God of War (PS2)

God of War is truely amazing. The length of the game is so massive that sony had to put it onto a dual layer dvd (one of only about 2 PS2 games to do this) and i never get bored of it. The way the creators of this masterpiece have incorperated Greek mythology into the gameplay is very clever. At a certain point in the game players find themselves having to decapitate Medusa in order to use her powers to turn enemies into stone!

The combat is very fast and aggressive with numerous combos players can throw out to kill ememies. With larger enemies and bosses players will have to kill them by completing a finishing move with which consists of either a certain button combination or a movement of the analogue sticks.

God of War has a thrilling story line which will keep the player interested right to the end and its shear brutallity and gore makes it a brilliant game!

When I first heard about this game, it was the Greek mythology bit that really drew me to it. I am a fan of all the ancient stuff and its about time such a game was made. Once I got onto the games website and began to search it, it took me through all the different places that appear in the game and showed some great little sequences and historical pointers. Everything about this game was begging me to buy it, and I couldn't resist.

The game contains nearly all of the mythological creatures of Greek history and there is no end of fun trying to slaughter them all. From the simple soldiers of the undead to the deadly blade of a turned-bad god, all is fanastic.

The opening sequence throws you straight into the drama and the story ends before you can understand it. If you have played the game, you will understand. There are sections along the timeline of the game that reveal more about the past of Kratos (the gods chosen one) and how he got to that point that we see 20 seconds into the game.

In terms of action, it is absolutely superb. Everything goes into making the heart pump 200% faster than is healthy! The graphic detail is better than any other game I have played. The music changes according to your situation and the events that are taken place, and it unconciously adds suspense and panic into the action on screen. In every room, every bridge and every open space, there is an abundance of enemies to face. No matter how many times you stab a minotaur in the head, it never gets boring. Each enemy has a great way of dying! You can rip the heads of medusas, cut undead soldiers through the middle, tear the wings off vampire-like creatures and so on. Also you can earn points for combat that allow you to upgrade your blades and god powers, creating new moves, new specials and handily adding to your life bar.

What I love most about this game is how each corridor, path or room that you pass through has a specific purpose. There are no bits that are stuck in there to fill time in or make it look a bit better. And on several occasions you will find yourself in a room that you thought you had left well behind several hours earlier. The puzzles quite are more than anything, fun. They are not stupidly easy, some take some thinking but then again they arent throw your joypad on the floor hard either. The structure and compilation of each surrounding has been thought through very well, which is admirable.

Finally, on completion of the game you are rewarded greatly by the gods! God mode is unlocked, there are a series of videos and take-outs to view on the games making etc... and there is a great little challenge where you have to pass 10 levels with specific targets to meet and stuff to do. On completion, it opens more stuff such as alternate costumes, just as completing God mode does. Plus some extremely exciting hints for a God of War 2 to be released in the future!

I love this game and if your a fan of action, puzzles and great stories, this is a must-buy. It has kept me hooked for hours with my eyes dropping out just eager to get to the next stages. I would even consider it to be THE best game that I have played on any console. Addictive, fun and gory!

This is a game set in ancient Greece and concerns Kratos, a spartan warrior.At the start of the game we seem him throwing himself off a cliff, in an attempt to escape the nightmares he is having. And then the game starts 3 weeks earlier, concerning itself with the events leading up to this point.
God of War is a fighting game, with some puzzles thrown in along with some boss fights.Does this sound like a run of the mill game? It may do, but what God of War does is perform everything so much better than all the similar games that have come before it.This game stands head and shoulders above every game in this genre. But why?
Graphically it is superb.The levels, characters and backgrounds are crisp, well-defined and actually 'feel' solid.Kratos himself is rendered with such care and attention it puts other games to shame. The cut-scenes are excellent too. They move the story along, and tantalise you, rather than bore you like some other games do. These cut scenes punctuate the action and give your weary fingers a break from mashing the joypad!
The music is superb too.It is classic orchestra music that adds to the atmosphere perfectly - it doesn't interfere with the game play or cut scenes, but adds to the experience of the game.Couple this with the superb voice acting and you have a game that has covered all its bases in the sound department.
The moves Kratos performs are genuinely exciting to watch - stylish and bloodthirsty. As the game progresses he enhances his weapons, and his magic and i was genuinely excited about levelling-up and learning the new moves. The finishing moves are brilliant, and all the bigger characters have different killing moves. From troll-like creatures, to the Minotaur to a genuinely innovative way of killing Medusa this game shows that a lot of thought has gone into making the game interesting and challenging.
There are moves for when Kratos is climbing walls or crossing rope bridges and these are really stunning - he grabs someone, and bashes him into the wall before throwing him down!!
There are plenty of good puzzles too though they are fairly standard - collect piece a and b and put in slot c, but again the developers have tried to make things different by putting time restraints on the puzzles, or making you go the long way round to get an item you need. There are also plenty of hidden caches of items too that you need to watch out for, and playing through the second time i am going 'aaaaah - i missed that the first time around!'
As for the difficulty of this game it is probably the best i have played on.It starts off as a challenge that is easy to pick up and play, and gradually gets more difficult unlike some that just go from easy to impossible in one level!This has a perfect learning curve, so that by the time you reach the later levels you will have a mastery of moves and magic that will enable you to beat the hardest bosses.
It has great characters too - Medusa,Hydra,the Minotaur,the Harpes and various Gods including Athena,Zeus,Poseidon and Aries.
There is definite replay value too - once completed there are two more difficulty levels to be played, the hardest of which is God mode.I am playing through again in God Mode and it is a real challenge, and much tougher!You definitely have to play much more tactically to get through this difficulty level!

And there you have it.In my view this is a brilliant game that every ps2 owner should have in their collection. It is not my favourite sort of game genre, but God of War has converted me. I am still playing it now and still enjoying it. I would recommend this to everyone above the age of 15 - any younger and it is way too gory, and i wouldn't want my children playing something THIS violent, so beware parents!
This is what games should be like - well thought out, well planned and well executed.
And the good news is that God of War 2 is out at the end of April 2007 - and that promises to be the PS2's superb finale! In the meantime, before buying that, get this - it will set you up perfectly for the sequel. And if you never quite got round to buying this, PLEASE get it now - trust me, it is well worth your money!!!

25th June 2007 - Finally completed all the challenges, and unlocked all the secrets of the game.The Challenge of the Gods series is really tough, but worth it for the extra costumes - Kratos in a cow suit, with plastic milk cartons to replace the Blades of Chaos is reward in itself! The Challenge of the Gods is hard , and took me a while to complete.
Now i can go back to having a life...........before starting God of War 2!