By the gods!

Last Sunday I went on a mini shopping spree for videogames, and one of the titles I bought was God of War for the PS2. I had seen commercials for this game for a little while and I was under the impression that it was "just another platformer". Then the good comments started coming in and I got curious. Since I knew I was gonna spend a good amount of money on games that day, I decided to make God of War one of the titles I purchased.



Right off the bat I was impressed by the overall feel of the game. The combat system made me feel a bit naive for judging a game by its commercial. Now that I have roughly 8 hours of gameplay under my belt, I can say that God of War is a very solid game. The greek mythology setting isn't the only thing that sets this game apart from the rest, and it's more than just a cheap gimmick too.

The game is peppered with minigames that add variety and strategy. They also make it believable when your character (Kratos) slays a monster that's 5 times his size. For the bigger monsters, you have to beat on him until a red O appears over its head. You then hit circle to engage the minigame that often involves you hitting a button when it flashes on the screen. These button presses make you do things like dodge between the monster's legs as it attacks you, then climb on its back to deliver the finishing blow. The minigames are of a different nature for other monsters. Ripping Medusa's head off involves spinning the analog stick as instructed, for example.



As you progress through the game, you acquire powers, and orbs to upgrade your skills. Upgrading your weapons will reveal new moves that you can use in combat on top of increasing your attack power, while things like Zeus' lightning bolts will let you throw them faster when upgraded. The storytelling seems spot on so far, and they do a good job of pacing the things you learn about Kratos' past. Overall I'd say it was a good purchase, and I'll probably end up going through the game more than once too.