This game is what all action adventure games SHOULD be!
The Story:
The story is quite interesting. You are Kratos, a Spartan captain, cursed and haunted by your past. To sum up the plot line quickly: You are charged with a task from the gods, Athena specifically, to find Pandora's Box and use it to kill Ares, the God of War, before he completely destroys Athens. Although the story seems quite simplistic, it is actually quite impressive. The plot get's interesting when you find out why Kratos is chosen with this task and exactly why he is haunted by his past, since he is a man seemingly without conscience. However, for me, the story is most interesting to due to my extreme interest in ancient greek mythology. And I can say as a history buff, that this game does an amazing job in it's accuracy to greek mythology. Obviously, some things are exaggerated as this is a video game, but even if you are not even a little interested in Greek mythology, you should still find the plot interesting, and the battles/enemies fun.
The Graphics:
Even with all the next gen systems coming out, i would still say that this is an achievement for video games. The graphics are almost seem-less and it almost appears as though there is little to no loading. All the enemies are intricately designed and they all look amazing. The environment, however, besides the FMV's, is the best part. All the way from the Aegean Sea to the Temple of Pandora, to Hades and back to Athens. All the enviornments are vast and expansive. Although you virtually have a strict path to follow on, the surroundings always makes it seem as though you are in a massive world. Athens is the best example of this as there are many times when you can see far into the distance and it looks like you are actually there. When you are on the Temple of Pandora, another good example, you can even see the titan Kronos carrying the temple and the vast desert in the background. Other than the gameplay graphics, the FMV's are also very good looking. There are quite a few of them and in each of them, Kratos looks totally bad ass and, when following the plot line, the surroundings also are beautifull. The gods, in and out of gameplay, also look wonderfull. (Other than Hades. He is depicted nothing like he is in ancient Greek mythology. That was one of my pet peeves. But then again, it's a game... A very DARK game.)
The Gameplay:
Here I will be brief. The gameplay is fun, however, sometimes, in the heat of a big battle, I found myself mostly just pushing buttons as fast as I could. I know that the fighting style is very unique and revolutionary, it still seemed like I was playing a fighting game in which I knew nothing about how to play and I was just pushing buttons to win. There is something that deserves noting in this gamepaly, the action-kills... I guess that's what you would call them. Anyway, when you whittle down an enemies health, a O button appears above their head. If you press that you go into a move in which Kratos, with your button pushing help, will perform kill moves that are fun to watch and there are ones unique to each enemy. That was probably one of my favorite aspects of the game. Like when you stab the Minotaur in the mouth or twist off the head of a Gorgon. That was a lot of fun and added to the meaning of "interactive." They're kind of like fatalities in Mortal Kombat.
The Sound/Music:
One word... Masterpiece. This game by far has one of the best scores I have ever heard of in a game. If the enviornments, nor the plot making you feel like you are apart of an epic journey, the music sure will. It was beautifull. Every time you were at a moment when things were about to get worse (or better) the music would respond with great enthusiasm. The music really gets you INTO the game, and into the world of ancient Greece. The sound was also notable. The squish of blades cutting into bodies, or the running of blood out of your enemies. The sound wraps up the game very nicely.
At the end of the day, I would very confidently say that this game is a master piece to the PS2 collection. I feel that this game wraps up the PS2 perfectly and I couldn't have thought of a better way to retire an amazing console system. My hat's off to God of War!
(God of War 2 review coming soon... As soon as I beat it)