God of War is the best ass-kicking-name-taking-Greek-romping-no-holds-bar-merciless-action-adventure that the industry has EVER seen.  NO game on the market right now has the pure fun factor, a passionate storyline, graphics that are too good for the Playstation 2, and a main character that will forever be known in gaming history as one of the most gruesome, nasty, brutal men to walk it's path, that God of War has.  Don't think of this as a review, but a guide to emphasize on why time is the essence in the going about of buying this game.

Storyline:

As fore-mentioned, God of War’s story is very passionately driven game, emotion pulses through every cutscene and line of dialogue.  The game’s main character is Kratos, a man driven by rage, revenge, and the quest to end the life of the God of War.  Kratos is a desperate man, haunted by the dreams of visions of his checkered past, of all the people lay in waste by his blade, all the blood spilled caused by his army, and all the villages that burn to this day by that of Kratos and his Spartan Army.

The game starts with Kratos’ death, his suicide.  The narrator, Academy Award winner, Linda Hunt, tells of how Kratos chose death.  Driven mad by the visions and power, Kratos throws himself of the highest mountain in Greece, ending his tormented life.  Before the fall is complete however, you, the player, are thrown three weeks earlier on a shipwrecked boat in the Aegean Sea.  As the game unfolds, and unfold it shall, you will require small tidbits at a time of how Kratos came to suicide.  Tales of power and its consequences have never been executed in such a human way.  Kratos starts as a defiant young Spartan General, and ends a tortured life seeing more battle and death than any man should, until he is left to do no else, but kill himself to rid himself of the inner pain that strides through him like the very veins in his body.

Given a task by the god, Athena, Kratos will be forgiven for his sins if he does one task for the Gods of Olympus, kill the God of War. 

Ares is the God of War, and for good reason, he is a brutal man that knows nothing of humanity, compassion, or love, only destruction, violence, and the fulfillment of his desires.  All is not well in Mount Olympus, Ares and Athena are constantly butting heads, and with father Zeus at the head of the table it’s obvious that dinner table fights, can’t be too enjoyable.  After arguments and furious disagreements, Ares, in a final attempt to stick it to Athena, heads out to destroy Athena’s beloved city, Athens.

This is where the Kratos-God part ties in.  Killing a God can’t be easy, and Kratos will need everything the Gods can do to help to go through hoards of enemies before he can finally do the impossible and kill a God.  Kratos and Ares have a very interesting past that will gradually become more complex as the game unfolds, and is surely something to add to the nature of the game.

Gameplay:

God of War is brutal.  The folks at SCEA Santa Monica wanted to emphasize on how destructive Kratos is that the gameplay, almost feels like it was based around him.  Combat is obviously the name of the game in God of War.  Kratos wields two sharp blades chained to his arms called the “Blades of Chaos”.  These weapons can be swung over extended amounts of space to cause maximum damage to every wondering foe.  The blades are capable of mass amounts of fluid combat mechanics ranging from standard swing with the square button, heavy, slower attacks with the triangle button, and many other juggles, circular attacks, and grapples.

Along with these blades, Kratos is granted powers by the gods.  Zeus’ lightning’s bolts, the electric power of Poseidon, and the very army of Hades will be at your command, oh and you know that slimy wretched creature, Medusa?  If you can manage to cut the wench’s head off, you can use her deadly gaze to turn enemies to stone and stop them cold in their tracks…DO I NEED TO EMPHASIZE HOW AWESOME THAT REALLY IS?

The combat itself is rather unique in the way that it’s an old style technique, just done very well.  Hit combos are abundant in this game that will reach as high as your skills will allow it to.  I reached a 200+ hit combo not a half-hour into the game, so even the amateurs will be able to unleash some serious beatings.  The blades themselves are very fluid in motion and dance to the beat of your attacks, so it’s clear where the mass combos start, but with a few strategic magic placements, and grapples 200 hits will be child’s play once you master the art of combat, and believe you me you’ll need all those attacks as you face off against all of the great Greek mythological enemies.  We’re talking Harpies, Gorgons, Cyclops’, Cerberus’, Minotaurs, Centaurs, and Undead soldiers only to brush the surface.  Get ready to see some blood spill from these creatures, it flows like wine in this game.

Now the game can’t strive on combat alone (though it comes damn close), so the developers went the extra mile to make the adventure just as good as the action.  Greece is a big place, and when you take into consideration just how many different areas that are traversable in this game, it’s almost scary to know that this is still a linear game, not open-ended at all, save a Desert of the Lost Souls level.  The game starts on the Aegean Sea, but as soon as you’re done with that part of the game you’ll go through the streets of Athens, Deserts, and the biggest part of the game, Pandora’s Temple.

This is where the mystical Pandora’s Box is held, the only weapon capable of allowing a mortal to kill a God, so obviously it’s on Kratos’ mind.  Pandora’s Temple is so big that it actually takes up about 65% of the game.  Even the Temple is chained to something even more epic, a Titan.  For all you non-Greek mythology buffs, a Titan is a huge creature that if it stood upright would stand over 200 feet tall.  Apparently this Titan did something to anger Zeus (and you’ll see in this game that that isn’t a smart choice), and is now forced to wander the Desert of Lost souls with this huge hulk of a rock chained to his back until the Desert takes him, poor guy.

Puzzles also play a large role in the game.  God of War’s puzzles range from obvious “Pull the lever to open the door that will close after a time.” to the “Oh my god what the hell is this block for?”  Variety is key in how the puzzles are strewn across the levels.  Prince of Persia:  The Sands of Time seems to be a large inspiration of this game, mostly in the way the puzzles play out seamlessly from the combat.

BUT WAIT, there is more.  God of War also boasts some decent platforming.  Now this isn’t like Prince of Persia where the whole meat of the game consists of jumping across things and running across walls, no nothing like that.  Platforming is taken lightly in this game with just a few sections of rope climbing/swinging, a few vines to climg, and maybe a half hour or so of actual platforming.

This game has some of the best gameplay in years, and quite possibly the best fighting system ever to grace a console, but I’ll let you Ninja Gaiden die-hards dispute that till the end of time.  It’s still a bit hard to believe that all this game is packed into a storyline that’s only 10 or 12 hours long (more on that later).  When you take into consideration that this game was made in the relatively short time of three years, it’s hard to believe that the final product come out this well.

Graphics:

God of War is beautiful.  Never has such an environment of mythology and grandeur looked so breathtaking.  Each animation is just as fluid as the blades chained to your arms.  Combat has to look fluid, or you get a badass like Kratos looking like he’s popping and locking while fighting the legions of the undead.

Kratos himself is pretty intimidating.  He has an overpowering figure, at seven feet tall, his face is full of scars from his past battles, and red war tattoos cover most of his chest, arms, and face.  To sum it up, you don’t want to pick a fight with this guy, because he cares not about anyone who gets in the way of his task (which is expressed in some particularly amusingly dark puzzles).

The first time you see the cinematics in the game you’re facial expressions will match that of how you would react to the cast of Baywatch arriving at your front door (sans David Hasselhoff of course).  CG is used as an art form in this game, so well that there is no game that can match it.  Blood is exaggerated greatly with vibrant reds as it flows from the wounds of all who cross Kratos’ past, and the water reacts to every step, and stroke taken. 

There is a scene early in the game where Kratos enters a cliffy area, overlooking the city of Athens, you’ll see the individual houses, bridges and the like, and if you look closely even small little people…then you look up and you see an image that will be remembered in gaming forever, Ares over towering the city firing fireballs at the roads and picking up houses and hurling them down into frantic streets.  To put it lightly, this is one of those moments in gaming that makes you fear being the hero.

Sound:

Greek Mythology is epic, and along with an epic combat system, epic eye candy, it deserves an epic soundtrack…you got it.  Games like these scream for a soundtrack of the ages and with the help of a live orchestra and culturally correct beats, it gets it.  The music in this game matches the storyline dead on, the storyline is very dark, it involves murder, deception, and lust, and with that the soundtrack matches the moody feel of the game pitch perfect.  Unlike the god awful soundtrack of Prince of Persia:  Warrior Within, God of War manages to keep some integrity in NEVER stooping to guitar riffs, or music with nothing but illegible screaming from some garage band. 

The combat sounds are amazing as well, with clashing of blades and the dying screams of enemies.  The first time you see a Harpy swoop down screeching all the while, will truly chill your bones.  Each enemy has it’s one way of letting you know it means business, most in the way they grunt, screech, yelp, or just flat out scream as they approach you.  Along with these great enemy sounds the voice acting is very nicely done.  Kratos has a voice so gruff it makes Vin Diesel sound like a member of the Mickey Mouse club, and the narrator, as fore mentioned, voiced by Linda Hunt, has a very raw, defiant voice, as she tells the tale of a war-ravaged man.  Simply put, God of War stepped up to the plate and knocked it out of the park for sound.

Lasting Appeal:

To put it bluntly, God of War isn’t that long of a game.  It should take you around 10 hours to complete it on normal mode, but in this time of gaming, that’s pretty average.  Now, I have no problem with a short single player in a type of game like Sly Cooper, or Katamari Damacy, but in an epic journey like God of War, I would of greatly appreciated a couple more hours, but what the game lacks in longevity, it more than makes up for in unlockable content.

Upon completion, you’ll be bombarded with extras.  Deleted levels, character graveyard, all the cinematics, a God Mode difficulty (very aptly titled), and more, are all waiting for you after your first time through, and for all the devoted gamers there are around five more items that must be unlocked by completing God Mode.

Overall:

God of War is not only the best Action-Adventure on this generation of consoles, but most definitely one of the greatest, if not thee, greatest adventure of all time.  It's undeniable what this game has going for it.  Lets recap, mind-blowing combat, beautiful environments, a motion picture quality soundtrack, and unlockable content out the wahzoo.  The PS2 has never been graced with a better Adventure as it has with God of War, and it will keep the title of best adventure for awhile, deserving of all it’s hype.

9.8/10

-Blake Becker