May 02, 2005
God of War Review by Rendition
The action adventure genre has been filled with repetitive themes and the same old gameplay re-hashed over again from the Golden Axe days. The Lord of the Rings series from Electronic Arts exemplified this. Blah. So when God of War came onto the scene at last year’s E3, it really took people's breath away. After I saw movies and previews a few months ago on X-play, I knew this was the game I looked forward to most in the past year. [More]
The game is based on a Spartan warrior character named Kratos. He is sent by the Gods of Olympus against the God of War, Ares. He starts with two large knives connected to long chains. As the game goes along, Kratos acquires new magic abilities from the Gods. The combat system is simple one where you can chain multiple combinations of various button attacks.
What is breath-taking about the game is the epic cinematic feel. Sony went all out in terms creating a living breathing world. The animation is the best I’ve ever seen. Every button press, hair trigger release is instantly shown on screen in some of the best motion capture done in the history of videogames. Sony also was able to program the game so there are hardly any load times. The cut-scenes are seamlessly integrated into the action without a pause. With such amazing graphics and animation, the soundtrack may be even better. I don’t know how they did it, but the orchestral music and tempo blows most $100 million movies away.
God of War surely doesn’t disappoint if you like violence, brutality, and gore. You will see many scenes where Kratos rips creature’s heads off, blood smattering all over, and limbs coming loose as result of his handy knife chains. This is not for the meek of heart and should not be played in front of children. However if you enjoy great animation and the fantasy of battling a Hydra sea monster that takes up more than 1/2 the screen while you try to gore it with a steel hooks while it tries to tear you to pieces with its huge mouth and razor sharp teeth, this is the action you’ve been waiting for.
The boss battles are so good that it’s disappointing there aren’t that many of them. Even though the graphics are amazing, some the exture work isn’t up to par. It’s probably more a limitation of the Playstation 2’s video memory, but it’s still noteworthy. Some of the platform and block pushing puzzles do get annoying. And the camera angles for certain action scenes are confusing in which way you’re supposed jump.
But all this are quibbles compared to the whole package. This game is the most fun I’ve had in years. Yes more fun than Gran Turismo 4, Half-life 2, Call of Duty, and World of Warcraft. The game is that good. I give it s score of 9 out of 10. Highly recommended. [Discuss]
