All Hail the GOD OF WAR

Title: God of War
Genre/Category: Action, Adventure
System: PlayStation®2
Number of Players: 1
Game Rating: ( M ) mature audiences

God of War instantly immerses you battle on a ship floating in ancient Greece. Not the Ancient Greece you remember from geography class, this is Greece as you’ve only imagined it complete with Gods, Goddesses and mythical creatures of lore. In the game you play as Kratos the ultimate anti-hero tattooed pale skinned and blood thirsty Kratos is haunted by nightmares from a dark and mysterious past which unfolds as you progress through the game.

Kratos takes on a mission for the gods which will literally lead him to the ends of the earth and back. Armed with the Blades of Chaos and pair of swords chained to his forearms Kratos is able to dispatch his enemies performing the most viciously bloody, violently creative, attacks imagine-able. All of which are pulled off with ease thanks to a smartly laid out control scheme which will send you plowing through your foes, more powerful enemies will trigger short mini games consisting of well timed button presses or rotations of the analog sticks followed by a brief animation of Kratos performing some slick moves and confounding his victim before landing the killing blow. A truly sweet reward for your effort. These mini games add depth to the fighting system and breaks up the button mashing frenzy nicely.

Throughout the game you will encounter a variety of puzzles large and small all very creative and challenging, not chuck your PS2 out the window challenging though. The rendering, textures and level design are simply astounding playing in widescreen progressive scan this game just sparkles & shines showing the PS2 while 6 years old has been in need of the right developer to come along and unleash it’s true power.

The boss battles are intense, each Boss a wildly stylized and fresh take on classic beasts of Greek mythos will send your jaw hurtling to the floor as they dramatically burst into the scene in full pre-rendered glory purposefully blocking the path to your next objective. Each battle, epic in scope Will stay with you long after you have put the controller down, in fact you may sprout a few gray hairs as proof of you determined victory.

Completing the game will award you with production diaries, concept sketches, new game modes for added replay value and a look at deleted character models.

Final Word...

God of war is not just a game; it’s a surreal experience that you must not miss out on. If you own a PS2 this is the one game you MUST play, if you don’t own a PS2 they’re cheap now go get one and pick up this game while you’re out, you won’t regret it. --

- Big Kid Score - 5 ot of 5