God of War (2005)

God of War is an action-adventure game developed by Santa Monica Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2005.

Plot
The game is loosely based on Greek mythology, set in ancient Greece, and it is about a Spartan warrior named Kratos, who serves the Olympian Gods and has to kill the God Of War Ares, who tricked him into killing his wife and daughter.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Introduces Kratos; one of the most badass and tragic characters in gaming.
 * 2) Awesome and addicting combat that is much heavier and gory compared to more fast-paced hack-and-slash games of the time like Devil May Cry or Onimusha: Warlords.
 * 3) Amazing graphics for its time.
 * 4) Interesting story where a former Spartan warrior, Kratos, is seeking revenge on the god of war, Ares, after he tricked Kratos into killing his own family.
 * 5) Epic and huge bosses to defeat including a Medusa, Hydra, and the god of war, Ares.
 * 6) Great soundtrack.
 * 7) You get to battle many Greek mythological creatures such as Medusas, Harpies, and fearsome Minotaurs.
 * 8) There's a sex mini-game that's used to get extra red orbs, which would become common in each new entry.
 * 9) Great voice acting especially from Terrence C. Carson as Kratos.
 * 10) The game makes great use of QTEs mainly when fighting bosses and certain enemies since they only come up when a boss is near death and when enemies are stunned.
 * 11) You can unlock bonus costumes for Kratos.
 * 12) * Chef of War - Kratos wears the traditional chef uniform, and his blades are replaced by skillets. Gains more magic from blue orbs.
 * 13) * Bubbles - Outfitted in snorkeling gear and wielding fish, Kratos gains more health from green orbs but suffers from low attack power.
 * 14) * Tycoonius - Kratos wears his business suit and uses a pair of briefcases to do battle. More experience, but low armor.
 * 15) * Dairy Bastard - Strike fear into the enemy with the dreaded cow suit! Unlimited magic offsets low attack power.
 * 16) * Ares' Armor - Decked out in the God of War's armor, all of Kratos' attributes are increased.
 * 17) When the game is completed, a challenge mode called the Challenge of the Gods is unlocked; which requires players to complete a series of specific and difficult tasks.
 * 18) The second phase of the final boss has a pretty sad moment where we get a glimpse into how Kratos sees himself and how much he misses his family. Kratos is sent to a nightmare sequence where Kratos has to fight doppelgangers of himself while trying to protect his family. If that wasn't sad enough, when his family loses some health the player can press the "O" button (which had been used to commit gory takedowns on stunned enemies), Kratos will hug his family, giving his health to them.
 * 19) You have two weapons to use and four magical abilities:
 * 20) * Weapons
 * 21) ** Blades of Chaos - Powerful blades Given to Kratos by Ares, the God of War after pledging his allegiance to him. They're a pair of large curved blades that are attached to Kratos' arms via chains. He can swing them about to strike enemies.
 * 22) ** Blade of Artemis - This is a large, curved, cumbersome blade given to Kratos by the goddess Artemis. It is quite slow but also does more damage to enemies than the Blades of Chaos.
 * 23) * Magic
 * 24) ** Poseidon's Rage - This is a magic given to Kratos by Poseidon. It allows him to unleash radiating lighting upon multiple foes. It also does more damage.
 * 25) ** Medusa's Gaze - Upon killing Medusa for Aphrodite, Kratos takes her head and can use it to turn his enemies to stone.
 * 26) ** Zeus' Fury - A power given to Kratos by Zeus. It allows Kratos to summon bolts to throw them at distant enemies.
 * 27) ** Army of Hades - This power is given to Kratos by Hades in Pandora's Temple. With it, Kratos can summon the souls of the Underworld to attack any nearby foes.
 * 28) ** Rage of the Gods - An ability that is gained for upgrading the Blades of Chaos. The meter appears at the bottom of the screen, and when it's full, you can activate "Rage of the Gods". While activated, Kratos does a lot more damage to his enemies and also takes no damage.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Some aspects of the game hasn't aged well compared to later entries.
 * 2) * There's a notable shortage of bosses when compared to the rest of the games. Not counting enemy type intros, there're only three: the Hydra at the beginning, the mechanical minotaur, and Ares piled at the end. Compare that to God of War II's fourteen bosses.
 * 3) * You can't turn off the 'Rage' power once you activate it unlike later games.
 * 4) *No New Game+; you can't save your upgraded weapons for a future New Game.
 * 5) The final fight against the eponymous God of War is a nightmare on any difficulty other than medium, but special mention goes to the "War of the Clones" segment. You're fighting against Kratos doppelgangers who are trying to kill your wife and daughter. There can be as many as seven clones on-screen simultaneously, and they respawn very quickly. If you get hit, Kratos will be stunned and knocked away from his family, leaving the two vulnerable. Although the game has a mechanic that enables Kratos to transfer his own health to them, there are very few opportunities to do so, as the enemies are very aggressive and Kratos cannot fight back while performing the healing move. This is then followed by the final part of the battle, which strips you of your weapons and magic in exchange for a thoroughly useless sword that appends unnecessary flourishes to everything, whilst fighting a boss who hits fast and hard.
 * 6) Some levels are frustrating, specifically two.
 * 7) *The Challenge of Poseidon. This is a sequence where Kratos must push a cage up a hill while an endless supply of Undead Legionnaires spawns. The player must carefully juggle between pulling the prisoner towards its destination and fighting off the enemies, as getting hit at the wrong moment could send the cage all the way back to the bottom of the room.
 * 8) *The Hades level is (ironically) hell. There's very little combat, but Kratos has to carefully tiptoe across long, rotating beams with blades. Getting hit by the blades will send Kratos straight into the River of Styx. And once you manage to make it across those, you have to do the same thing vertically, as Kratos climbs on rotating beams. Although getting hit by the blades here doesn't instantly kill you, it sends you all the way back down to the bottom.
 * 9) **The extras disc for God of War II reveals that the Hades level was the only one that wasn't play tested, hence the difficulty.
 * 10) Challenge of the Gods is really hard, especially since they aren't separate like in later entries. You HAVE to beat them all in one playthrough.

Tips

 * There's a sex mini-game when jumping on the bed with the women on it in Kratos' ship when arriving in Athens. Beating it rewards extra red orbs.
 * Right before killing the last Kratos during the nightmare sequence, use the Army of Hades. They'll carry over to the final fight against Ares and can drain a bunch of his health.

Reception
God of War received "universal acclaim" according to review aggregator Metacritic with a score of 94 out of 100, and a score of 94% from GameRankings.

Raymond Padilla of GameSpy said the gameplay is "excellent" and it has "some of the goriest, most exaggerated, and over-the-top violence I've ever seen". He praised the combo system for being generous, with players easily able to execute attack combinations, but added that it can challenge players who "throw themselves into the system". Padilla wrote, "God of War is the best thing to happen to Greek mythology" since Harry Hamlin played Perseus in Clash of the Titans. He praised the sound as very strong, but felt that some of the voice acting and music tracks are overstated.

Chris Sell of PALGN wrote that the most enjoyable aspect of the combat is its simplicity. He said the QTEs are "superbly enjoyable", "highly satisfying", and most entertaining during boss fights. In regards to combining combat with platforming, Sell said, "God of War pulls it off perfectly." Sell stated that the graphics are "quite possibly the best on the PS2" and rival games on the Xbox. He said the character models are "excellent" and each level has its own distinctive feel. Sell did make mention of a few problems, on which includes the camera system: he said that although the cameras do a great job of following Kratos, "there are a fair few annoying moments when you're attacked by something off-screen, or you fail to make a jump because you couldn't really see the jump properly". Other minor complaints from Sell include its lack of replayability, the amount of time it takes to upgrade items, and the final fight with Ares, which he said is "a little disappointing".

Eric Blattberg of PlayStation Universe praised the graphics for being seamless, realistic, and capable of being able to run at 480p on a widescreen television. He said the textures are "great", and the environments are "stunning and unbelievably detailed."

Mikel Reparaz of GamesRadar noted the amount of detail, elaborating that as a consequence of the aging hardware of the PS2, "the graphics occasionally stutter or even slow down." He still gave the game a perfect score, concluding, "these problems are minor nits next to God of War 's creative design, riveting plot and sheer balls-out fun. One of the best action titles on the PS2, God of War stands out as an ultraviolent masterpiece."

Awards and accolades
God of War won several "Game of the Year" awards. At the 2005 Spike Video Game Awards, it was named "Best Action Game" and David Jaffe won "Designer of the Year" for the game. It was also a nominee for "Game of the Year", "Best Performance by a Human Male" (TC Carson as Kratos), and "Best Original Score". At the 2006 Interactive Achievement Awards, it won several awards, including "Overall Game of the Year", "Console Game of the Year", and "Action/Adventure Game of the Year". In 2009, IGN named God of War the seventh-best PlayStation 2 game of all time. In November 2012, Complex magazine named God of War the eleventh-best PlayStation 2 game of all time.

Trivia
Before Kratos takes Pandora's box, you'll find a portrait on the floor of a warrior fighting Zeus and the game tells you it's prediction of the future. This was a teaser for what will happen in the sequel; a trend Santa Monica does in their games.

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