God of War
by Sony Computer Entertainment
(Click here)
Product Summary
Brand: SonyAudio: English (Unknown)
Published: 2005-03
Release Date: 2006-09-08
Platform: PlayStation2
Model: 711719739920
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Product features:
- Fight for your life against creatures taken from Greek mythology
- Challenging puzzles and incredible platform levels - Scale walls and mountains, and head out to sea -- all while facing hundreds of deadly opponents
- Face off against multiple foes in unbelievable situations - from a demonic temple to the high seas
- Collect magic and upgrades to upgrade your swords and give you incredible powers and a near-unlimited variety of new attacks
- Amazing graphics bring the slaughter and carnage of Kratos' quest to vivid, terrible life
- God of War (Prima Official Game Guide)
- PlayStation: The Official Magazine (1-year)
- Play
- Tips & Tricks Magazine
Video Game Reviews of God of War
Customer Review: A Good Strong Hook and an Underwhelming Follow Up
Summary: 3 Stars
I heard a lot of things about God of War and trying it out for the first time I ran the gamut from amazed, bored, optimistic and then finally utterly infuriated.
God of War really does a superb job of hooking the player with the first level. It's got the action, the scenery, the whole cinematic appeal is perfect. You really get this feel of the old Ray Harryhausen fantasy films, with a Hydra constantly attacks you through-out the level as you battle around a doomed fleet within a storm. It's all perfectly done and based on that level alone I would've given the game 5/5 stars no question.
Then the game takes you to the next stage, or rather set of stages, the besieged city of Athens and then the game appears as if it had exhausted itself from the first stage and needed to lie down a bit because it becomes incredibly underwhelming. It does nothing wrong gameplay wise, it's all very competent but it just loses the whole cinema feel in exchange for total mediocrity. And that's it, that's nearly half the game right there. Even the boss within Athens is just a beefed up common enemy that you can wail on and beat in less than a minute.
After finally leaving Athens you have to make your way through a desert to Pandora's temple which is borne upon the back of a fallen Titan. The premise feels as though it is attempting to re-establish the over-the-top feeling of the first stage but unfortunately the fact that the whole temple is upon the Titan really has no bearing on the gameplay, not even much in a visual aspect since you're indoors most of the time. The good part is though Pandora's temple is actually fun unlike the Athens stages, it has all these death traps and puzzles, pretty entertaining really. Though probably because of the very nature of it being a dungeon you start to really get sick of it, especially considering this right here is the largest portion of the game, nearly half of it. The Temple levels not as overly amazing as the single first level but it is miles better than the Athens levels.
Now after you've completed the Temple you have another singular stage (like the first) and that is the Underworld, at first the concept strikes you as a cool concept then upon playing it you find yourself truly cursing as loud as possible, perhaps even inventing some new ones on the way. The Underworld stage is chiefly composed not of fighting but jumping puzzles and not just any jumping puzzles but 'you screw up and die' jumping puzzles and how could I forget to mention the camera constantly works against you at this! Coupled with the fact that the level is just a bunch of tan colored floating platforms over a blood ocean you wonder how this level even made it past the alpha stage.
However even passing that trial and finally getting to the last fight the game just doesn't work for me. As if sensing my burning hatred the game right as the final boss fight comes just doesn't kick in. The game doesn't lock up it just doesn't play and just hangs there indefinitely. The game disc itself is flawless, no scratches, not even a faint thumbprint on it and this is on a new slim PS2 too! Even after cleaning the same problem occurs and searching online I've found that this problem has occurred with a few other players as well with no solution. That's really totally unacceptable with a console game, it may fly on PC games where your patches are free but on a console game this is just incredibly poor.
I've wrestled with how to score God of War 1, The first stage is fantastic, the Athens stages are boring, the Temple stages are good, the Underworld stage is dog awful and with the whole game just up and crapping out on itself I find that the game seems almost all over the place with its quality. I've settled with a score of 3.5 because while the overall product quality is probably only average the fun parts of the game really are honest good fun. I will say this the game has gotten me eager on God of War 2 which I have started playing just this minute.
Description of God of War
Unleash the power of the Gods and embark on a merciless quest as Kratos, an ex-Spartan warrior driven to destroy Ares, the God of War. Armed with lethal double chainblades, Kratos must carve through mythology's darkest creatures - including Medusa, Cyclops, the Hydra and more, while solving intricate puzzles in breathtaking environments. Driven by pure revenge, nothing can stop Kratos from achieving absolution.Promotions - For Editorial Games
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