For what a high point of storytelling in games the franchise it spawned has come to be seen as, it feels underdiscussed how effortlessly God of War married its narrative with its mechanics on its very first try. What I’d wager is the peak of this entire series in that regard’s present here, specifically during the final boss, at which point there’s a masochistically difficult segment where Kratos has to defend his family from an army of himself and can quite literally sacrifice his life (bar) to restore theirs.
While a sequence near the end of Chains of Olympus comes close in terms of catharsis, I find this section especially interesting not just for its music being a top 5 track in any action game or the 1:1 emotions it induces in both the player and Kratos, but also because of how neatly it wraps him up at the very start of what went on to be arguably Sony’s premier franchise, to the point of being its guinea pig for expanding outside of its own consoles. It’s become unfortunately common to mischaracterise the Greek games’ Kratos as an avatar of mindless anger, this being just one example of any number of counterpoints to that notion which existed as early on as his debut (you’d hope the introductory cutscene alone would’ve been enough). Were he not a compelling leading man with just enough depth to maintain interest over the course of a game relatively lengthy for its genre, it’s doubtful that he would’ve become probably the closest thing PlayStation’s ever had to its own Mario or Master Chief, if not in terms of sheer recognisability or an on-brand colour scheme then certainly in being a distilment of his parent company’s core draw – in this case, complex scenarios made accessible to as wide an audience as possible by way of presentational, cinematic flair.
God of War achieves this partially through its fixed camera, which is a huge boon to its sense of adventure. Even something as mundane as trotting down what’s functionally a featureless corridor feels momentous whenever it’s paired with a rampaging Ares in the background occupying two thirds of the screen, or when it pans out to the point of Kratos being barely visible to drive home the gargantuan scale of places like Pandora’s Temple and the Desert of Lost Souls. The in-game levels encompassing these areas are only so big, but the bespoke camera angles do a stellar job of selling the impression that there’s something more out there on the horizon (accentuated by how they enable the level designers to hide important collectibles out of view) and stoking the player’s imagination, the latter of which increasingly seems to be a lost art in games of production value comparable to this as they hone in further and further on photorealism. This isn’t to suggest that God of War isn’t likely trying to look as realistic as the PS2’s hardware allowed for – the amount of real-time reflections, volumetric water effects and NPCs running around during crowded scenes are pretty insane considering how smoothly it runs – but I do think this is a case where technical limitations helped bring about the best of both worlds, where it’s simultaneously cool how lifelike it can often look while still leaving room for mental abstraction on the player’s part.
The other half of the equation’s the combat system. The lack of any pesky directional inputs coupled with the Blades of Chaos’ gigantic range help reduce the skill barrier a decent margin by de-emphasising positioning (though not nearly to as egregious an extent as the Norse games’ slip ‘n’ slide attack magnetism) and technicality, but it’s still got layers which this surface-level simplicity belies. The hardest difficulty particularly necessitates a balancing act, where you’ll be pretty much constantly weighing up whether to get in as many weak hits as possible and milk the combo counter for all the red orbs it’s worth or to risk chucking out slower, stronger attacks to quickly dispatch the most annoying enemies. It has a few of those for sure; if you can believe it, Sony Santa Monica actually put my reaction to a gorgon appearing onscreen into one of these games. The enemy roster’s largely good and makes creative use of Greek myth, but other, more minor irritations do occasionally rear their heads in soldiers’ unreactable wakeup attacks and how there doesn’t seem to be any reliable way to predict when sirens or minotaurs decide to respectively dodge or block.
Despite these blemishes and the Blade of Artemis feeling slightly undertuned for being the only other weapon in the game, God of War’s combat system has enough other strong points to outweigh them. The grab system in particular deserves more attention than it tends to get and could stand to be cribbed from more often by other action games. At the press of a button and depending on the context in which they’re used, grabs are a tool for combo extension, crowd control, orb maximisation, invincible instakills (at the cost of receiving no orbs) and non-mandatory QTEs which net you specific resources from certain enemies should you need them; complemented by the wealth of magic abilities Kratos obtains over the course of the game, it enables more room for experimentation than one’d expect. It also can’t be stressed enough how great it is at fulfilling a power fantasy; the chunkiest hitstop in all of Athens and a striking amount of enemy hit reactions makes feedback on attacks feel fantastic whether you’re ripping into entire hordes or a single measly harpy.
As sobering as this being my 50th review was the fact that, according to my memory card, the last time I’d played God of War on original hardware seems to have been 2008. Gamer carbon dating places that roughly in our own equivalent of ancient Greece, but as with the real deal, we shouldn’t arrogantly look down on that era. There’s a tendency in gaming and other media to purport that standards only ever increase as time passes, but even in the face of the leaps and bounds action games have come on in the time since God of War’s release, I reckon there’s still not many that outdo it in all of its key selling points, one of which includes the ability to put Kratos in a cow costume. It remains not just the game I might not’ve gotten into my favourite genre without, but also a solid exemplification of why you probably shouldn’t trust anybody who uses “like a PS2 game” as a pejorative. Or, in my experience, the first sentence of this old promo video. The second one’s true enough, though.
While a sequence near the end of Chains of Olympus comes close in terms of catharsis, I find this section especially interesting not just for its music being a top 5 track in any action game or the 1:1 emotions it induces in both the player and Kratos, but also because of how neatly it wraps him up at the very start of what went on to be arguably Sony’s premier franchise, to the point of being its guinea pig for expanding outside of its own consoles. It’s become unfortunately common to mischaracterise the Greek games’ Kratos as an avatar of mindless anger, this being just one example of any number of counterpoints to that notion which existed as early on as his debut (you’d hope the introductory cutscene alone would’ve been enough). Were he not a compelling leading man with just enough depth to maintain interest over the course of a game relatively lengthy for its genre, it’s doubtful that he would’ve become probably the closest thing PlayStation’s ever had to its own Mario or Master Chief, if not in terms of sheer recognisability or an on-brand colour scheme then certainly in being a distilment of his parent company’s core draw – in this case, complex scenarios made accessible to as wide an audience as possible by way of presentational, cinematic flair.
God of War achieves this partially through its fixed camera, which is a huge boon to its sense of adventure. Even something as mundane as trotting down what’s functionally a featureless corridor feels momentous whenever it’s paired with a rampaging Ares in the background occupying two thirds of the screen, or when it pans out to the point of Kratos being barely visible to drive home the gargantuan scale of places like Pandora’s Temple and the Desert of Lost Souls. The in-game levels encompassing these areas are only so big, but the bespoke camera angles do a stellar job of selling the impression that there’s something more out there on the horizon (accentuated by how they enable the level designers to hide important collectibles out of view) and stoking the player’s imagination, the latter of which increasingly seems to be a lost art in games of production value comparable to this as they hone in further and further on photorealism. This isn’t to suggest that God of War isn’t likely trying to look as realistic as the PS2’s hardware allowed for – the amount of real-time reflections, volumetric water effects and NPCs running around during crowded scenes are pretty insane considering how smoothly it runs – but I do think this is a case where technical limitations helped bring about the best of both worlds, where it’s simultaneously cool how lifelike it can often look while still leaving room for mental abstraction on the player’s part.
The other half of the equation’s the combat system. The lack of any pesky directional inputs coupled with the Blades of Chaos’ gigantic range help reduce the skill barrier a decent margin by de-emphasising positioning (though not nearly to as egregious an extent as the Norse games’ slip ‘n’ slide attack magnetism) and technicality, but it’s still got layers which this surface-level simplicity belies. The hardest difficulty particularly necessitates a balancing act, where you’ll be pretty much constantly weighing up whether to get in as many weak hits as possible and milk the combo counter for all the red orbs it’s worth or to risk chucking out slower, stronger attacks to quickly dispatch the most annoying enemies. It has a few of those for sure; if you can believe it, Sony Santa Monica actually put my reaction to a gorgon appearing onscreen into one of these games. The enemy roster’s largely good and makes creative use of Greek myth, but other, more minor irritations do occasionally rear their heads in soldiers’ unreactable wakeup attacks and how there doesn’t seem to be any reliable way to predict when sirens or minotaurs decide to respectively dodge or block.
Despite these blemishes and the Blade of Artemis feeling slightly undertuned for being the only other weapon in the game, God of War’s combat system has enough other strong points to outweigh them. The grab system in particular deserves more attention than it tends to get and could stand to be cribbed from more often by other action games. At the press of a button and depending on the context in which they’re used, grabs are a tool for combo extension, crowd control, orb maximisation, invincible instakills (at the cost of receiving no orbs) and non-mandatory QTEs which net you specific resources from certain enemies should you need them; complemented by the wealth of magic abilities Kratos obtains over the course of the game, it enables more room for experimentation than one’d expect. It also can’t be stressed enough how great it is at fulfilling a power fantasy; the chunkiest hitstop in all of Athens and a striking amount of enemy hit reactions makes feedback on attacks feel fantastic whether you’re ripping into entire hordes or a single measly harpy.
As sobering as this being my 50th review was the fact that, according to my memory card, the last time I’d played God of War on original hardware seems to have been 2008. Gamer carbon dating places that roughly in our own equivalent of ancient Greece, but as with the real deal, we shouldn’t arrogantly look down on that era. There’s a tendency in gaming and other media to purport that standards only ever increase as time passes, but even in the face of the leaps and bounds action games have come on in the time since God of War’s release, I reckon there’s still not many that outdo it in all of its key selling points, one of which includes the ability to put Kratos in a cow costume. It remains not just the game I might not’ve gotten into my favourite genre without, but also a solid exemplification of why you probably shouldn’t trust anybody who uses “like a PS2 game” as a pejorative. Or, in my experience, the first sentence of this old promo video. The second one’s true enough, though.
I can appreciate this game a lot more now than i ever was able to as a kid. A combination or no longer being a dumb 12 year old with the GoW vs DMC mindset along with seeing how the series has progressed has put this game into a new perspective for me.
You don't know how good you had it until its gone and that's how I feel when looking at this game compared to the new ones. Sure it has massive glaring flaws and the final hour of the game is honestly a fucking slog and a half but the game as a whole doesn't feel like its weighed down by fluff and bullshit like 2018 or ragnorock are. It's very video gamey and isn't afraid to be that unlike the new two which feel almost embarrassed to be a video game and do not respect the player's time, attention span or intelligence.
Combat has a great foundation with the blades feeling amazing but most enemies are annoying to fight along with a lot of stiffness found in things like your launcher, jumping attacks and the shitty slowdown when you try to catch enemies for air combos. Love air combos in this game but its a shame they don't reach their full potential and really won't as moves are changed in GoW2
Really glad i was able to go back and gain this new appreciation for this game. Could have been better but still worth playing
You don't know how good you had it until its gone and that's how I feel when looking at this game compared to the new ones. Sure it has massive glaring flaws and the final hour of the game is honestly a fucking slog and a half but the game as a whole doesn't feel like its weighed down by fluff and bullshit like 2018 or ragnorock are. It's very video gamey and isn't afraid to be that unlike the new two which feel almost embarrassed to be a video game and do not respect the player's time, attention span or intelligence.
Combat has a great foundation with the blades feeling amazing but most enemies are annoying to fight along with a lot of stiffness found in things like your launcher, jumping attacks and the shitty slowdown when you try to catch enemies for air combos. Love air combos in this game but its a shame they don't reach their full potential and really won't as moves are changed in GoW2
Really glad i was able to go back and gain this new appreciation for this game. Could have been better but still worth playing
The birth of one of Sonys most iconic franchises.
God of War tells the story of the not so angry and pretty broken spartan Kratos. Yeah that right he wasn't always an angry meathead like some people claim to be. With that being said God of War along with Silent Hill and The Last of Us is one of the few franchises that show whats so wrong with the gaming community of people claiming themself to be "true" gamers.
The story shows piece by piece who Kratos is and why he is doing the things he does in the first game. His motivations are clear and relatable. He's not really a good person but still far away from the Kratos most people think of in the greek era games. He is tragic yet badass at the same time.
Now to the gameplay part. The game plays very well but shows some of its age compared to GOW2 and 3. It's still a fun an challenging experience though. The best part is the combat. The game offers alot of enemy variety and a fine variety of combos, weapons and magic tricks to deal with them. The worst part is the platforming, especially the ones when you are in Hades. Cough Spike Pillar Cough.
The score is also magnificent and the unlockables are fine. I used to have some love–hate relationship with the level design. It kinda reminds me like in old surival horror games were you are trapped in an isolated place with traps and monsters that try to kill you. I like that, but the level design could be a bit more colorful. That bright brown patterns doesn't really do it for me but I came to like it a bit more know on my 3rd playthrough.
With that being said GOW1 is one of Playstation 2's best titles and one of the reasons why the Playstation 2 and it's era are the best in gaming.
10/10 Ripped out Gorgon Heads.
God of War tells the story of the not so angry and pretty broken spartan Kratos. Yeah that right he wasn't always an angry meathead like some people claim to be. With that being said God of War along with Silent Hill and The Last of Us is one of the few franchises that show whats so wrong with the gaming community of people claiming themself to be "true" gamers.
The story shows piece by piece who Kratos is and why he is doing the things he does in the first game. His motivations are clear and relatable. He's not really a good person but still far away from the Kratos most people think of in the greek era games. He is tragic yet badass at the same time.
Now to the gameplay part. The game plays very well but shows some of its age compared to GOW2 and 3. It's still a fun an challenging experience though. The best part is the combat. The game offers alot of enemy variety and a fine variety of combos, weapons and magic tricks to deal with them. The worst part is the platforming, especially the ones when you are in Hades. Cough Spike Pillar Cough.
The score is also magnificent and the unlockables are fine. I used to have some love–hate relationship with the level design. It kinda reminds me like in old surival horror games were you are trapped in an isolated place with traps and monsters that try to kill you. I like that, but the level design could be a bit more colorful. That bright brown patterns doesn't really do it for me but I came to like it a bit more know on my 3rd playthrough.
With that being said GOW1 is one of Playstation 2's best titles and one of the reasons why the Playstation 2 and it's era are the best in gaming.
10/10 Ripped out Gorgon Heads.
Andrew Tate's favorite game
Very big epic of a game that got a lot of well-deserved love for its immersion, fun world-building, and exciting gameplay. God of War is very much a type of game I don’t often reach for (very violent, visually bloody, etc), but I still tried to go with a fairly open mindset. I’m surprised to see the majority of the complaints here are about the gameplay over the story, as I found little issue with the actual feeling of the game. The platforming felt fine, and was actually pretty kind with how its double jump mechanic worked. The camera was very nice in its cinematic shots, as well. It even works in subtly telling you where you need to next go. My only issue with it control wise was if they were going to focus the camera so much on its visual quickshots, tank control would have made it feel a lot more natural, à la 2002 GameCube Resident Evil, but I can also understand that making the fighting absolutely god awful.
Gameplay wise, the enemies definitely felt a bit spongy, even with fully upgraded magic/weapons on normal mode. I imagine that was just done to pad the game out as much as they could, as the game itself is actually pretty short; I finished it in just 7 hours. But a short game doesn’t mean a bad game, don’t get me wrong! Metal Gear Solid and Pikmin take around 6 hours, and those are two of the best games ever made. The difference with those games versus God of War is that their short play time is an effect of trimming so much fat, all that’s left is the necessities for what it needs to be enjoyable. God of War on the other hand feels as if it’s stretching every aspect to at the very least make it to that 6 hour mark, whether that be with spongy enemies, shabby obstacles (the spinning spike towards the end comes freshly to mind…), and constant backtracking. While there are annoying elements like that to lengthen the game, there are others that are indicative of being very kind as well, such as how little it sends you back when you die and the wide availability of save points.
I imagine the game was on the shorter side because of the clear amount of focus on graphics. The game is absolutely gorgeous, and really successful in giving the player that feeling of being a small “mortal” who has to fight all these powerful Gods, with their statues and spiritual presence being large in size to assure that. Every area is very beautifully decorated, and obviously even if not the most historically accurate, still is able to fulfill that explorative desire to investigate what we imagine the temples of Ancient Greece to be. The music matches very well too, creating a very serious and mythical soundtrack with this sort-of contemporary classical sound as you travel throughout.
The story is where I found most of my issues. Even completely ignoring the obvious inaccuracies of Ancient Greece in the game, as it’s definitely focusing more on the entertainment aspect (which is totally fine, we’ve seen it a million times before with other war-drama medias (like the films 300 and Braveheart, for example) and I see no issue is making something fun focusing on the modern interpretation of ancient societies), but the plot of God of War makes no goddamn sense and seems to think it can just throw its message out without following up on it with actions. I understand the message they were aiming for of Kratos going through a journey of revenge with insane acts of violence without realizing the harm to loved ones he was causing, but the game so quickly seems to switch between him realizing his errors and then immediately killing an innocent person with no mercy that it’s unintentionally kind of comedic. The overall story that God of War is trying to guide the player through is just so bland. What kind of lame story is a man continuously killing others, only to feel regret when he sees it affects ONLY the people he loves. Not even in a meaningful way like, “Oh my God, I hurt my own family, which in truth, was really me hurting everyone's families and life in general,” but rather just, “Oh no, I’m killing my own family?? Nooooooooo!!”. Ugh, the game doesn’t even allow him to begin to crack open why his actions were truly self-serving and wrong, how boring. I guess it keeps the skull-crushing violent gameplay going, though. Maybe I wouldn’t be so bothered by God of War’s bland, lazy story if I didn’t constantly read it being hyped up as this deep, thought-provoking essayist of a game. Looking back at some of these reviews, they seem to at least mention that the best part of the whole thing is the “bad-ass” appeal over the actual revenge story, which truthfully I’m not going to be the target audience for. It was pretty funny that the ONE woman I could NOT brutally murder was regarded by the narrator as, “The worst mistake Kratos ever made EVER,” though.
God of War is fine. It’s stupid, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun, which it very much is. While overall, I did have some fun, it does go a little below my expectations of what I expected. The story is nothing more than just fluff to hold it all together, the very end-game obstacles become more cruel than challenging, and finding that red necklace without a guide is practically impossible. It ended up both frustrating and annoying to a point I was more blah than happy with the game. That’s not to say I didn’t still enjoy parts of it, such as the bosses and cinematics, which I feel were likable enough to give credit to. But for the most part, I found myself a bit disappointed at certain aspects I can’t completely ignore.
3/5
Gameplay wise, the enemies definitely felt a bit spongy, even with fully upgraded magic/weapons on normal mode. I imagine that was just done to pad the game out as much as they could, as the game itself is actually pretty short; I finished it in just 7 hours. But a short game doesn’t mean a bad game, don’t get me wrong! Metal Gear Solid and Pikmin take around 6 hours, and those are two of the best games ever made. The difference with those games versus God of War is that their short play time is an effect of trimming so much fat, all that’s left is the necessities for what it needs to be enjoyable. God of War on the other hand feels as if it’s stretching every aspect to at the very least make it to that 6 hour mark, whether that be with spongy enemies, shabby obstacles (the spinning spike towards the end comes freshly to mind…), and constant backtracking. While there are annoying elements like that to lengthen the game, there are others that are indicative of being very kind as well, such as how little it sends you back when you die and the wide availability of save points.
I imagine the game was on the shorter side because of the clear amount of focus on graphics. The game is absolutely gorgeous, and really successful in giving the player that feeling of being a small “mortal” who has to fight all these powerful Gods, with their statues and spiritual presence being large in size to assure that. Every area is very beautifully decorated, and obviously even if not the most historically accurate, still is able to fulfill that explorative desire to investigate what we imagine the temples of Ancient Greece to be. The music matches very well too, creating a very serious and mythical soundtrack with this sort-of contemporary classical sound as you travel throughout.
The story is where I found most of my issues. Even completely ignoring the obvious inaccuracies of Ancient Greece in the game, as it’s definitely focusing more on the entertainment aspect (which is totally fine, we’ve seen it a million times before with other war-drama medias (like the films 300 and Braveheart, for example) and I see no issue is making something fun focusing on the modern interpretation of ancient societies), but the plot of God of War makes no goddamn sense and seems to think it can just throw its message out without following up on it with actions. I understand the message they were aiming for of Kratos going through a journey of revenge with insane acts of violence without realizing the harm to loved ones he was causing, but the game so quickly seems to switch between him realizing his errors and then immediately killing an innocent person with no mercy that it’s unintentionally kind of comedic. The overall story that God of War is trying to guide the player through is just so bland. What kind of lame story is a man continuously killing others, only to feel regret when he sees it affects ONLY the people he loves. Not even in a meaningful way like, “Oh my God, I hurt my own family, which in truth, was really me hurting everyone's families and life in general,” but rather just, “Oh no, I’m killing my own family?? Nooooooooo!!”. Ugh, the game doesn’t even allow him to begin to crack open why his actions were truly self-serving and wrong, how boring. I guess it keeps the skull-crushing violent gameplay going, though. Maybe I wouldn’t be so bothered by God of War’s bland, lazy story if I didn’t constantly read it being hyped up as this deep, thought-provoking essayist of a game. Looking back at some of these reviews, they seem to at least mention that the best part of the whole thing is the “bad-ass” appeal over the actual revenge story, which truthfully I’m not going to be the target audience for. It was pretty funny that the ONE woman I could NOT brutally murder was regarded by the narrator as, “The worst mistake Kratos ever made EVER,” though.
God of War is fine. It’s stupid, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun, which it very much is. While overall, I did have some fun, it does go a little below my expectations of what I expected. The story is nothing more than just fluff to hold it all together, the very end-game obstacles become more cruel than challenging, and finding that red necklace without a guide is practically impossible. It ended up both frustrating and annoying to a point I was more blah than happy with the game. That’s not to say I didn’t still enjoy parts of it, such as the bosses and cinematics, which I feel were likable enough to give credit to. But for the most part, I found myself a bit disappointed at certain aspects I can’t completely ignore.
3/5
There are thing to really love and hate here. I’ll start with the positives. The story is surprisingly great. Now that I played this I believe Kratos is one of the coolest characters in gaming. You get a decent amount of variety in your weapons and spells. There is a good mix of fighting, platforming, and puzzle solving. I had a good time on two of those 3. The fighting is fun all the way through and I was surprised at how many good puzzles there were. Which leads me to the negatives.
The platforming in this game is not good at all. Almost the sole reason for this is the camera though as the camera is easily the biggest issue in the game imo. There were three times I was completely infuriated. One was on the opening tutorial level. There is a part where you have to balance on a small beam and when you walk to said beam kratos sort of auto balances and the camera shift to a top down view at the start of a beam and then you can walk him across. I died almost 20 times all because the camera would not shift and Kratos would not latch and instead would try to use his normal maneuvering across the small plank. The other two were late in the game. One was a puzzle that gives you literally no room for error or it is an auto death. The problem is the camera pans from one side to the other and this cost me around 10 try’s that shouldn’t have happened because Kratos would start walking the wrong way when the camera changed. The last was that damn tower. Nothing to do with the camera but infuriating none the less. If you know you know. It only took me about 10-15 minutes but it felt like an hour.
Even though I complained a lot the game was fun and I had a great time overall. There were just some problems that I’m sure they fixed moving forward. I’m excited to play 2,3, and God of War 2018 as I’ve heard that 1 is the worst of the bunch. Hopefully with the tweaks they made I will love them as I was so close to loving this one. All in all still a very good game.
The platforming in this game is not good at all. Almost the sole reason for this is the camera though as the camera is easily the biggest issue in the game imo. There were three times I was completely infuriated. One was on the opening tutorial level. There is a part where you have to balance on a small beam and when you walk to said beam kratos sort of auto balances and the camera shift to a top down view at the start of a beam and then you can walk him across. I died almost 20 times all because the camera would not shift and Kratos would not latch and instead would try to use his normal maneuvering across the small plank. The other two were late in the game. One was a puzzle that gives you literally no room for error or it is an auto death. The problem is the camera pans from one side to the other and this cost me around 10 try’s that shouldn’t have happened because Kratos would start walking the wrong way when the camera changed. The last was that damn tower. Nothing to do with the camera but infuriating none the less. If you know you know. It only took me about 10-15 minutes but it felt like an hour.
Even though I complained a lot the game was fun and I had a great time overall. There were just some problems that I’m sure they fixed moving forward. I’m excited to play 2,3, and God of War 2018 as I’ve heard that 1 is the worst of the bunch. Hopefully with the tweaks they made I will love them as I was so close to loving this one. All in all still a very good game.
white men can't jump
A melting pot of a game that influenced subsequent action games. Unlike those, this one managed to pick the right dose of every of its parts, and scatter them the right way so that none of them exposed their repetitiveness.
Also, the series seemed to forget the subtleties of this game's combat mechanics, specially regarding the QTEs. They were largely seen as the coward option in this game, not only giving you a breather from adjacent attacks but also depriving you from getting extra red orbs in certain cases.
Some quick time events did offer you more orbs than normal, but they were balanced out by either letting enemies hit you while doing them, or through the brutal death bonus, which obblied you to have a combo superior to 10 or 25 hits to have a slight red orb bonus when doing a QTE.
This, joined to the fact that you have to optimize your red orb count a lot in this game (most runs end up without all weapons getting maximized) was a constant tension of using the easy way out of a battle or risking more.
The sequels dumbed this down through the orb multiplier system in each difficulty and basically rewarding you more for only going for QTEs.
Also, the series seemed to forget the subtleties of this game's combat mechanics, specially regarding the QTEs. They were largely seen as the coward option in this game, not only giving you a breather from adjacent attacks but also depriving you from getting extra red orbs in certain cases.
Some quick time events did offer you more orbs than normal, but they were balanced out by either letting enemies hit you while doing them, or through the brutal death bonus, which obblied you to have a combo superior to 10 or 25 hits to have a slight red orb bonus when doing a QTE.
This, joined to the fact that you have to optimize your red orb count a lot in this game (most runs end up without all weapons getting maximized) was a constant tension of using the easy way out of a battle or risking more.
The sequels dumbed this down through the orb multiplier system in each difficulty and basically rewarding you more for only going for QTEs.
A short and sweet hack n slash that's great to play even today. The setpieces, the soundtrack, the combat they're all worth experiencing even for someone who did not grow up with this game or many Playstation 2 games that play alike.
Even with it's ~9 hour length I felt like it ran out of things hard around the 5 hour mark. You will see most enemies and abilities during the first two hours, not much gets changed up there over time sadly. Though it does always vary in it's environment and the many puzzles inside them.
While the puzzles and enemy placements were all fine, towards the end it became insanely frustrating, just throwing long stretches of parkour with no checkpoints and dozens of the strongest enemies in a square box room at you really felt unnecessary.
Yes it gets repetitive sometimes, the levels are gimmicky, you will press R2 and turn levers for a big chunk of your playtime, some enemies are frustrating and it only has like three boss fights, but it's still cool overall.
Even with it's ~9 hour length I felt like it ran out of things hard around the 5 hour mark. You will see most enemies and abilities during the first two hours, not much gets changed up there over time sadly. Though it does always vary in it's environment and the many puzzles inside them.
While the puzzles and enemy placements were all fine, towards the end it became insanely frustrating, just throwing long stretches of parkour with no checkpoints and dozens of the strongest enemies in a square box room at you really felt unnecessary.
Yes it gets repetitive sometimes, the levels are gimmicky, you will press R2 and turn levers for a big chunk of your playtime, some enemies are frustrating and it only has like three boss fights, but it's still cool overall.
Gods this was horrifically boring after a while. I love elements of the game, the hack and slash feels good and the gods are omnipresent as ever but after a while you understand if there could be anything more than the same enemies with just slightly different weapons and simple Prince of Persia climbing mechanics
Oh god the platforming. I’d seriously like to be a fly on the wall for when many developers in the early to late aughts were designing these janky platforming challenges and sequences in their heavily combat-focused video games.
The game works fine with with its combat and story, and the cinematics shook me for a 2005 era ps2 game, but everything else here is real rough and boring after a long while.
Side note, but I can definitely see why Sonic Team was so influenced by this game and the second to create their own spin on it with Sonic Unleashed. The werehog combat is almost as good as the 2005 original here but really not by much or as fun.
The game works fine with with its combat and story, and the cinematics shook me for a 2005 era ps2 game, but everything else here is real rough and boring after a long while.
Side note, but I can definitely see why Sonic Team was so influenced by this game and the second to create their own spin on it with Sonic Unleashed. The werehog combat is almost as good as the 2005 original here but really not by much or as fun.
I think emulation affected the game in some way, not sure it was meant to hold a constant 60fps. Some QTE's feel brutal as a result, but honestly the combat is just not fun and the enemies are either sponges or can wobble you constantly.
The game is fun and was groundbreaking for things like the use it gives to the Quick Time Events, but it is clearly intended as the introduction to a saga and therefore feels incomplete, especially on a narrative level, because (without going into spoilers) it ends in a giant "To be continued." All of the above makes it difficult to recommend if you are only interested in playing this game for the milestone it was at the time and are not interested in the entire saga.
Also, the camera and balance segments are garbage haha.
Also, the camera and balance segments are garbage haha.
I don't think I've had this much fun with a game's core gameplay for awhile. The last game I can think of that was brand new"ish" was Batman Arkham Knight, which was 7 years ago.
God the AAA gaming scene really is complete shit rightnow.
God the AAA gaming scene really is complete shit rightnow.
How many times do I need to press square until my brain starts to generate fun?
I'm annoyed by Greek mythology, am easily turned off by this kind of hyper-masculinity, and don't understand hack and slash as a genre. I don't think I ever had a shot with this one.
I'm annoyed by Greek mythology, am easily turned off by this kind of hyper-masculinity, and don't understand hack and slash as a genre. I don't think I ever had a shot with this one.
I wanted to like this game so much more than I did, but It seemed to be very insistent on the opposite. This may be the most reluctant 3/5 I ever give. First of all, the story is surprisingly good. The ending is a bit rushed but otherwise few complaints there. It makes a good use of its setting and Kratos is a badass protagonist. I was always looking forward to the next cutscene. The problem is everything inbetween that. The gameplay has quite frankly aged terribly. Combat is a staggerfest full of spongebobs that take so much damage it make Kratos feel like a tiny baby man. All of his moves and animations are pretty fun though. The worst part is the platforming and puzzles. Some sequences have like one second margin of error before you're dead or have to restart. This is most frustrating because the camera is abhorrent and is your worst enemy in the game. Plus the red orbs for upgrades basically get dripfed until endgame and make any sense of progression feel kinda pointless. All the annoyances just made the game really unfun for me a lot of the time, and if it werent for the good story and great setting (plus a lot of titties, there are so many in this game) this would've been a 2/5 at best.
Trophy Completion - 82%
Time Played - 9 hours 45 Minutes
Nancymeter - 59/100
Game Completion #39 of 2022
April Completion #8
Trophy Completion - 82%
Time Played - 9 hours 45 Minutes
Nancymeter - 59/100
Game Completion #39 of 2022
April Completion #8
I respect elements of God of War. And I admit that taking the time to obtain a mastery of its combat system could yield a pretty addicting hack-and-slash.
But I did not enjoy God of War. Constantly staggering from enemy attacks is not fun. Dodge-rolling possessing such a long recovery time is not fun. Being surrounded by half of a dozen enemies that just spam attack you until they wombo combo you into heaven is not fun. Climbing walls and having to spam one attack button and having enemies grabbing onto you is not fun. Balancing Kratos on a tightrope and similarly spamming a single attack while enemies climb onto you is not fun.
Rarely did I enjoy a combat encounter in God of War. Kratos' movesets are decently satisfying, but the game doesn't let me play it like a hack-and-slash. It seems like you need to constantly dodge-roll and block attacks. But the dodge-roll system does not feel satisfying, as the recovery time is too long and the precision of the dodge roll's movement is too inaccurate for it to feel good when jumping between attacking and rolling.
Beyond the combat being frustrating, there are other sections that frustrate me. No one can forget the tower of blades in Hades' domain. I was too exhausted at that point to get angry, but screw that place.
I do like aspects of God of War. The level design is impressive, as the player is often introduced with plenty of paths to explore at once, and each somehow relates to the access of the other one. Tons of cool secrets too, like moving a ballista into the right spot to shoot a wall down, or exploring the hidden corners of the staged camera to discover new rooms. And the game looks quite freakin' cool. Athens is a well-designed area, and I'll never forget trudging through the deserts and going through a hell of puzzles on a giant's back. Very cool stuff.
The puzzles are also clever. One moment hinted at me being able to turn a minotaur to stone with Medusa's head after luring him onto a pressure plate. And another presented a ground plate that I could rotate and six or so stone structures that needed to go into a wall.
God of War's boss fights are also a lot of fun. I think what makes them satisfying is that the game shines during one-on-one encounters. It's rarely fun when the player gets staggered by a heap of enemies, but when fighting a boss, you can tactically plan your dodge rolls. They'll still kick your ass, but at least you know you had the ability to avoid whatever they're hitting you with.
The shift from 2018 to the original is jarring, as Kratos is nothing but evil and obnoxious. It certainly makes it harder to sympathize with him as a character in the new one, but it also makes him more interesting. He wasn't just a mildly bad guy. He was an actual villain. This changed my perception of the new game, as it's more obvious why he'd want to hide his awful past, and why Kratos is the way he is.
But I did not enjoy God of War. Constantly staggering from enemy attacks is not fun. Dodge-rolling possessing such a long recovery time is not fun. Being surrounded by half of a dozen enemies that just spam attack you until they wombo combo you into heaven is not fun. Climbing walls and having to spam one attack button and having enemies grabbing onto you is not fun. Balancing Kratos on a tightrope and similarly spamming a single attack while enemies climb onto you is not fun.
Rarely did I enjoy a combat encounter in God of War. Kratos' movesets are decently satisfying, but the game doesn't let me play it like a hack-and-slash. It seems like you need to constantly dodge-roll and block attacks. But the dodge-roll system does not feel satisfying, as the recovery time is too long and the precision of the dodge roll's movement is too inaccurate for it to feel good when jumping between attacking and rolling.
Beyond the combat being frustrating, there are other sections that frustrate me. No one can forget the tower of blades in Hades' domain. I was too exhausted at that point to get angry, but screw that place.
I do like aspects of God of War. The level design is impressive, as the player is often introduced with plenty of paths to explore at once, and each somehow relates to the access of the other one. Tons of cool secrets too, like moving a ballista into the right spot to shoot a wall down, or exploring the hidden corners of the staged camera to discover new rooms. And the game looks quite freakin' cool. Athens is a well-designed area, and I'll never forget trudging through the deserts and going through a hell of puzzles on a giant's back. Very cool stuff.
The puzzles are also clever. One moment hinted at me being able to turn a minotaur to stone with Medusa's head after luring him onto a pressure plate. And another presented a ground plate that I could rotate and six or so stone structures that needed to go into a wall.
God of War's boss fights are also a lot of fun. I think what makes them satisfying is that the game shines during one-on-one encounters. It's rarely fun when the player gets staggered by a heap of enemies, but when fighting a boss, you can tactically plan your dodge rolls. They'll still kick your ass, but at least you know you had the ability to avoid whatever they're hitting you with.
The shift from 2018 to the original is jarring, as Kratos is nothing but evil and obnoxious. It certainly makes it harder to sympathize with him as a character in the new one, but it also makes him more interesting. He wasn't just a mildly bad guy. He was an actual villain. This changed my perception of the new game, as it's more obvious why he'd want to hide his awful past, and why Kratos is the way he is.
Come for the tits, stay for the action and tits, and then come again.
If only marriage was like this game.
If only marriage was like this game.
"GIVE ME A FUCKING HINT YOU STOOPID FUCKING GAME TELL ME WHAT TO DOOOOOO" - DarkSydePhil after failing to kill Pandora's Guardian for the 7th time when the answer was right behind him
"By the gods... what have I become?"
Sony's flagship franchise didn't start slow. It was an explosion of a brazen subversion, featuring the most angry gonzo of a man that defied all connotations of the typical underdog narrative. Wrought in deep layers of tragedy lies a curious character broken by his own lust for power and neck deep in personal anguish. His bloodlust and indulgence were made into a riveting narrative device. Santa Monica overindulges where most would exercise caution, crafting ceaseless processions of a bald Spartan rampaging through the ancient seas and the land of Greece. His unflinching killing spree stems from the very ounce of humanity within him. A shattered past of seismic guilt reveals itself piece by piece via fragmented cutscenes. It is these haunting memories, bloodlust and tits where you find the very fascination that acts as the primary gel between the player's interest and Kratos' hard-boiled emotions. The writing and world-building are both stellar and hilarious, in mere seconds it builds intrigue from its opening and as the game continues it creates a vivid picture of Athens at war with a moronic double-digit IQ God of War Ares, stupid white women and endless "foreshadowing" that is as subtle as a brick to a face. At one point it just outright tells you what's gonna happen in the next game. Like woah, he's chained by his weapons! The painting says Zeus will fight a mortal man! Wonder what any of that could mean 😲 The gameplay leverages DMC's ingenious hack n slash design and dungeon aesthetics, offering enough experimentation, spatial range, brute damage, and combos to keep the game fresh for its short duration. Enemies are by and large engaging and varied, whilst platforming is funny because you get to control Kratos tiptoe his way over ceilings, ropes, and beams of wood, which never gets old. Puzzles, if anything, are both clever and fit the narrative context. There's just one instance where it got lazy and just put Tetris and called it a day. The gameplay offers enough leeway for newcomers to not be overwhelmed, but it is still challenging enough that it doesn't turn into simple button mashing (some sections, however, can get really, really annoying. Like the Siren one.) Pandora's Box deserves an entire essay on how great it is. The level designs are also far more elaborate than I ever expected, capturing an immense level of depth, intricacy, and scale. You're rewarded handsomely for being demonic. Killing civilians gives you health. You throw a man to his entrail-ridden doom because you don't like his tone (and you return to do it once more because you really hate his swag.) You get to drag and fry a chicken, I mean a living human for gaining passage. It's all very wholesome and is accompanied by an epic orchestral soundscape that makes you feel like a tragic bald mortal with anger issues and zero moral consciences.
Thus the game with a transgressive angry bald Spartan as the protagonist became one of the most popular games of all time.
Overindulgence might be the key people.
7/10
Sony's flagship franchise didn't start slow. It was an explosion of a brazen subversion, featuring the most angry gonzo of a man that defied all connotations of the typical underdog narrative. Wrought in deep layers of tragedy lies a curious character broken by his own lust for power and neck deep in personal anguish. His bloodlust and indulgence were made into a riveting narrative device. Santa Monica overindulges where most would exercise caution, crafting ceaseless processions of a bald Spartan rampaging through the ancient seas and the land of Greece. His unflinching killing spree stems from the very ounce of humanity within him. A shattered past of seismic guilt reveals itself piece by piece via fragmented cutscenes. It is these haunting memories, bloodlust and tits where you find the very fascination that acts as the primary gel between the player's interest and Kratos' hard-boiled emotions. The writing and world-building are both stellar and hilarious, in mere seconds it builds intrigue from its opening and as the game continues it creates a vivid picture of Athens at war with a moronic double-digit IQ God of War Ares, stupid white women and endless "foreshadowing" that is as subtle as a brick to a face. At one point it just outright tells you what's gonna happen in the next game. Like woah, he's chained by his weapons! The painting says Zeus will fight a mortal man! Wonder what any of that could mean 😲 The gameplay leverages DMC's ingenious hack n slash design and dungeon aesthetics, offering enough experimentation, spatial range, brute damage, and combos to keep the game fresh for its short duration. Enemies are by and large engaging and varied, whilst platforming is funny because you get to control Kratos tiptoe his way over ceilings, ropes, and beams of wood, which never gets old. Puzzles, if anything, are both clever and fit the narrative context. There's just one instance where it got lazy and just put Tetris and called it a day. The gameplay offers enough leeway for newcomers to not be overwhelmed, but it is still challenging enough that it doesn't turn into simple button mashing (some sections, however, can get really, really annoying. Like the Siren one.) Pandora's Box deserves an entire essay on how great it is. The level designs are also far more elaborate than I ever expected, capturing an immense level of depth, intricacy, and scale. You're rewarded handsomely for being demonic. Killing civilians gives you health. You throw a man to his entrail-ridden doom because you don't like his tone (and you return to do it once more because you really hate his swag.) You get to drag and fry a chicken, I mean a living human for gaining passage. It's all very wholesome and is accompanied by an epic orchestral soundscape that makes you feel like a tragic bald mortal with anger issues and zero moral consciences.
Thus the game with a transgressive angry bald Spartan as the protagonist became one of the most popular games of all time.
Overindulgence might be the key people.
7/10
my confession? i have been stuck on a puzzle in this game for about 5 years. its not even a little bit hard im just lost and refuse to look up a guide out of sheer muleheadedness. dont currently have a PS system with the capability to play it but when i do by god im getting out of the trenches i swear it to you
''god of war is a masterpiece, the gameplay is immortal and the controls speak a universal language. every other ps2 game we played made us feel like we travelled back in time but god of war took us back to the future. not even the 480p resolution could hold back this games 4k imagination''
-GF Reviews
-GF Reviews
This is a great first entry to the series. God of War has super fun, fluid combat, a great story, and incredible graphics and set pieces that still look great today. I can't believe this is a PS2 game, it is way ahead of its time. I can't way to play the future entries!
Bem mediano, gameplay padrão, trilha sonora mais fraca da franquia principal, 0 motivos pra voltar a jogar atualmente, o 2 e o 3 são melhores em todos os sentidos.
Great hack-n-slash with tight gameplay and an amazing narrative and characters, with an almost poetic take on Greek Mythology.
The best way to describe this game is "forgotten gem".
Even before the reboot everyone, even the developers, was too fast to shove it under the rug as the "stupid, immature game", but it's much more than that.
The combat, while it appears simple, hides a layer of depth, thanks to the fantastic grab system. Bring a Minotaur to the air and chain throw him, grab a soldier and use it as a projectile to hit other enemies or use your kit in a clever way to "ring out" foes.
All of this while exploring an incredibly well designed set of levels with superb pacing, with a game designer that seems to perfectly know when to put you against a gauntlet or make you cool down with a puzzle or a set piece. Setpieces that work well because they never strip you of control, and even when deviating from the standard combat, having you scale a wall or climb a rope, they still reinforce the fundamentals of its design.
The way the game lends itself to challenge runs, mainly no upgrade runs, wraps everything up.
The game definitely has its problems, first of all the uninspired bosses and some underwater sections, but I urge you to rediscover this forgotten classic, you will discover that it goes way beyond it's "square, square, triangle" infamy.
Even before the reboot everyone, even the developers, was too fast to shove it under the rug as the "stupid, immature game", but it's much more than that.
The combat, while it appears simple, hides a layer of depth, thanks to the fantastic grab system. Bring a Minotaur to the air and chain throw him, grab a soldier and use it as a projectile to hit other enemies or use your kit in a clever way to "ring out" foes.
All of this while exploring an incredibly well designed set of levels with superb pacing, with a game designer that seems to perfectly know when to put you against a gauntlet or make you cool down with a puzzle or a set piece. Setpieces that work well because they never strip you of control, and even when deviating from the standard combat, having you scale a wall or climb a rope, they still reinforce the fundamentals of its design.
The way the game lends itself to challenge runs, mainly no upgrade runs, wraps everything up.
The game definitely has its problems, first of all the uninspired bosses and some underwater sections, but I urge you to rediscover this forgotten classic, you will discover that it goes way beyond it's "square, square, triangle" infamy.
An unbelievable masterpiece, especially for the time it released. the game play is super smooth, the combat is incredibly fun, the world that you explore is unbelievable to experience, and the puzzles are challenging but never frustrating. and almost all around perfect game.
nem tenho muito oq falar ne galera, simplesmente o melhor do genero.
e detalhe, essa é minha primeira vez de fato zerando um god of war, o que eu mais joguei foi o 3 e mesmo assim nao fui tao longe.
o que me surpreendeu foi a historia muito bem contada, a gameplay nao se torna enjoativa, oq é um ponto positivaço
principalmente se tratando de hack n slash.
ansioso pra jogar o proximo!
e detalhe, essa é minha primeira vez de fato zerando um god of war, o que eu mais joguei foi o 3 e mesmo assim nao fui tao longe.
o que me surpreendeu foi a historia muito bem contada, a gameplay nao se torna enjoativa, oq é um ponto positivaço
principalmente se tratando de hack n slash.
ansioso pra jogar o proximo!
Devil May Cry walked so God of War could fall off a cliff and die of a heart attack this game is so fucking ass
this game boosted my testosterone by 50% then i was quickly emasculated by the platforming sections