|
| |
|
Review by: GenoForPrez
|
|
Reviewers Score:
10 / 10
|
Posted: January 09, 2006
|
God
of War
System: PS2
Genre: Adventure/Fighting
Overall Rating: 10/10
An absolute must-have. Period.
Review:
Storyline: 9/10
The story of God of War is heavily influenced and based on Greek
Mythology. Only the main character, Kratos, is an original creation. He
is a mysterious, pale-skinned man who has been endowed with amazing
combat skills that make him lethal beyond compare. In the start of the
game, it is apparent that while Kratos is a violent, blood-thirsty
warrior on a rampage, there is a mission behind his madness; a dark
secret that remains to be told. His basic mission is clear: he wants to
murder Ares, the god of war, as a favor to Athena and the other gods of
Olympus, since Ares has become unruly on both earth and Olympus.
However, Kratos has a deeper motive; something that means far more to
him than pleasing the gods of Olympus, and if he doesn't get what he
wants, he is sure he will literally be driven to madness. I want to tell
the whole story, but it would be difficult to explain it and have it
make sense without spoilers. So all of that aside, it's a fantastic
story that will persuade you to empathize with Kratos, the blood-thirsty
Spartan, and will repeatedly dazzle you with references to Mythology.
Complaints in the storyline department are simply in regard to the
mythology. If you're a mythology buff, beware of this game because it
will irritate you in a few ways. The gods are inaccurately depicted in a
lot of cases since the authors of the game twisted things to make them
interesting or to make them fit with the story. Hades, for example, is
traditionally similar to the other gods (who resemble humans) and rules
the underworld which is more or less a very dark, cold nothingness. This
game reinforced the common misconception that Hades is Satan, giving him
a demonic appearance and having him rule over a lake of fire and death.
Tsk tsk. It also placed the sirens in a desert as opposed to at sea and
included in that desert Cronos, a titan, who actually should be banished
to Tarturus. Ares is accurately portrayed, but they make him a giant,
which isn't entirely accurate. Lots of little things like that kinda
made me cringe, but if that's not an issue for you, then expect great
things.
Gameplay: 10/10
The ass-kicking is utterly relentless. Kratos is armed with the Blades
of Chaos which are permanently fixed to his arms by chains. Most of your
maneuvers in the game involve crushing and gashing through your enemies
with nasty chain/blade combos. As you defeat enemies, destroy
environmental objects, or open chests, Kratos's experience goes up.
Experience can be cashed in to buy upgrades to one of six abilities
which will give that ability more power and will unlock new moves for
Kratos to use against his foes. The game is extremely combat driven and
will keep you entertained for hours with all of the devestating combos
you can master. It incorporates a really awesome "mini-game"
feature to fights where, when an enemy has low health or is knocked
senseless, an icon will appear above it's head signalling that you may
engage an advanced tactic. If you engage, a series of button/analog
stick directions will be flashed above the enemies head. If you
successfully follow the directions in good time with no mistakes, it
will allow you to administer an advanced (and usually really fun to
watch!) maneuver that gains you more experience than a typical kill.
Some larger enemies can only be defeated with advanced tactics like
this. This game also receives my applause for designing great puzzles
within their dungeons.
The only complaint I really have--and maybe I'm just being a
stickler--is that 90% of the game technically takes place inside of one
massive dungeon. Yup. If they wouldn't have called it God of War, the
alternate title probably would have been Pandora's Temple since it
pretty much makes up the bulk of the game. But... the gameplay is just
so rad that even though it sucks that you're kinda in one place for the
whole game, you just can't hate it for that.
Graphics: 10/10
Absolutely fantastic. Definitely one of the best-looking games you will
find on the PS2. They really do a great job of making this look
realistic while still keeping the sort of fantastic/myth tone. Every
last thing in the game pretty much looks great.... except for the facial
animations. I wasn't too crazy for those. Kratos's were pretty decent,
but the other characters' facial movements were atrocious. Really the
only bad thing you could possibly say in regard to graphics. Everything
else is perfect.
Audio: 10/10
All original scores performed by a professional orchestra and
complimented by a large, talented choir. The soundtrack of the game
really gives you the feeling that God of War is as much a movie as it is
a game.
Replay Value:
10/10
Worth every scent you spend on it. I wish the game would have been
longer (though it is quite long, I can assure you) but slicing up
mythological beasts with those Blades of Chaos just never gets old.
There are just too many awesome combos! Great for stress relief. Or just
plain sadistic people! Woot! |
|
| |
|
