God of War

By Grabthar's hammer, you shall be avenged.

review by Halbred.

Author's Note: The first three subparagraphs are narrative flavor text. Feel free to skip it.

I can feel the Hydra's stinking breath. It's a big one--the central head is at least fifteen, maybe twenty feet long, and that's not taking into account the massive amount of cervical muscle behind it. If it wanted to, this big marine reptile could take me, this ship, and everyone on it down to Davey Jones' locker. Well, not if I have anything to say about it. I tear out my Blades of Chaos--gauntletts of death I've carried for years, and fling them forward into the maw of the beast. Holding the chains which brand the armaments to my arms, I force the line taught, and the blades sink into the Hydra's mouth--it may as well be a massive fish. My Spartan muscles glowering from a lifetime of brutal training, I force the serpent's head toward me, and toward the crow's nest where I stand. Shrieking but helpless now, the Hydra's skull smashes into the mast, causing it to break in half. The top half falls, leaving a nice big wooden stake right in front of me. The Hydra recovers, and screams in anger. Its breath is like a hurricane--I'm almost sent toppling off the crow's nest, but I grab onto the netting just in time. Just as I haul myself back up, the reptile flickers its ears and lunges forward towards me. I roll out of its way in the nick of time, and the Hydra ends up with a mouthful of wood. Its teeth momentarily jammed, I decide to end this battle. I call a favor from my friend Poseidon, and blue lightning flashes all around me, a shock wave of electricity surges outward, and the Hydra collapses onto the crow's nest by my side. It's now or never--I aim the blades a different way. I leap onto the creature's snout and thurst my blade into its left eye. The Hydra screams in pain, but this eye must come out--and it does. A sickening "spluch" sound accompanies its exit from the skull. Hurt and confused, the Hydra writhes in agony, but my blades do the rest. Above it screams for mercy, I drive my blades into its lower jaw and eye socket, then leap back and force the monster's head to follow. Its hard palette is pierced by the mast stake. I can hear its nasal turbinates crack. Ouch. The beast utters a scream unlike any I've ever heard--it's scared--it's never been scared before. The end of the mast ends up where the left eye used to be, and the Hydra dislocates its jaw in its panicked screams of pain. The crow's nest comes down around me, and both of us drop. I hit the deck of the ship hard, and roll out of the way as the multiton Hydra smashes down behind me. I recover and stand. The corpse of the creature lies behind me, its mouth agape, and blood spewing from every oriface. I'm just gettin' started.

So begins Sony's newest and perhaps final killer app for the PS2: God of War. Never have I enjoyed an action game quite so much. It is with unbridled anticipation that I flip on my PSTwo in the evening and sit down to an hour or more of guaranteed bliss. I have waited for 13 years for a game to throw me into the depths of combat right from the get-go, and to be unforgiving about it. I want to feel viscerial power at the tips of my fingers the second I start a new file. No weapon upgrades. No experience gain. No stat increases. I want to be able to kill massive creatures right from the gate. God of War gave me that experience and never once let off the gas. The storyline is surprisingly deep and follows Greek mythology with surprising accuracy. You are Kratos, the greatest Spartan general who ever lived, but in the beginning of the game you find our anti-hero casting himself from the highest mountain in Greece, hoping to escape the foul memories and deeds that have plagued his life. What drew him to end his life? Many things--things you will learn as the game progresses. Your mission during this particular point in Kratos' life is to stop Athena's power-crazed brother Aries. Seeing as Zeus long ago commanded that no God may battle another, it is the task of a mortal to see Aries defeated. If there's one human who can defeat a God, Athena believes it to be Kratos. Oh, but Kratos and Aries go way back, and for one reason or another Kratos may be more eager to get rid of the God of War than Athena... Kratos is a disturbed, violent man blinded by his past and his rage. Never has a video-game character come across as so human. We are constantly getting a sense of Kratos' power and unbridled fury, but there are moments--rare but appreciated--where we see his pain and his struggles. We sympathize with Kratos, which is something I don't think any video game (FFX notwithstanding) has really achieved.

Kratos comes out of the box with his awe-inspiring Blade of Chaos. These twin short swords are forever strapped to his forearms, a curse which will become clear to those who play through the game. Kratos has developed a unique fighting style thanks to his weapons. He uses the blades much like you'd use a yo-yo, thrusting them forward and pulling them back, spinning them around, or slamming them down in front of him. Hit the Square button for a normal attack, and Triangle for a heavy attack. Kratos has some nasty combos, and the successive hits you rack up, the more powerful his heavy attacks get. Much like the soul system in Onimusha, you collect Red Orbs from fallen enemies and breakable environmental objects. Collect enough souls and you can upgrade the Blade of Chaos, learning new moves to play with or even some magical abilities. Tap the right thumbstick to roll away from enemy attacks (always helpful) or use rolling as a "manual" to connect combo strings and keep your combo going. Enormous combos = enormous Red Orb rewards. Fast, furious, and fluid, I have never seen a more enjoyable or user-friendly combat system in an action game. Eat your heart out, Dante. Kratos can also block, and players should spend just as much time learning the ins and outs of defensive combat as offense. Many enemies have brutal attacks that are fast and explosive, and if you're not ready, they'll lay their own combo string on you. Kratos will also learn various magical attacks as the game progresses. My favorite attack is the first one you learn and is described in my brief intro: Poseidon's Rage. It's expensive but well worth the cost. You'll also be able to use a Medusa head to petrify opponents and you might even be able to fling lightning bolts like the almighty Zeus himself! All of these magical attacks can be upgraded, but they all cost MP. Kratos can refill his blue MP meter with Blue Orbs, which you can collect from fallen foes or, more often, blue treasure chests scattered around the world.

Kratos' move set, though, is not limited only to fightin' fools. Like the Spartan warrior he is, Kratos is skilled in many tactical maneuvers. He can double jump, climb walls and shrubbery, swing on ropes, grab onto ledges, and grapple with the best of 'em. All of these moves come into play during the game's numerous environmental puzzles and platforming segments. Pandora's Temple, where the bulk of the game takes place, is an action gamer's delight, where platforming puzzles are abound and Kratos himself is often the one who gets to manipulate the architecture. A note on grappling: it's not always that easy. As the enemies get tougher, Kratos will be required to whittle their health down until a red circle appears above their head. Run over to them and press the Circle button and you'll go into a "finishing move" kind of mode. Usually by following onscreen commands (kind of like RE4 but...not), Kratos can slit the throat of a cyclops, stab a minotaur in the back of the head (by going throught the mouth--ick), or tearing the head off a gorgon. If you screw up one of the commands, your enemy will retaliate, and you'll have to try again. Sometimes you can only try a limited number of times. You can always just kill the monster via normal combat, but aside from the sickingly pleasurable sound the undead make when torn in half, you usually get massive orb bonuses for pulling off these finishing moves.

The graphics are unparalelled on the PS2. The environments are gorgeous and enormous. The game also rewards players who like to explore every inch of terrain--plenty of hidden treasure chests await the inquisitive. It's really a game you have to see to believe. The textures and architecture are supremely impressive (I really want to meet the guy who "built" the environs in this game), and lighting effects are top-tier. There are several rooms where the floor is reflective--I love that effect in particular. The Desert of Lost Souls is so dusty you'll swear you're watching a live-action video of a sandstorm. You also rarely get the feeling that Kratos is on a narrow path, laid out just for you through an otherwise massive world. I got that feeling in, say, Metroid Prime. God of War walks the line between linear level design and all-out exploration a la GTA: San Andreas. There is most certainly always a place you have to go, but how you get there, or how long it takes you, varies considerably from mission to mission. Character design is fantabulous. Kratos himself is beautifully modeled, and most of the NPC's are just as well-rendered in-game. The enemies are truely sights to behold. From the tiny but irritating harpies to the massive, dangerous, and surprisingly quick cyclopses, you never get tired of seeing monsters of Greek mythology. Plus, many of them change during the course of the game. Undead soldiers come in various degrees of armor, there are many subspecies of gorgon, and the cyclopses--wow. They looked different almost every time I saw them. There are no real boss creatures aside from the Hydras in the game's opening sequence and, of course, Aries, but I'm not complaining. Having bosses would have contributed to a feeling of the game being divided into levels. As it stands, this feels like one long game. I also like that each enemy is approached differently. You'll have to change up your fighting method if you're faced with, say, a siren instead of a minotaur. Things really start to get hairy when you're up against several different kinds of opponents. That's when it's time to break into Might of the Gods mode and go all demon Dante on everybody. The music is equally satisfying. Epic when the scene calls for it and subdued when things are dark and spooky, I haven't heard this cinematic a score in a video game since...well, ever. The music also intensifies during many battles, which is nice. Each section of the game has its own theme, of course, but the general God of War theme turns up in appropriate situations. The sound effects are awesome, as well. The voice acting is fantastic (although I was bothered by the guard of Pandora's Temple being...American) and the creature sounds are haunting and intimidating.

The game is rated M for a reason. I was quite surprised to see so many bare breasts in a game. Not a bad thing by any means--I'm glad they're there--but God of War is definately not for the faint of heart or morals. I assume the short scenes of nekkidness will make people flee more than the gratuitous violence, but that's the way our society is going these days. You can stab a minotaur in the jugular and get sprayed with blood, but you can't look at a pair of well-rendered mammary glands.

As if all that wasn't enough to make you want to buy this game, God of War is the first video game I've ever seen that has a boatload of DVD-esque bonus features. Beat the game and you'll be able to see deleted levels, deleted enemy designs, and early drawings of Kratos. All of these galleries are accompanied by commentary from the game's creators. This made me bristle with joy. Play hard enough through the difficulties and bonus modes to unlock some wild and crazy costumes for Kratos and even more delicious unlockables. There's even a teaser trailer for the next God of War game. Never in my gaming career have I latched on with such glee to an action game. In a head-to-head battle, I'm positive that Kratos would kick Dante's ass, and everyone who owns a PS2 should run...not walk...to the nearest Best Buy or well-priced video game retailer...and grab this game. It's well worth the price of admission.

Bottom line: 10 out of 10. It's that good.