From Dad of War to God of War, I thought I'd give the original God of War a go given that I was able to find the HD Remaster of 1 & 2 for PS3 at the resale shop the other day. I've played the first stage up to a little after the Kraken fight on the proper PS2 version, but I don't have that version anymore, so I went with the PS3 HD Remaster. It took me about 9 hours and I played through on normal mode.
God of War plays a little like a cross between a Mario and a Zelda game. I just don't really know what else to compare it to. It's a character-action game with both a heavy emphasis on combat and puzzle solving but also on platforming (you even have a double jump). It's kind of a lot going on, and it does it all well enough, but a bit frustrating. The combat isn't QUITE tight enough to feel like you can easily make sense of what you're doing wrong when things start going badly. The platforming isn't QUITE tight enough (mostly due to the fixed camera) for the jumping and such to feel too good. It's decent fun to wail on enemies with your sword and glaives, and it's certainly beatable, but it just doesn't play QUITE right and will likely frustrate people used to more modern 3D action games that control better. This goes especially for the SUPER aggravating timed jumping and block-pushing puzzles. Those things more than once made me question whether this was a game I really wanted to care to finish XD
The story is neat and flashy, but largely throwaway. The game actually has like 40+ minutes of making-of featurettes on the disc just like a film would, and they basically admit that this was supposed to be a big angery power fantasy in a Classical Greek setting, and that's exactly how it comes off. The plot itself is interesting, and this is a very pretty PS2 game as far as enemy and environment designs are concerned so the setting is used well, but the actual presentation of the narrative is about as bog-standard talking directly to the player about the story as you can get. The PS3 port is great, especially on the visuals. The game looks really nice upscaled to HD resolutions, and the framerate just about always stays at a nice high point. The only real fault with the PS3 port is how many doors and environmental QTE's require mashing the R2 button, and that's a LOT harder on the PS3's analog triggers than it was on the PS2's digital buttons.
Verdict: Hesitantly Recommended. There is a good time to be had with the original God of War, even if it's just to see where the series started. It's JUST rough enough around the edges that I wouldn't really outright recommend it, but it's far from a bad game. It's a good first try for an action/adventure title, and the combat especially was fun and smashy enough that I'm looking forward to giving the 2nd game on the HD Remaster pack a try soon~
God of War plays a little like a cross between a Mario and a Zelda game. I just don't really know what else to compare it to. It's a character-action game with both a heavy emphasis on combat and puzzle solving but also on platforming (you even have a double jump). It's kind of a lot going on, and it does it all well enough, but a bit frustrating. The combat isn't QUITE tight enough to feel like you can easily make sense of what you're doing wrong when things start going badly. The platforming isn't QUITE tight enough (mostly due to the fixed camera) for the jumping and such to feel too good. It's decent fun to wail on enemies with your sword and glaives, and it's certainly beatable, but it just doesn't play QUITE right and will likely frustrate people used to more modern 3D action games that control better. This goes especially for the SUPER aggravating timed jumping and block-pushing puzzles. Those things more than once made me question whether this was a game I really wanted to care to finish XD
The story is neat and flashy, but largely throwaway. The game actually has like 40+ minutes of making-of featurettes on the disc just like a film would, and they basically admit that this was supposed to be a big angery power fantasy in a Classical Greek setting, and that's exactly how it comes off. The plot itself is interesting, and this is a very pretty PS2 game as far as enemy and environment designs are concerned so the setting is used well, but the actual presentation of the narrative is about as bog-standard talking directly to the player about the story as you can get. The PS3 port is great, especially on the visuals. The game looks really nice upscaled to HD resolutions, and the framerate just about always stays at a nice high point. The only real fault with the PS3 port is how many doors and environmental QTE's require mashing the R2 button, and that's a LOT harder on the PS3's analog triggers than it was on the PS2's digital buttons.
Verdict: Hesitantly Recommended. There is a good time to be had with the original God of War, even if it's just to see where the series started. It's JUST rough enough around the edges that I wouldn't really outright recommend it, but it's far from a bad game. It's a good first try for an action/adventure title, and the combat especially was fun and smashy enough that I'm looking forward to giving the 2nd game on the HD Remaster pack a try soon~