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[Review: God of War]
by wedge55 God of War is exactly the sort of the game I would have never given the time of day just a few short years ago. When it was first announced at last year's E3, the idea of lots of bare breasted polygonal women, sex mini-games, loads of blood and hyper-violent death animations combined with the exaggerated ancient-timey atmosphere and puzzle solving of Prince of Persia and the crazy combo-based combat of Devil May Cry seemed to add up to the perfect flavor of the minute cash cow. Though the game does have plenty of weaknesses, almost all of which lie exclusively with the presentation, it is a pure joy to play and is unquestionably one of this year's front runners for game of the year. The most striking aspect of God of War is its ridiculous, over-the-top nature. Everything from the combat to the character and levels designs is super exaggerated to the point of hyper-mythic proportions. Though these help to reflect the nature of the game itself as players fill the role of Kratos who has been charged with single-handedly murdering the God of War, the general art direction is a little too Todd McFarlane- and American McGee-esque for its own good, often undermining it's epic, exaggerated nature with its testicle-heavy, junior high gym class sort of feel. Famous creatures out of Greek mythology such as minotaur, cyclopes, and centaurs have been covered in spikes, given blood-drenched weapons, and, whenever possible, a nice pair of exposed breasts. Though on the individual level these design decisions are almost always laughable, as a whole they work to evoke this over-the-top, viciously violent version of ancient Greece. And it all looks great. In fact, it looks a little too good for a Playstation 2 game, and the console responds accordingly. Visual tearing isn't just frequent at certain moments of the game, it's inevitable and unavoidable, as someone seems to have forgotten to turn the vsync on. However, the fact that the decrepit Playstation 2 can support so many highly detailed enemies on screen at the same time in huge environments with insane draw distances is a testament to Sony's development team. The frame rate is always constant, even will pulling off 170 hit combos in rooms saturated with baddies, so the visual tearing, which always, always occurs at the exact same moments and is usually related to camera movement, is easily forgiven because of the sort of miracle work the God of War team has pulled off just getting this thing to run on a Playstation 2, let alone run this well. The combat also plays like the rest of the game looks, as players string together ridiculous combos which grant experience rewards in a torrent of blood and severed heads. At certain times, players can trigger special attacks which are activated by pressing the corresponding buttons that appear over enemies' heads. By quickly running through a button sequence or rotating the joystick as instructed to onscreen, players can activate super-violent, Mortal Kombat-like finishing moves ranging from tearing the heads off gorgons to ramming a blade down a minotaur's throat. However, besides being a lot of fun to watch, these fatalities also inject a little strategy to the combat, as they often provide different rewards (health, mana) than simply mowing down enemies with normal attacks would. In fact, the combat system in general hides a lot of depth, and as players progress through the game and purchase new skills, the simply button-mashing combat of the first few hours of the game yields to a much more enjoyable, combo-heavy combat system littered with dozens of different attacks. Players are also armed with various magic abilities which are actually interesting and useful rather than a secondary waste to the main combat itself. However, there's more to the game than just brutal killing, as it also features some incredibly intelligent puzzles which usually provoke thought but rarely act to completely halt progress. The pacing in the game is damn near perfect, with equal measures of combat and puzzle solving present to balance one another out. Combat sequences never stretch on past their welcome and puzzles are never overly-complex, hour-long events. In fact, in most cases the two are one in the same, as puzzle areas are saturated with enemies or as clearing pieces of a larger obstacle gives way to more enemy encounters. There is no inventory management and next to no backtracking, making for a stream-lined, action-packed experience from beginning to end. For many gamers, that end will come far too soon, as the game lies in that 10-14 hour sweet spot many people find far too short but which I consider just right. The play time on subsequent playthroughs is even shorter once players have grown used to the combat system and already know the solutions to puzzles, but with extra difficulties, new costumes for Kratos which effect the way the game plays, and entirely new game modes available after completing the game, players will have plenty of reasons for another run through ancient Greece. The game's treasure trove of extras don't stop there, as there are also a multitude of behind-the-scenes features and developer interviews packed onto the disk, some of which are available right from the start. These sorts of commentary features have become more and more prevalent in recent years, but they've never been handled with such skill or respect for the player as in God of War. The commentary features are meaty and interesting and offer far more insight into the game than similar features found in recent Prince of Persia or Rogue Squadron games. God of War is a slick game that's equal parts Devil May Cry and Prince of Persia whose net whole is better than games from either series. The huge production values, surprisingly deep gameplay, and epic scope of the game make for an incredibly memorable experience which will likely remain a point of conversation several hardware generations from now. If you can stomach the uninspired art direction and don't mind a few exposed breasts in your hyper-violent romps through ancient Greece, God of War is the kind of game that's impossible not to recommend. Surprisingly enough, the game comes from the same development team responsible for Sony's Twist Metal series and acts as proof positive that their talents should never be wasted on car combat games again.
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