God of War

This article is for the PlayStation 2 game. For mythological gods of war, see List of war deities.

God of War is a video game for the Sony PlayStation 2 console released on March 22, 2005. An action-adventure game loosely based on Greek Mythology, God of War was developed by Sony Computer Entertainment's Santa Monica division.

A game in the 3rd-person action genre, which includes Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, and The Sands of Time, God of War focuses on slick, intuitive gameplay, an advanced graphics engine, and a well composed musical score. It was very well received by critics and fans, and the recipient of many awards including game of the year awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences and gaming sites like IGN. The game is now available in the PlayStation 2's lineup of Greatest Hits. Thanks in part to the critical success of the original, a sequel, titled Divine Retribution, is currently scheduled to be released in February 2007.

Gameplay

God of War focuses heavily on combat and puzzle-solving. The controls are fairly simple and intuitive, and the combat is simple at first - although the game becomes exceptionally challenging at higher difficulty levels. The combat system is often context-based, meaning that Kratos' actions are often determined as much by the enemy's position around him as the button pressed. Like other adventure games, it involves a fair amount of puzzles that require completion to progress in the game; the puzzles are mostly mechanical in nature and often coincide with combat to make them more challenging. Unique to the game are specialized "takedown" or "fatality" mini-games: when an enemy or boss has been reduced to a low enough Health level, the player may attempt to dispatch it in a short event that may utilize button-mashing, improvised combos displayed on-screen, joystick rotation, or all of the above. An enemy so dispatched may yield health-restoring green orbs or magic-restoring blue orbs, instead of (just) red-orb currency, and engaging in the minigame pauses all other enemies while it proceeds, making them an appealing alternative to standard combat.

Kratos' main weapons are the Blades of Chaos, a pair of cutlass-like blades attached to chains that have been seared to his forearms, giving him the ability to swing them at a distance. They become engulfed in flames when used, but cool down when hung on Kratos' back. During specific cutscenes, the Gods aid Kratos by bestowing their weapons and powers upon him. Kratos gains the ability to unleash a chaotic lightning storm from Poseidon, throw long-range thunderbolts from Zeus, command the souls of the damned from Hades, wield the giant and powerful hunting blade of Artemis, and turn enemies to stone using the head of Medusa, a gift from Aphrodite. Kratos can power up his weapons and acquire magical attacks at any time during the game using the red orbs gained from slain enemies or scattered throughout the game. Initially, Kratos' combos with the Blades of Chaos are limited, but powering them up gains many new attacks, combo strings, increased blocking speed, and powerful counterattacks. Kratos is also enable a state of being called Rage of the Gods, granting him highly increased speed and power.

God of War is notable for its movie-like presentation. While most epic games suffer from immersion-breaking loading screens, God of War's story mode switches seemlessly from title screen to FMV sequences to gameplay and back with very little load time. The load times are masked by prefetching the next area as the player traverses a long, relatively featureless corridor between large sections of the game world.

Story

The game begins with the protagonist of the game, Kratos, stating "the Gods of Olympus have abandoned me" and casting himself off the highest cliff in Greece. The game itself then goes back three weeks prior, showing the events leading up to his unfortunate fate as he is sent on a mission to save the city of Athens by slaying Ares, the god of war.

Kratos was once a warrior feared throughout the civilized world, famous for his relentlessness in battle, cunning combat tactics, and prowess as a leader. Countless men, women, and children alike fell to his blade. It was said that his wife was the only person who could stand up to his fury. When she questioned his actions, he claimed to be fighting for the glory of Sparta. She thought differently, feeling that he fought more for himself than any noble ideal.

Then came the day that Kratos could never have foreseen - the day that he met his match on the battlefield. His army, which had grown from a mere fifty men to a force of thousands, faced off against the barbarian hordes from the northeast. In these new enemies the Spartans found their own brutality surpassed, and in a mere few hours, the battle seemed to be lost. Kratos himself lay at the feet of the Barbarian leader, seconds away from death. In desperation, he called on Ares, pledging his eternal loyalty if only the God of War would destroy his enemies.

Ares, seeing the potential of a god in this mere mortal, answered Kratos's plea and ripped the Barbarian hordes apart in seconds. He gave Kratos the "Blades of Chaos", phenomenal weapons forged in the fires of Hades. They consisted of two massive swords fastened to the end of long metal chains, which themselves were wrapped around Kratos's arms and fused to his flesh. In the blink of an eye, the tides had turned, and Kratos decapitated the Barbarian leader.

True to his word, Kratos did Ares's bidding from that day forth. His former savagery paled in comparison to his acts under the watchful eye of the God of War. But one day he attacked a village loyal to Athena. He won, as always, but towards the end of the raid, he attacked a temple to the rear, where the aging village Oracle warned him not to proceed. She claimed that the temple was forbidden to him, that he must not enter. Kratos ignored her pleas and carved a bloody path of murder through the temple attendants who dared to stand in his way, blinded by his bloodlust. As he struck down his final two victims, however, everything changed.

Kratos came to his senses to find his wife and daughter lying dead before him, slain by his own hand. But what were they doing here in this obscure village? He had left them in Sparta. It wasn't long before he realized the truth. Ares, who had once saved his life, had elaborate designs for him. The God of War appeared before him, and explained that the death of his wife and child were meant to sever the last vestiges of his humanity, to forge him into the greatest warrior the world would ever know. As the horrifying truth dawned on the blood-stained warrior, the temple, which had been engulfed in flames, issued forth a cloud of white dust. This, the ashes of Kratos's wife and child, would forever bleach his skin pure white, with the exception of his blood-red tatoos. This frightening appearance, and the tales of what he had done, would earn him the name Ghost of Sparta, and a fearsome reputation. Kratos renounced his allegiance to Ares, but the damage was done. He would wander the known world for the next ten years, sailing from port to port, but never able to outrun the nightmares that plagued his mind.

Ares himself attacked Athens, his sister Athena's patron city, as a testament to his superiority. By Zeus's law, the gods could not fight amongst themselves, and so the task of stopping Ares would have to fall to a mortal. The Olympians sought the aid of Kratos - the one person they felt could succeed in killing the God of War. Having been promised absolution for his crimes, he agreed.

Kratos first had to find the Oracle in Athens. When he reached the Oracle's temple, Kratos met an old man who was digging a grave. The old man said that he had a lot of digging to do and not a lot of time. The old man then told Kratos something he couldn't quite understand. The grave he was digging, was for him. Upon reaching the Oracle, she revealed to him that the only way to kill a god was to use the legendary Pandora's Box. Athena told him how to reach Pandora's Temple, which is built into the side of a great mountain, which itself is chained on to the back of the last Titan, Kronos. Kronos, who was the cruel father of Zeus, was ordered by his son to carry the mountain on his back through the Desert of Lost Souls until the whipping sands tore the very flesh from his bones.

After many trials and tribulations, Kratos claimed Pandora's Box. However, before he could return to Athens with the box, Ares killed him and took the box for himself. Kratos fell into Hades, defeated but unwilling to die. He fought his way through the Underworld and, at the end of the path, came across an anchor on a rope leading to the sky. On the other end was the old grave-digger: "Athena is not the only God looking out for you." (There are some who argue that the gravedigger is in fact Zeus, through debatable hints of calling Kratos "Son" and other facts.)

Kratos recovered Pandora's Box and engaged Ares in a final battle that would decide the fate of Athens. As a defensive measure, Ares trapped Kratos inside his own mind and made illusions of Kratos' family. Kratos vowed that he would not let Ares take his family from him again, and defended them against numerous doppelgangers of himself, representing his Agony, Remorse, and Regret. Unfortunately, it was all for naught, and Ares dispelled the illusions easily, taking back the Blades of Chaos while he was at it. Though deprived of his weapons and powers, Kratos managed to break free of Ares's assault on his consciousness, and succeeded in defeating the God of War with the Blade of the Gods.

While receiving the congratulations of the Olympians, Kratos asked Athena to remove the nightmares of his past that haunted him. Athena explained that the Gods would only forgive him for his sins, but no one could forget what Kratos had done under the tutelage of Ares. Feeling abandoned and hopeless, Kratos threw himself off the highest peak in Greece. But as he impacted the water below, he felt himself being pulled back up to the top of the cliff. Athena reminded him that there was an empty seat in the Pantheon on Mount Olympus: a seat for the God of War.

And so Kratos finally found himself going towards Mount Olympus and took the seat he had rightfully earned, the throne of the God of War. From that moment on, whenever men waged wars, fought battles, and conquered lands, their will was driven forward by Kratos, the mortal who had become the new God of War.

Sequels

The game contains three unlockable cutscenes which are intended as potential avenues of continuing the story of God of War. One cutscene describes Kratos' younger brother, who was abandoned as a child because he was not strong enough to join the Spartan army. Having fallen to Hades, the unnamed brother vows to seek vengeance on Kratos for having deserted him. The second cutscene shows Kratos visiting his dying mother and attempting to discover the identity of his anonymous father. Kratos' mother reveals that his father is Zeus, and Kratos decides to take his revenge on Zeus for having abandoned him and his mother. (This ending is perhaps the most likely. A painting near the end of Pandora's Temple displays Zeus fighting a mortal, stating it as a future event.) The final cutscene describes the eventual death of Kronus, who had been carrying the Temple of Pandora on his back. The Temple is eventually rediscovered in modern times, still containing many secrets to be discovered.

The game's creator, David Jaffe, has said on many occasions that God of War will be a series of games and that a number of sequels will be made. There were rumours that a sequel is in development in early 2006, to be released sometime in 2007. This has now been confirmed by Game Informer God of War 2 Rumours

God of War II

Main article: God of War II

God of War II is currently scheduled to be released in February 2007.God of War II: Divine Retribution Despite the teasers presented in the first God of War, the official plot of the sequel has been established with Kratos fighting against the Moirae, the three Sisters of Fate (Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos). It will feature gameplay mechanics mentioned in the God of War extras menu.

Greek bestiary

Censored scenes

In the European and Japanese versions, a human soldier that must be sacrificed to open a locked door is replaced with an undead soldier enemy. Many players are opposed to this change, because a note that gives you a clue about what to do states "I can't do it, they used to be human." This paradoxically suggests that somehow the author of the note managed to avoid killing any of the hundreds of undead soldier enemies whatsoever up until that point.

Also in the American and European version is a scene with two topless women. A video on the Japanese website ^* reveals that in the Japanese release, these women wear lacy tops instead. Also, The Oracle of Athens no longer wears a see-through top as she does in the American and European release.

In addition there were gameplay changes between the American and European versions. In the European version the final battle against Ares is made easier as rotation of the analog stick is no longer required for a finishing move. The game also unlocks both bonus movies when completed on the Spartan level of difficulty compared with the American which required players to complete the God difficulty level to access them. Both special messages are still only available on God difficulty level in the European release however.

It was also stated in an issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly (and is stated in an unlockable area in the game) that the Cyclops originally shown having a penis.

Screenshots

Awards

GameSpot's Best PS2 Game of E3 2004
Daily Game's Best Action Game of E3 2004
GameSpy E3 Awards 2004 - PS2 Game of Show
GameRevolution - Best of E3 2004 Action/Adventure

GameSpot's Best of 2005:
- Best PS2 Game
- Best Original Music
- Reader's Choice: Best PS2 Game
6th Annual PSX Extreme's Awards:
- Game of the Year
- Reader's Choice for Game of the Year
PAX Gamers: GOTY Awards - 2005:
- Best PS2 Game
- Best Action Game
- Best Sound
- Surprise of the Year
- Game of the Year
Game Daily's 2005 Game Awards:
- Best Action Game
- Best Soundtrack
- Game of the Year
IGN PS2:
- Best Action Game
- Best Graphics Technology
- Best Original Score
- Best Story
- PS2 Game of the Year
- Game of the Year 2005
Third-Annual G-Phoria Awards:
- Best Action Game
- Best Cinematic
- Best Original Game
- Favorite Character
Included on Game Informer's "Top 50 Games of 2005" list
PSM 100% Independent Playstation 2 Magazine
- Game of the Year 2005
- Special Achievement Award 2005: Best Story
- Special Achievement Award 2005: Best Voice Acting
2005 Spike TV's Video Game Awards - Best Action Game
Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences 9th Annual D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Create, Entertain) Awards:
- Overall Game of the year
- Console Game of the Year
- Outstanding Achievement: Animation
- Outstanding Achievement: Original Music Composition
- Outstanding Achievement: Sound Design
- Outstanding Character Performance: Male
- Action/Adventure Game of the Year
GameZone 2005 Game of the Year Awards:
- PS2 Game of the Year
- Best Original Score
2005 Free Press Game of the Year
GameSpy's PS2 Game of the Year 2005
ControllerFreaks' 2005 Game Awards:
- PlayStation 2 Game of the Year
- Action Game of the Year
Electronic Gaming Monthly 2005 Game Awards
- Best PS2 Game
- Game of the Year Runner-Up
- Best New Character Who Deserves a Sequel
- Best Game Designer (David Jaffe)
Gaming Target:
- 52 Games From 2005 We'd Still Be Playing (The Top 12)
- PS2 Game of the Year

Parodies

The VG Cats comic "Euphemisms", strip 151 features a very sex-crazed Kratos admiring the inadvertedly half-naked Oracle of Delphi (whose breasts are apparently censored with random lines of words) after killing the Medusa. The comic ends with Kratos poking her private parts with a "Honk" before the "You Are Dead" screen appears.

Film

A film adaptation was announced in 2005 ^*. It is believed the film will set for a 2007 release date.

References

External links

2005 computer and video games | PlayStation 2 games | Action-adventure games | Controversial computer and video games

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