God of War shows you just how good it is to be bad.
User Rating: 9.6 | God of War (Greatest Hits) PS2
Are you looking for a game that is deliciously sadistic, outrageously bloody, and completely dark? Then look no farther, God of War is a perfect piece of violence and blood shed that you just can't seem to put down. This is the kind of game that is just as fun to watch as it is to play, so expect gathering a lot of observers if you play around a lot of peers. **** Synopsis **** God of War shows you just how good it is to be bad. You play as Kratos, the champion of the ancient Greek gods. Since the gods are forbidden to battle with on another, they have trained this lost mortal to do their bidding. To achieve him ambitions, Kratos, the Spartan General gave up his life to Ares, God of War. As a price his life was taken from him, and now he seeks to rid himself of the curse which has plagued him for so long. To do this, he must slay the God of War, and finally take back his freedom. Kratos is no hero; he is indeed the spawn of power and hatred. He cares nothing for the people of Greece, and it shows as he idly sits by to watch them be ripped apart by a great number of things. All Kratos cares about is his mission and how he must finally murder the mighty god Ares. No longer a mere human, Kratos has powers beyond that of normal mortals. He can wield great Blades of Chaos which burn with hate. Chains bind those blades to his body, and you must wield them to cut down your foes with a plethora of attacks which advance in number as your rampage through the game. Along the way you will find a number of items, abilities, and even new weapons to help rip your way through the many hordes of creatures which try to prevent you achieving your ultimate goal. Use your mighty powers to hack, slash, and obliterate your enemies with devastating attacks in a game full of Greek Mythos that will leave you hungry for more. **** Game Play **** God of War isn't exactly the first game of its kind. Many would compare it to Prince of Persia with the way the game flows. However, as you begin the game, you suddenly realize that Prince of Persia is a kind game when compared to this one. God of War pulls out all the stops as you slash and burn your way into the game. You begin your journey in a vast armada of ships under siege, and you must crush the poor undead minions of Ares. The first thing you notice when you jump into the game is that you have a great number of attack options at hand. You have bladed chain flails called the Blades of Chaos which you can swing around and slash at your enemies from a great distance. You can move in and grapple your enemies, unleashing a few options of how you wish to end your victim’s life. By pressing either your strong or weak attack button, you will do something different to a foe in your hands. Telling exactly what happens is pointless, because every type of enemy you fight has a different kind of death. What you will often find as you battle it out with many foes is that most enemies in the game can be killed using violent finishing moves, which like Mortal Combat, are incredibly blood, gory, and vicious. Often, the more bloody and cruel you are to your victims, the better you are rewarded for your actions. If you finish off a Minotaur for example by driving your blade down its throat, you get awarded with a boost of health. Everything you fight has a special way of being killed, and the game considers this a "Mini-Game" option. The reason why it's considered a mini-game, because each beast you battle requires you to strike the buttons on your PS2 controller in the desired fashion as displayed on the screen. For example, staking down a troll, you must first jab at him using the O button, then you must strike whatever button it tells you to hit next as your character viciously destroys the creature before your very eyes. This is why the game is so fun to watch, because people around you will get to admire the show as you rip off heads, dismember, and completely mutilate everything in your way. The game also does some pretty outrageous moves during some massive battles, and the camera angles are quite brilliant since you can not change the view at all. As you progress in the game, the battle quickly become longer and harder, allowing you to become more active in your efforts to kill as quickly as possible. To aid you in this, your abilities can be trained and leveled up at your own discretion. Using a familiar feature which a lot of games of this type have, you absorb Red Orbs from each kill and random objects as you progress. You amass these Orbs to level up the abilities of your choice. The combat is very open ended as well, you have plenty of options and lots of moves at your disposal as you continue to level up your weapons. Different tricks and tactics will come to you as you progress, and often you will find yourself seeking new ones as you come across bigger and badder beasts. This game also doesn't really care about size when it comes to what you fight. You can find yourself in the center of a horde of enemies, and you are constantly chopping your way through them while blood splatters and rains all over the place. Sometimes massive beasts like Trolls oor Cyclops will gang together and bash you from all angles with their massive, unblockable attacks. Unlike most action games these days, the beasts in your way are not often just easy cannon fotter. They are quite vicious, and their AI allows them to work together and work on your as a group, not just like a bunch of mindless drones. Also, they don't die easy, and many times you will find yourself wondering if the flow of creatures will ever end! They just keep coming and coming, and you just gotta keep on cutting them down over and over again until finally they die. One thing I have noticed is that this game is quite short of many boss battles, however instead of boss fights, you get a great number of challenging battles with the monsters you face in your path. Sometimes you will even have to complete a puzzle at the very same time these enemies keep chopping and slashing, trying so hard to bring you down. Along the way you come across many chests which offer health and mana recharges. If you have no reason to use them, then it's best to leave them. You will often seek them out again after battling long and hard with many beasts. Save points too are in good locations, and if you die, worry not, the game has a very-very nice quick-save feature which allows you to begin at the entrance of the very same room you died in, as if you never entered yet. This game has a lot of puzzles too, but not long, drawn out ones either. These puzzles are sometimes complicated, because they required you to do a lot of fighting which trying to complete the tasks. It's quite a heart pounding thrill that promises not to bore you easily. **** Graphics **** God of War really stands out as a very rich game full of grand eye candy and plenty of objects to destroy in the environment as you move through battle. One thing that really stands out is how well the Kratos is designed and modeled; he looks to be as vicious as his actions are. Not only this, but the back grounds are very active as well. You get to watch and admire as Athens comes under siege and burns to the ground. Fire balls crash into a number of buildings and even provide very creative fashions of blocking your path from time to time. This game is full of gore. Sometime needless death and blood shed are revealed to you and often driven in your face as you slaughter your way through enemies and even innocent. Every creature in this game has plenty of animations, moves, and actions at their command. Also, the more damage you do them, it shows with every cut and slash. They become bloody, cut, and thorn as you rip through them one after another. You can even rip enemies in have or slice them apart piece by piece. And off of it is does with a clean, smooth frame rate that rarely chops up as enemies gather on screen. The blood effects are very nice, and often exaggerated, offering for a very enjoyable show as it sprays here and their. Watch as your attacks leaves enemies gushing with like fountains before they decay away in the end of their horrible life. Everything in God of War is done very well. The environments are very rich and the scenes are crisp and clean. It really brings into the epic story they strive so hard to tell. Keep in mind that the game also has plenty of nudity in it, in both cut scenes and active Gameplay. So remember that this game is really not for kids at all. *** Control *** The controls for God of War can not be changed, but you really do not want them to be. They are fine the way they are. Allowing the left thumb stick to manage your the direction of your character while your right managed his dodging techniques. Use L1 to block attacks while L2 unleashes your special abilities. Triangle is your strongest attack as Square is your weak. Mix them together to find cruel combos which can crush your enemies quickly. Circle button does a number of things, grab grappling enemies to allowing your Kratos to make-out with Nymphs. X button allows you to jump up and unleash a number of air attacks, which pressing and holding Triangle can also offer to make you rise up even higher. R2 lets you interact with environment and R1 can be used later for various attacks. Most notable the shoulder thrust. As you advance in the game, you will earn more skills and abilities for you weapons as you level them up. You can scroll through the list of moves and combos you can create as if you were managing a character in a popular fighting game. **** Sound **** Sound too in this game is done quite well, using a lot of really good and true to life effects which really bring out the game. You will find sound very important during some parts of the game as you seek out Sirens just by their singing. Other times you will enjoy as you listen to your victims scream in pain, agony, and fear as you send them to Hades. The voice acting for this game is very good too, though some actors do not fit some parts. For example a rotting man of the undead speaks to you in quite a pure, healthy voice. That seemed a little out of place considered how decaded his neck was, but other than that, no problems! I find the voice acting very good compared to most games these days, and I certainly say it's hardly a flaw for this deliciously bloody game. It never gets old listening to monsters choke on your blade thrusts right down their throat and through their skulls. **** Value **** Its blood, it's wicked, and Kratos is a bastard. It's a great game, and certainly it has very high replay value. I found myself fighting the Hydra five times just because I felt like it. With four different game modes, you have plenty of options. Feel free to choose Easy, Normal, Hard, or Godly to really make the game very challenging indeed. Place this game on Hard or Godly; it makes Ninja Gidan a bore. **** Conclusion **** God of War is one of the best PS2 games I've played in a long time. I've had a lot of fun slaughtering a great mass of enemies, and laughing my head off at every turn. Just watching Kratos completely mutilate every time in his path just keeps me wanting to play for more. It's very bloody, and also an enjoyable challenge. The game isn't too hard, nor is it too easy on Normal. It's just right, and certainly a real trail at some parts. Certainly, this is an instant classic that you will play over and over again just to for the heck of it. --------------------------- By: OrleanKnight One of the Gamespot Top 100 Reviewers 
