This is a game that no one will ever witness me playing.
Its a game about rage and I certainly felt its white hot touch. A gory, violent game about a brutal and unpleasant hero which brought me grim satisfaction at every single blood splattered finishing move and blinding anger at every frustrating design.
Its God of War and violence has never felt so good.
This is the first part of a review about Santa Monica Studios God of War series, covering the re-released PlayStation 2 games in the form of the God of War collection and the PS3 only GoW 3. Today I'll talk about GoW I and do a shorter review about II tomorrow as there isn't a vast difference between the two in most aspects.
I never had the opportunity to play the series when it came out on the PS2 and was extremely glad when I heard they were giving the games a gore splattered makeover for the PS3. The graphics do look sharper and most of the sequences do look fantastic but they still look fairly old school, certainly in comparison to the visual behemoth that GoW 3 is. In particular some of the sequences, which were presumable original 'in game' camera sequences, have not been updated bringing the sharp look of the game to a sudden, jaggy and grainy halt. The special effects are particularly pleasant, making every single move flow and every jab, stab and eviscerate look wonderful.
Before we get to why this game is the king of the spectacle fighter genre lets get the plot of out the way. The first game tells the story of Kratos a power hungry Spartan warrior who in his attempts to grab power pledges allegiance to Ares, the current God of War. Ares grants him the blades of chaos, the series signature twin blades on a long chain, and sets him to work being the biggest, nastiest spartan git the ancient world has ever seen. It all goes wrong though when he kills his wife and kid during one of his conquests. He swears then to have vengeance by killing Ares, who has now decided to show the rest of the gods that he is the best by smashing up Athens. Que long quest for magical god killing kit which takes you through Athens, a temple on the back of a Titan and Hell. Not a bad plot by any means and even violent Kratos seems to fit the vision of a world in which mortals are pawns to the machinations of Olympus.
Level design is tight and for the majority of the time you feel that you are attempting to achieve a story related objective rather than running down the straight corridor of content that it is. Levels are varied and feel appropriate to each stage in the story, the level of note is the temple of Pandora on the back of a Titan which moves from elegant variates of architecture, styled after different heavenly patrons, to the unfinished, raw heights of the summit.
Gameplay revolves around butchering vast hordes of enemies using your whirling blades of chaos, supplemented by various godly powers as well puzzle and platforming sections. Combat is done by a series of combos and prompted finishing moves. Some enemies are particularly frustrating and some combinations will cause the blood pressure to rise. Release is at hand though with the grisly quick time event finishing moves involving, ripping eyes out of sockets, stabs in the head and twisting off Medusa heads, all of which are immensely satisfying in ways best not shared with others. The puzzle and platforming sections are okay for the majority except for a few badly placed cameras for platforming sections and unclear puzzle moments. The gameplay is tarnished when it attempts to blend the combat with puzzles, usually leading to waiting for luck to win through and having the patience enough to complete it and getting back to the gore soaked combat sections. This occurs rarely though, although the rage you will feel will certainly help you understand why Kratos is so mad all the time.
Summary
An excellent adventure which takes you through some lovely locations, brings you flowing combat and only marred by rage inducing mixed gameplay sections.
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