God Of War is the best action adventure game on the Playstation2 to date, and it would be a crime to miss it.
God Of War is a game set in the ancient world of Greek mythology. The story revolves around Kratos, an anti-hero who serves the Gods in order to free him of his crimes in the past. So he embarks on a quest by order of the gods to claim a power that allows him to kill Ares: the god of war. Whose the subject of revenge according to Kratos who considers him to be responsible for making him the criminal he is today…hmmm sounds like Kratos is not a person who takes responsibilities for his own actions, right? Exactly. As a matter of fact he is a very evil and destructive character and he will stop at nothing to kill the god of war, what a story. And that's just the beginning, you'll journey from the Aegean sea, a warring city of Athens, a vast desert, and a Huge temple. Along the way you'll encounter Ares minions who try to stop you from achieving your goal.
The first thing that you'll notice ( and be amazed by) is the incredible graphics which are so good that you won't believe that you're playing a PS2 game. The environment is so nicely drawn they look amazing, the main difference between this game and the rest is that you can actually travel through the artwork instead of just moving in a pre-rendered background. A breathtaking moment comes to mind is the moment you ride a rope to cross between two mountains and the camera moves from top showing you the deep valley to the bottom showing you the high mountains, The whole game gives you a large sense of scale which is done creatively in this game. The camera has it's flaws but believe me when I say that it is kept to a minimum, so you'll rarely complain about the camera being inappropriate.
The combat is also amazingly done: you see Kratos has this unique weapon the blades of chaos which are basically two blades attached to his arms via chains, and they move in a way that makes the combat flaw fluidly and dynamically. The different enemies you face are all taken care of in a sense that they are brutally dispatched, you stab a minotaur in the face, yank out a Cyclops eye out, rip out a gorgons head, and tear out a harpies wings, and other brutal kills. These finishing blows are done after you hit a certain enemy enough times for an on-screen prompt to appear, once you press the corresponding buttons correctly, or move the left analog stick correctly, the onslaught commences!
But it's not just about the combat, God Of War has some parts that require you to solve a few puzzles in order to advance in the game, some of these puzzles are simple enough and some others need some brain work, but they are all creative and fun to work out.
All the sounds in god of war are appropriately made out, so every battle is filled with groans, yells, shouting and screaming, very nice stuff. And the impacts and sound effects are all well made and fit the situation perfectly. And even more perfect is the music which is a live orchestral piece of work, the developers couldn't have ever found a better music to fit the game as perfectly as it is. And it all help make you feel and believe that the events happening in the game are truly massive and epic. The only downfall is the fact that the voice acting – although very well made – is still over "serious", but still it tells the story well and clearly.
The game will take you quite a while to finish. It's not really that long but it's hard and there are extras to unlock at the end which are pretty interesting and worth checking out.
This game is huge, you can be sure of that, and you'll realize that from the beginning of the game since it starts with an epic battle against the Hydra- a huge multi-headed beast- that takes place in the raging stormy sea, which is something unusual in a game. And from that point forward it's the brutal and violent action, a raging merciless anti-hero, amazing-never before seen- graphics and sound effects, and other surprises, all contribute to make your gaming experience an incredible and unforgotten one.
The action adventure genre is a bit poor nowadays with emphasis by most developers on RPGs and FPSs, but now, God Of War will restore your faith in this genre and make you say: Oh my god…this is what we were waiting for: the ultimate action adventure game. And truly so, nothing will come close to the brilliantness of God Of War, at least for a while, and developers will have a hard time trying to beat this one, go out and by this game now, this is the right stuff.