God of War (2005) Review
Played on PlayStation 4 (base)
Developed by Santa Monica Studio
Released 22nd March 2005
After initially being worked on under the title 'Dark Odyssey', David Jaffe (Creative Director and Creator), was inspired by Greek mythology with its mature themes of sex and extreme violence and fused it with the formula of Onimusha. The result: a franchise that has not only won several 'Game of the Year' titles but also a 33 million-copy-selling series that has prevailed within the hearts of both new and original fans. This game is the beginning of such a series.
Story
This passion project of Santa Monica follows an unoriginal story of revenge and vengeance. Kratos, a Spartan warrior who serves the Olympian gods, is set on a path of bloodlust to hunt down Ares, the god of war who filled Kratos' mind with constant nightmares of his past. There are certain aspects that I do love about the story, such as how well-portrayed and grief-stricken Kratos is, or the well-laid-out sequences of flashbacks and how they interact with one another. Unfortunately, all that quality content gets retconned by how much it drags on. The creatively altered Greek mythology is definitely not used to its full potential. In fact, it can even be described as forgettable. The experience itself lent me a memory that I will never forget, as it's the very originator of a blood-drenched series, but the journey that fabricated this experience is riddled with events that dangerously tread the line of mediocrity.
Gameplay
The gameplay can be best described as a collection of small, fun, bursts of dopamine that are interconnected by filler content. The ruthless hack'n'slash that this game was praised for utilising is very much a case of false advertisement. The basics of pressing square for a Light Attack or triangle for a Heavy Attack are there, but it never develops any further than chaining magic attacks and blade slashes. This watered-down gameplay becomes monotonous and only enjoyable for half of its entire duration. This is lacking so much depth that even things like the combo system, blocking, and dodging are irrelevant as they either serve no purpose or suffer from minor input delay and unfair hitbox data. The game also has some muddling button-mashing moments in both combat and QTEs which don't add any flavour. On the other side of the gameplay are the puzzle-platformer moments. The platforming is done to a serviceable degree, but the puzzles feel lazy as they're easy no-brainers that act only as adrenaline breaks. Despite all these noxious qualities, it really is a fun game to play, and all these faults are easily overlooked. God of War is one of those games where you'll have to take my word for it and play it yourself in order to enjoy it because describing it in this way only brings up the negatives.
Bossfights
The boss fights are conceptually incredibly cool. While the main downfall of every boss is the gameplay in general, the fantastic, action-filled beginning makes the best of the worst. The Hydra fight was great all throughout, being both a mood-setter for the whole game but also an awesome fight that utilised the puzzle-platformer aspect to a respectable extent. Pandora's Guardian was gimmicky and tedious but a cinematic treat, while the final boss of Ares was exhilarating. The 'two giants battling' theme is best done in this game due to Ares' near-perfect design but also the creative and enjoyable stages that it consisted of.
Characters
As mentioned before, certain aspects of the narrative were great due to how well Kratos' emotional journey is presented. Yet this main pillar isn't able to uphold the decrepit foundations of the characters. Each one is (including Kratos) overly dramatised to the point of being clichéd and in a bland state where their acting is reminiscent of what you would expect in a Shakespeare play. Additionally, nearly every female character is unnecessarily over-sexualised and this could be because of the retro appeal that was present in mature games in the 2000s, or it could just be the developers adding their own impudent features.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere can be simply described as moments of epicness stacked neatly upon one another. For starters, the soundtrack is just an orchestrally great piece, that worked thematically in all of the decently designed locations: the claustrophobic Desert, the puzzle-box Pandora's Temple and the shambolic Aegean Sea are some examples of this. In terms of cinematography, this game truly makes the best of making a movie-game hybrid, long before Naughty Dog did so with Uncharted, or while Kojima was tinkering with Metal Gear Solid. I can't state any technical problems as I used the PS Now subscription to play this, and that itself is a streaming service, so unless your Internet connectivity, speed, etc are garbage, you should have no problem playing this game.
Story- 6/10
Gameplay- 7.5/10
Bossfights- 7/10
Characters- 5/10
Atmosphere- 8/10
Good
A hack'n'slash classic that slightly falls below the worthy hype and expectations.
