a great game !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
User Rating: 9.5 | God of War (Greatest Hits) PS2
God of War revolves itself around the trials and tribulations of Kratos, a muscular, pale-skinned, heavily tattooed Spartan warrior who, at the outset of the game, is on the verge of suicide. Citing that the gods of Olympus have abandoned him, Kratos throws himself off the tallest mountain in Greece, plummeting to his seemingly desired doom. As he falls, the voice of an elderly narrator cuts off Kratos' death before final impact and tells us of how things had not always been so dire for our hero. Flashback to three weeks prior--to the beginning of Kratos' adventure--where we find him on a wrecked ship in the middle of the Aegean Sea, fighting his way through scads of undead warriors and a rather large, multiheaded hydra. Though the story begins here, you won't learn much about Kratos until quite a bit later in the game. The initial impression you get from his adventures is that he is, for lack of a better term, a mean-spirited, unlikable son of a **** who would sooner slaughter his own mother than let anyone get in his way. While some lingering aspects of this perception will last throughout the game, you'll come to learn over time that Kratos is a deeply tortured soul who wants nothing more than to wash away the sins of his past. The main plot of the game revolves around Kratos carrying out a mission from the gods of Olympus to stop the renegade god Ares (incidentally, the titular "god of war") from destroying the city of Athens. The only way a mortal like Kratos can kill a god is to acquire the mythical Pandora's box, a weapon so powerful that even the gods themselves tremble before its power. As you follow Kratos' journey to find Pandora's box, you learn more and more about his troubled past, how he was once a conqueror of fearsome reputation, and how he was eventually led astray by Ares. These bits of story are told through stylishly directed flashbacks that appear at specific intervals. The game's whole method of storytelling takes sort of a slow-burn approach, giving you almost nothing to work with and no understanding of Kratos at the beginning. By the time the game is over, however, you'll know nearly all there is to know about Kratos, and you should find yourself sympathetic to this flawed but repentant warrior. Even though the story is, in itself, a fairly basic tale of revenge, it isn't any less impactful because of this when you reach the final confrontation. 
