
http://img83.exs.cx/img83/7209/godofwar36qw.jpg
http://img83.exs.cx/img83/6137/godofwar41go.jpg
http://img83.exs.cx/img83/9879/godofwar59vv.jpg
http://img83.exs.cx/img83/2568/godofwar64qa.jpg
http://img83.exs.cx/img83/1908/godofwar77or.jpg
http://img83.exs.cx/img83/4940/godofwar80sw.jpg
http://img83.exs.cx/img83/3458/godofwar91de.jpg
http://img83.exs.cx/img83/9590/godofwar104pa.jpg
