God of War (PS2)

...This game is the original GOD OF WAR for the Playstation 2…

God Of War was released on the UK PS2 in the July of 2005 by Sony Computer Entertainment and sadly, I didn’t even know of its existence until last year (2006). I could go on about how much of a pity it is that I didn’t know of this game from its date of release… but I’m not going to. All I am going to say is that I’m extremely happy that it came to my attention at all. This ...
...out to Ares – the God of War - that he will give his life to him in exchange for help to overcome the enemy and to bring the Spartan army victory.

Having heard this plea, the clouds part and the mighty Ares falls from the sky. Ares then wipes out the entire Barbarian army - sparing the life of Kratos in doing so. The cost of this victory however is immense to Kratos. Having been saved by Ares, he is now required to be a servant to ... more

Well… here I am with another video game review that has been on the cards for quite some time now but one that I simply did not want to write it until I had completed the game and could do it the full justice that it deserves.

This game is the original GOD OF WAR for the Playstation 2…

God Of War was released on the UK PS2 in the July of 2005 by Sony Computer Entertainment and sadly, I didn’t even know of its existence until last year (2006). I could go on about how much of a pity it is that I didn’t know of this game from its date of release… but I’m not going to. All I am going to say is that I’m extremely happy that it came to my attention at all. This is the best case of “better late than never”.

Anyway… on with the review!

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THE STORY

The story of this game is that of Kratos, an immensely vicious warrior within the Spartan army. His reputation was unrivalled and saw him lead an army of thousands that were seemingly unstoppable.

The game starts in complete contrast to all of Kratos’ glory with what appears to be his own suicide. This is a very surprising start to our introduction to the anti-hero we will ultimately control throughout this game and we get our first taste of the great dialogue within the game that would ultimately put a lot of Hollywood script writers to shame… The opening dialogue comprises of Kratos and a calm, mature sounding female narrator:

Kratos: “The Gods of Olympus have abandoned me, now there is no hope!”

Narrator: “And Kratos cast himself from the highest mountain in all of Greece. After ten years of suffering, ten years of endless nightmares, it would finally come to an end, death, would be his escape from madness. But it had not always been this way, Kratos had once been a champion of the Gods...”

Okay… Is this to be the shortest game in history? How can the main character throw himself to his own death in the opening scene?!? A few seconds later, those questions are answered as we then back-track to three weeks before this terrible choice he has made. After this point, most of the game is in flashback and allows us to see what has driven Kratos to end his own life.

We discover that Kratos was the leader of the Spartan army who, under his control were virtually unstoppable – until that is, they battle with the Barbarian Hordes. During this hellish battle, the Spartan army is all but completely wiped out. Kratos too faces his death on the battlefield. Sensing his death is mere seconds away, Kratos calls out to Ares – the God of War - that he will give his life to him in exchange for help to overcome the enemy and to bring the Spartan army victory.

Having heard this plea, the clouds part and the mighty Ares falls from the sky. Ares then wipes out the entire Barbarian army - sparing the life of Kratos in doing so. The cost of this victory however is immense to Kratos. Having been saved by Ares, he is now required to be a servant to the God of War. Ares arms Kratos with the Blades of Chaos (these will be the main weapon used from the start of the game – although there will be new weapons available as the game progresses) – these are blades forged in the depths of Hades and are attached permanently to Kratos’ arms by chains which are burned into his flesh as a constant reminder that his life now belongs to Ares.

The game from this point on shows us what turns Kratos from a feared leader of the Spartan army once again to a fearful looking warrior – driven by hate and rage and hell-bent on revenge.

The very image of Kratos is striking. With a bald head, small goatee beard and a scar that crosses vertically across his right eye, Kratos looks like someone who has seen a lot of action and someone that you just wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of. Strangely, Kratos is not covered in lots of armour – this allows his physical strength to be seen by all who encounter him – and also allows for the magnificent red tattoos that cover his upper torso and head to be on full display. These tattoos give him extra gravitas and further his terrifying appearance.

It is worth mentioning that when we see the flashbacks of Kratos leading the Spartan army before his fateful meeting and deal with Ares, that his skin is of a normal colour and yet when we take control of him post-Ares, his skin is a terrible white colour. With this deathly pallor to his skin, Kratos’ tattoos look even more blood red and his general appearance far more fierce… but why the change of skin colour?

As the game progresses, we find out why his skin colour changes to this deathly white shade – and speaking for myself – at the point of this revelation, my jaw fell open in disbelief.

The epic quest that Kratos undertakes in this game is to find Pandora’s Box which will give him the powers needed to kill Ares – who is destroying Athens. Kratos must attempt to find this powerful treasure before Athens is lost.

The entire story from start to end is stunning – easily outdoing many Hollywood “blockbusters”. I think with the current trend of turning many video games into movies, (with vastly varied results) I can’t help think that it is only a matter of time before some Hollywood exec will pick up on the God Of War franchise and decides to turn it into a movie too. I think that in the right hands (so… NOT Hollywood?) it would make for an amazing movie but it would have to be as bold, beautiful and bloody as the game and not be some watered down version to allow young teenagers to see the film and to boost ticket sales (Alien Vs Predator, anyone?) – or it would just not work. Also, the amazing look of the game would cost a fortune to replicate into a film – needing a budget, sense of scale and someone who actually cares about the source material (as seen with the Lord of the Rings trilogy) in order to do it the full justice it deserves.

Anyway… moving swiftly along…

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GAMEPLAY

The game is played in a third-person view and after a few little in-game hints on how to get into the combat, the playability is incredibly easy to get into. After a few small skirmishes in order to ease you into the proceedings, you’ll be hacking and slashing the multiples enemies around you in no time at all.

Don’t take from what I’ve said above that God of War is just another hack ‘n’ slash game… there’s far more to it than that. During the combat, you’ll soon be able to perform small finishing moves on some enemies such as grabbing them and literally tearing them in half before throwing their remains aside as you prepare to take on another enemy who is advancing on you.

As you fight your way through the hordes of hellish enemies, you will also be increasing the power in the ‘Rage of the Gods’ meter. When the meter is full, Kratos can temporarily call upon extra power from the Gods which will allow him to kill enemies with many more powerful combat moves.

Needless to say that the game is certainly very gory and makes the 18 certificate justifiable. This of course will mean that the game will not and should not be suitable for everyone. If you have an aversion to anything bloody, then this is probably not going to appeal to you – also this also means that it’s not really suitable for younger gamers. As well as the gore factor of the game, there is also some nudity. This is limited to bare breasts seen on a few ladies within the game (albeit sadly digital ladies and not real ones… damn!) so in all honesty it’s really not gratuitous nudity and is certainly no worse than the boobage (I just made that word up… do you like it?) that you’ll find in newspapers on Page 3… not that I would know, of course. Honest!

Yes… I know… Enough of the boobs, already!

Getting back to the subject of the gameplay, it must be said that the whole game is very natural to play. There are just so many different ways that the game plays like a dream. The combat system is very good – with enough variation in difficulty to make you feel like you are with Kratos on his quest every step of the way.

Throughout the game, you will find chests (is this about boobs again?!?) that you can open – these invariably contain orbs to increase your health (green) or your magic (red) levels. There are also other items that you can find in order to increase the amount of health and magic on your meters namely Gorgon Eyes and Phoenix Feathers respectively. Collecting six Gorgon Eyes or Phoenix Feathers will increase the meters.

The game can be saved when you find a ‘Save Altar’. These can often be heard before they are seen and are shown as a glowing ray of bright yellow light. Step into the light and press the R2 button and you can save your progress.

The gameplay is very varied and allows Kratos to climb up cliff faces, (often whilst still battling many enemies at the same time before smashing them off the cliff face or just pulling them off and throwing them to their deaths) hanging from and traversing ropes that cross chasms far below (again with pesky undead enemies to make your game a nightmare) and many other ways of adding incredible depth and perspective to the experience that is God of War.

Everything just plays perfectly and very smoothly indeed. There are sections later in the game where Kratos is given the ability to swim underwater without the need for coming back up for air. This leads to another great gameplay experience as the underwater sections play every bit as wonderfully as all the other sections of the game.

What I’m striving to say (and am probably doing my infamous ‘why use one hundred words when a thousand will do?’ routine here) is that the gameplay is just a joy from start to finish and greatly adds to the experience.

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GRAPHICS

The graphics in God of War are simply stunning and show that although the PS2 has now more or less peaked with what it can do and of course has now been superseded by the PS3, it can still produce incredible graphics when a game is produced by the right production teams and companies.

Despite the environments of the game being hugely detailed and very varied, the graphics move very, very smoothly and are just incredible. The amount of enemies that are present in a lot of the battles don’t have any noticeable affect on the frame rate of the graphics.

The character graphics are very detailed and are of an extremely high quality. Kratos himself looks great and detailed – as do all of the enemies. The great thing about the game is that there are enemies of many different shapes and sizes to take on – sometimes within the same battle. A lot of the enemies that you encounter are man-sized or slightly larger but there are enemies that are simply huge and will have you feeling awestruck. A great example of this happens very early on in the game when you encounter your first Hydra (which is a pretty terrifying sea serpent). The Hydra is huge and vicious and your first battle with it doesn’t actually see you kill it – but sees it withdraw from the battle.

However… shortly thereafter, you will have to battle two of them at the same time… and as if that wasn’t bad enough there is a third one that is completely GIGANTIC – dwarfing the other two and is one of the most amazing enemies I have ever seen in a game. The good news is you have to kill this enormous beast too! Good luck!

The range of beasties you get to encounter and knock the hell out of includes the following:

UNDEAD LEGIONNAIRES: Dead warriors brought back to life by Ares in order to prevent you completing your quest. Some of these undead soldiers will attack you with swords and the like whilst others will let loose on you from a distance with their bows and arrows.

HYDRA: The aforementioned sea serpent that is simply terrifying to behold. It seems that the Hydra is in fact one creature with numerous heads – which look like a sort of mix of a snake and a dragon. I hope you brought along some clean underpants… after encountering these things, I think you’ll be needing them!

MINOTAUR: Half-man and half-bull, the Minotaur is a formidable enemy at around eight feet tall. These beasts take a hell of a beating before you can kill them but when weakened enough, Kratos will jump upon the beast and although it will still be struggling against him, a lot of taps on the circle button will see Kratos thrust a sword into the Minotaur’s gaping mouth amidst a satisfying geyser of blood! Hurrah!

CYCLOPS: A one eyed monster (oh grow up, for goodness sake… don’t be crude!) which carries a large club-like weapon and will pound the hell out of you if you let it get close enough.

HARPIES: These bird-like creatures have the bald heads of monstrous-looking women, long claws and the taste for human flesh. A hellish enemy that is made all the harder to kill due to their airborne attacks.

GORGONS: These horrendous creatures were once beautiful young women but were transformed into hideous serpent-like monsters. Their hair has been turned into hissing snakes and their stare can turn any living creature instantly to stone.

WRAITHS: These terrifying creatures are ghosts that are equipped with huge razor sharp claws and can turn to smoke – allowing them to pass beneath the ground to attack Kratos from the ground beneath his feet. Their ability to pass beneath the ground makes them hard to target and kill.

SIRENS: These creatures which resemble deformed women were cast into the Desert of Lost Souls. There, they sing songs that lure would-be treasure hunters off course in the baron wastes and ultimately to their deaths. However… What of the stories that if three of these ghastly creatures are found and killed that they may show the way toward the Temple of Pandora?

CERBERUS DOGS: These hell hounds have three vicious heads and can spew out puppies which sounds all nice and harmless – but these infants can quickly grow to the same size of the adult beast who created them almost instantly.

CENTAURS: Part man and part horse, the Centaur is yet another formidable enemy that stands in your way. They are servants of Hades that can quickly surround you and are very difficult to kill.

SATYRS: These creatures are mixed breed of goat and man and are excellent warriors. They can quickly outnumber you and are extremely fast.

As you can tell from the above descriptions of the enemies that await Kratos, the quest to find Pandora’s Box is going to be far from easy…

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SOUND

The sound in God of War thankfully complements the playability and the graphics. Everything about the sound is just perfect and never detracts once from the experience. The sounds of enemies and combat are just great – although there are some instances of sounds that will have you further jumping out of your seat. One of the sounds that comes to mind is the enormous screeching screams that come from the giant Hydra head when you fight it. The sounds are so scary that they make the T-Rex from Jurassic Park sound positively cute and cuddly in comparison!

The voice acting is also very good – and adds to the delivery of the satisfying dialogue within the game. All too often have gamers been subjected to terrible voice acting that is so wooden and badly delivered, it makes the game dreadful to listen to – and to play. Not so here.

There is a bile-black sense of humour that runs through the game too – and the voice acting delivers it perfectly.

During the Hydra battle, we see the Captain of the boat – who is carrying a key that Kratos needs – get eaten by the giant Hydra. After the battle is won with the Hydra, Kratos enters its mouth – only to find the Captain miraculously still alive but hanging at the back of its throat – perilously dangling above the drop into its stomach:

Boat Captain: “Thank the Gods! You came back for me!”

Kratos: “I didn’t come back for you!”

He then takes the key from the Captains necklace and throws him into the Hydra’s stomach.

This is proof that the voice acting adds to the experience. It shows in the example above that Kratos truly is an anti-hero – a ruthless bastard who doesn’t ultimately care who he has to screw over in order to complete his quest. Perhaps when you realise why he’s become driven by such mindless hatred, you might actually be able to empathise with him to some degree.

Another notable part of the sound of the game is of course the musical score that accompanies the gameplay. The soundtrack is every bit as good as the music you would expect to hear in a blockbuster movie – and is just incredible. The music would still sound amazing even if you were to hear it on its own – without the visuals and gameplay but WITH them, it becomes another integral part of the experience.

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VALUE

As if you didn’t already notice, I absolutely LOVED God of War and have to honestly rate it as one of my all time favourite games now. Even now with the PS3 available (which I still haven’t got and won’t be able to afford for quite some time) games such as this and the recently released God of War II – also on PS2 still show that there is still a lot of life left in the PS2 itself.

I would say that God of War has a pretty high replay factor as it has several difficulty levels – Mortal, Hero, Spartan and God Modes.

The different difficulty levels offer many great extras to unlock:

From the start of the game only two extras are unlocked:

The making of God of War: This is a fascinating insight into the preproduction as well as the production of the game.

God of War trailer: The trailer for the game that was put out on the internet prior to the release of the game.

Unlocked when you complete the game on Mortal, Hero and Spartan mode:

Credits: This gives recognition to the incredible talents behind the game.

Deleted Levels: This shows some ideas that were put forward (and in some cases almost finished) but cut from the finished game.

Heroic Possibilities: This shows the evolution of Kratos.

Visions of Ancient Greece: This shows how the game levels were designed and created.

Monsters of Myth: Shows the concepts and designs of the monsters seen within the game.

The Birth of The Beast: This allows us to see a secret from Kratos’ past that may also hint at a further adventure…

God Mode: This is the hardest mode of play which is only available after completion of the game on a lower difficulty level.

Character Graveyard: This allows you to walk around an arena as Kratos looking at versions of monsters and characters from the game (including Kratos himself) that were deemed unusable or designs that they simply didn’t like.

Challenge of the Gods: Ten rooms with ten further challenges for Kratos. They all test your skills and offer rewards for completion of this great challenge… Apparently including additional costumes for Kratos and a second secret message – see below regarding the first secret message.

In-game movies: This allows you to watch all the FMV movies from within the game.

*** Defeat the game in God Mode *** (and no… I haven’t completed God Mode!!!)

A Secret Revealed: This shows the secret of Kratos’ family…

The Fate of the Titan: This shows what has become of Kronos the Titan – who carries Pandora’s Temple upon his back in the Desert of Lost Souls…

Secret Message 1: What is it?!? Tell us!!! Oh well… God Mode it is then!!!

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MY (OVERDUE) CONCLUSION:

A game that is absolutely superb in every way, I can’t recommend this game enough!

Bold, bloody, beautiful… buy it!!!

Many thanks for reading this!

Derek. 

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